First the apology. This article is stolen from the Spring 1995 issue of the 
Montgomery Owner's Newsletter. Since this was complimentary issue, I hope the 
publisher won't mind my unauthorized reproduction here.

Second, the commercial. If you aren't receiving the Montgomery Owner's 
Newsletter then this is the kind of article that you are missing. Send a $15 
check made out to Terry Schwarze to Terry at:
	P.O. Box 1091
	Winona, WI 55987

You can reach Terry by e-mail at schwarze@VAX2.Winona.MSUS.EDU

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DESIGN CHANGES THROUGH THE YEARS
by Jerry Montgomery


A HISTORY OF THE 17:
The Montgomerty 17 was designed by Lyle Hess, a well-known and highly respected 
designer of blue-water cruising boats, as an able coastal cruiser; small enough 
to be easily trailered but capable of moderate offshore passages. The first 17s 
were made as fixed keel boats, with a 525 lb. cast iron, bolt-on keel, and we 
took the first two to the Newport, RI, and Annapolis, MD boat shows in the fall 
of ’73 and sold over 30 of them between the two shows, strictly on the 
reputations of the designer and builder and the obvious quality of the boat. 
Several of these were fixed keel boats, but most were orders for the announced 
keel/centerboard version. A total of about 20 of the early fixed keel 17s were 
made and the remain very stiff, seaworthy boats. (These boats are now old 
enough that keel bolts should be replaced for safety’s sake, and I still have a 
supply of the old 5/8" hi-tensile galvanized steel bolts, which  are very 
difficult to find now). Soon after the shows, we finished the tooling for the 
still-current keel/CB version. I believe that the M-17 was the first production 
boat to use end-grain balsa coring in the deck. 

In the late 70’s we made several flush deck 17s, which were a racing version 
with a flat deck like a Soling or Etchells 22, with no house and a small, self 
bailing cockpit. This started out as a lark, actually, because a good friend, 
also a boat builder, agreed to make the plug (mock-up) for the new deck mold in 
exchange for a 17 hull, which he wanted to finish off and sail to Hawaii. I 
made a mold off the plug, and made the first boat, Coyote, for myself. [I 
believe Coyote now belongs to John & Anne Lubliner in Tucson, AZ - kdiehl] I 
took it to the October race in Guaymas, Mexico a few weeks later, and even 
though I did not yet have a spinnaker, finished 6th boat-for-boat on the first 
day and 2nd on the second day. A Venture 17 and I were the two smallest boats 
in the fleet, and not knowing anything about a Montgomery 17, let alone a flush 
deck 17, the race committee rated me the same as the Venture, which is a slow 
boat, and I won by so much on corrected time the first day that I had only to 
finish on he second day in order to take first overall. I also won the second 
day. 

Later in the year, I sold Coyote (to an incredible guy in Tucson who won the 
Guaymas race the next two years with it) to help dig up money for the down 
payment on a house. The flush deck was a little lighter than a normal 17, had 
less windage because of the flat deck, and had a taller and higher aspect rig. 
It was a handful in a blow, but a light air bomb! I ended up building 9 of 
them, but destroyed the deck mold when I moved to the Sacramento area in 1987. 

During the late 70’s we also made 15 or 20 tall rig 17’s; the mast was 1’9" 
taller than normal. Most of these were sold in the light-air areas of southern 
California and Arizona (mostly sailed in the Sea of Cortez). 

In 1981 we retooled the 17, mostly because the molds had had several hundred 
boats made form them and were getting worn out, but incorporated several minor 
changes, like improving the windows, cockpit drainage, and the hull/deck joint, 
and changing the toe rails, forward hatch details, etc. In about ’84 we changed 
from extruded aluminum toe rails to those of teak, mostly because of changing 
market trends. In 1987 we made a centerboard change; from cast iron to 
fiberglass with a lead core. The new centerboards were thicker in section but 
smaller in profile, and I can’t tell the difference between the two types in 
sailing them. This change was made in response to death threats and other 
complaints resulting from the rusting problem common to cast iron. The new 
centerboards are no better, but they don’t rust. The older ones are probably 
more reliable, being cast iron, but we’ve had no problems with the new after 6 
years. At the same time, we changed from steel to lead ballast, and increased 
the total ballast weight from 55 to 600 lbs.

The older, pre-81 17s are nearly as good as the newer; the difference being 
mostly that of cosmetics and other slight refinements, but they are usually a 
good bit less expensive in the broker’s yards. The biggest improvement in the 
1981 17 was the addition of the wet locker, and the resulting improvement in 
cockpit drainage.

