" Amy "
Click on photo to enlarge
1977 Flush Deck M17
Mark Escovedo has cared for Amy since the middle of 2003, however his relationship with her began years before. Mark sailed Amy with the prior owner on several occasions and the reason he was able to purchase her was a direct result. The previous owner knew how much Mark liked Amy and knew she would be well cared for with Mark at the helm.
Mark is a prototype sculptor and modelmaker by trade. His ability to see the finished product in his minds eye, well before the project begins has lead to several changes that lead to a custom built, race-ready Montgomery 17. Mark says many of the changes are commonplace in the sailboat racing circuit but are not available, on the shelf, for the most part for a Montgomery 17 and as a result, his unique talents proved to be quite useful.
This writer has never raced a sailboat and has little knowledge of the process, so I had to ask Mark lots of questions. His answers follow:
Tell me about the custom Bowsprit. Does it change the handling and what sails does it fly?
"The Bowsprit in it's extended configuration sets the tack block at 3' 6" forward of the headstay. As far as noticing a difference when in or out, I'm not sure what you are asking. The weight of the pole extended is negligible and does not effect the fore and aft trim of the boat. The primary purpose of the extended Bowsprit is to carry an Asymmetrical Spinnaker, but I suppose you could float a lightweight Drifter or even a Blade in a cutter configuration. The Bowsprit was designed and installed to replace the use of a traditional Spinnaker Pole. It is much easier to configure the boat for the Asymmetrical Spinnaker by pulling the single deployment line. I sail frequently by myself and this is a much safer arrangement. It eliminates the need to ever leave the cockpit to fuss with a traditional Spinnaker Pole."
All the lines are run to the cockpit. Did you create this?
"The control line and halyard arrangement were all configured by myself. One other modification I made was to run all the halyards internally, inside the mast. I also cut and placed all halyard exits cleanly to the deck mounted turning and organizing blocks that run aft into the cockpit."
Did you add the backstay adjuster?
"Yes, there is a 4:1 backstay adjuster, you'll notice the extended mast head backstay attachment point also. This pushed the backstay aft, far enough to increase the leech of the mainsail, resulting in an increase from 82 square foot to 90 square foot of sail. This compared to the approximate 75 square foot of the standard M17. One of the photos show the new EP full batten mainsail. the shot was taken when the sail arrived, without reef lines."
How is the center board made?
"The core skeleton of the centerboard is made from powdercoated stainless steel with a HDPE shell wrapped around it and flush bolted through the assembly. This created a much lighter, about 55 pound board. This was created because of concerns of rust with the original cast iron board. Prior to this configuration I sculpted a mold plug for sand casting in bronze, which was sidelined after I costed it out. This version works better than ever expected. You will notice the pendant connection point is somewhat different than on the standard M17."
Do you notice more heal with the lighter centerboard?
"Amy has 500 pounds of ballast in her centerboard trunk and was made with the tall rig 25' mast. When Jerry Montgomery designed her, he knew she would be a bit more tender than the standard M17. I consulted him when I created the lighter replacement centerboard. His comment to me was the centerboard is more about increasing the underwater profile surface area of the boat, when going to weather. Not so much about putting more weight lower to help reduce heal. He said the boat will heal the same with or without the board. The heal is more a trimming issue. But the boat is a dog when sailing to weather without the centerboard."
At some point do you plan to replace the steel punching in the keel housing with lead?
"I have no plan at this time to replace the ballast, it's much easier to compensate the weight difference through proper sail trim than through major trunk surgery. As they say Flatter is faster. One reason I can see for centerboard trunk problems is the older stock centerboard itself; being cast iron and subject to the rusting & expansion problems makes it a major contributor to cracking of the trunk. The HDPE centerboard is very slippery, nothing sticks to this stuff not even epoxy paints. So rusting and expansion is eliminated. So all I have to do is be careful when beaching the boat and possibly cracking the trunk. That's about the only way I'll compromise the steel ballast."
What is inside the cabin area of the Flush Deck M17?
"The interior is very spartan. No hull liner and two six foot plus bunks and that's it... by design. Jerry wanted a lighter weight racing hull."
It looks like you have never had an auxiliary on the transom. Do you ever run an outboard?
"Never have. My aux power is two long oars. AKA: Norwegian Steam :) "
Where is your home port?
"Amy is a California girl through and through, She was made here and she is sailed primarily out of Marina Del Rey, California. But I want to hit a few of the lakes that ring Los Angeles this year."
Mark is a prototype sculptor and modelmaker by trade. His ability to see the finished product in his minds eye, well before the project begins has lead to several changes that lead to a custom built, race-ready Montgomery 17. Mark says many of the changes are commonplace in the sailboat racing circuit but are not available, on the shelf, for the most part for a Montgomery 17 and as a result, his unique talents proved to be quite useful.
This writer has never raced a sailboat and has little knowledge of the process, so I had to ask Mark lots of questions. His answers follow:
Tell me about the custom Bowsprit. Does it change the handling and what sails does it fly?
"The Bowsprit in it's extended configuration sets the tack block at 3' 6" forward of the headstay. As far as noticing a difference when in or out, I'm not sure what you are asking. The weight of the pole extended is negligible and does not effect the fore and aft trim of the boat. The primary purpose of the extended Bowsprit is to carry an Asymmetrical Spinnaker, but I suppose you could float a lightweight Drifter or even a Blade in a cutter configuration. The Bowsprit was designed and installed to replace the use of a traditional Spinnaker Pole. It is much easier to configure the boat for the Asymmetrical Spinnaker by pulling the single deployment line. I sail frequently by myself and this is a much safer arrangement. It eliminates the need to ever leave the cockpit to fuss with a traditional Spinnaker Pole."
All the lines are run to the cockpit. Did you create this?
"The control line and halyard arrangement were all configured by myself. One other modification I made was to run all the halyards internally, inside the mast. I also cut and placed all halyard exits cleanly to the deck mounted turning and organizing blocks that run aft into the cockpit."
Did you add the backstay adjuster?
"Yes, there is a 4:1 backstay adjuster, you'll notice the extended mast head backstay attachment point also. This pushed the backstay aft, far enough to increase the leech of the mainsail, resulting in an increase from 82 square foot to 90 square foot of sail. This compared to the approximate 75 square foot of the standard M17. One of the photos show the new EP full batten mainsail. the shot was taken when the sail arrived, without reef lines."
How is the center board made?
"The core skeleton of the centerboard is made from powdercoated stainless steel with a HDPE shell wrapped around it and flush bolted through the assembly. This created a much lighter, about 55 pound board. This was created because of concerns of rust with the original cast iron board. Prior to this configuration I sculpted a mold plug for sand casting in bronze, which was sidelined after I costed it out. This version works better than ever expected. You will notice the pendant connection point is somewhat different than on the standard M17."
Do you notice more heal with the lighter centerboard?
"Amy has 500 pounds of ballast in her centerboard trunk and was made with the tall rig 25' mast. When Jerry Montgomery designed her, he knew she would be a bit more tender than the standard M17. I consulted him when I created the lighter replacement centerboard. His comment to me was the centerboard is more about increasing the underwater profile surface area of the boat, when going to weather. Not so much about putting more weight lower to help reduce heal. He said the boat will heal the same with or without the board. The heal is more a trimming issue. But the boat is a dog when sailing to weather without the centerboard."
At some point do you plan to replace the steel punching in the keel housing with lead?
"I have no plan at this time to replace the ballast, it's much easier to compensate the weight difference through proper sail trim than through major trunk surgery. As they say Flatter is faster. One reason I can see for centerboard trunk problems is the older stock centerboard itself; being cast iron and subject to the rusting & expansion problems makes it a major contributor to cracking of the trunk. The HDPE centerboard is very slippery, nothing sticks to this stuff not even epoxy paints. So rusting and expansion is eliminated. So all I have to do is be careful when beaching the boat and possibly cracking the trunk. That's about the only way I'll compromise the steel ballast."
What is inside the cabin area of the Flush Deck M17?
"The interior is very spartan. No hull liner and two six foot plus bunks and that's it... by design. Jerry wanted a lighter weight racing hull."
It looks like you have never had an auxiliary on the transom. Do you ever run an outboard?
"Never have. My aux power is two long oars. AKA: Norwegian Steam :) "
Where is your home port?
"Amy is a California girl through and through, She was made here and she is sailed primarily out of Marina Del Rey, California. But I want to hit a few of the lakes that ring Los Angeles this year."
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Hull Number 103
Center top photo "Dancing with Amy" by Retired LAPD officer, Stacy McCain using a Canon XTi and Peleng 8mm Fish eye lens.