Other changes have been in the interior. Originally the 17 had a "three berth" 
interior; a double berth forward and a quarter berth on the starboard. On port, 
opposite the starboard berth, was a molded-in galley unit consisting of a sink 
with storage under, and a place for a stove. A few years later (about ’78 or 
so) we tooled a new interior with four berths, replacing the galley unit with a 
port side quarter berth which was a mirror-image of the starboard berth. 
Neither of these interiors was perfect. The 3-berth lacked sitting room below; 
two people could shoehorn themselves onto the starboard berth and sit there 
like a couple of sardines, but it was far from comfortable. The galley/sink 
unit was seldom used except in cold or wet weather. And its most valuable 
qualities were the storage under, and even more important, the cockpit storage 
behind it, accessible through the port side cockpit hatch. The 4-berth had 
great sitting room for two people (or cramped room for four), but no galley for 
storage, and since the portside quarter berth ran all the way back under the 
cockpit, no storage there. To me, the 4-berth was the least desirable of the 
interiors. 

In about ’87, we changed to the present interior, which is an adaptation of the 
previous two. On port, instead of the galley, we have a shortened (5’ long) 
berth that allows the much-needed sitting room and is long enough for a 
half-grown kid to sleep on, but still leaves enough room behind it for cockpit 
accessed storage. This is by far the best interior of the three and we have 
long since discontinued the other two.

COCKPIT DRAINAGE:
The 17 has a large cockpit with high coamings and has an unusual and highly 
effective drainage system. 
The cockpit drains into a "wet locker" which is at the aft end of the cockpit 
next to the transom, through two ¾" drains. This wet locker drains our through 
the transom, one of which can be used to pass out the fuel line for an outboard 
(or the cable for an electric motor). These are above the waterline and involve 
no hoses or clamps, and are intended to drain off a great volume of water 
quickly. Two ½" drains consisting of copper pipes bonded to the hull and the 
underside of the wet locker portion of the deck, connected by hoses. These are 
set lower than the primary drains, and are intended to bleed off any water left 
in the wet locker. They are small in order to reduce any water backing into the 
cockpit or wet locker from a heavily laden boat in rough water.

A great advantage of this system is that additional drainage can easily be 
provided by simply cutting more holes through the back of the cockpit well, 
into the wet locker, and our through the transom. A sailor planning on some 
real blue-water sailing could add 6 or 8 additional holes, which would be an 
extremely effective system for very rough conditions.

COCKPIT LOCKERS:
There are three cockpit stowage lockers in the 17; a port side locker that is 
quite large and goes all the way to the bottom of the hull and is intended for 
anchor, chain, and rode, but has plenty of additional room for fenders, dock 
lines, etc; a starboard locker in the form of a 21"x8"x4" enclosed box that is 
ideal for navigational gear, winch handles, etc. and the previously-mentioned 
wet locker that is ideal; for fuel storage and a muddy anchor. 

These three lockers all have identical hatch covers that are 12"x25"; the hatch 
openings themselves are about an inch smaller in both dimensions. All hinges 
are stainless, and we use an ingenious locking setup for the port and starboard 
hatches using line and clam cleats, accessible from the interior, that is much 
cleaner than the normal hasps and padlocks.

INTERIOR STOWAGE:
All interior storage areas in the 17 are sealed off by bulkheads, sanded 
smooth, and painted with interior gelcoat. No rough edges and glass slivers! We 
take great pride in our workmanship in areas where you cannot see, such as 
underneath the berths and cockpit. The interior molding, itself, is engineered 
not only for great strength but for utility and abundant storage.

There are three access openings into the storage area under the forward berth; 
one large one on the starboard side over the head, and two smaller ones 
(13x17), one on the port side for access to the battery and to the back side of 
the master switch and switch panel, if so equipped, and the forward opening is 
for access to the vast area forward of the head and battery. I load up this 
area with as much as 20 gallons of water (mostly in 1 gal. plastic jugs) when 
cruising in Mexico.

Under each quarter berth is storage that is p[perfect for anything heavy and in 
small containers, like soft drinks, canned food, tackle boxes, and tools.

MASTHEAD RIG:
The 17 has a masthead rig, with spreaders, upper and lower shrouds, and a split 
backstay. The masthead rig provides more sail flexibility than other rigs and 
provides larger genoas and spinnakers for light air performance. The backstay 
chain plates and the connecting triangle have extra holes to simplify the job 
of adding a backstay adjuster. The 17, like most larger mast-headed boats, is 
usually sailed with a 150% genoa.

ONE-PIECE RUDDER:
We have elected to use a vertical-sliding, one piece rudder on the 17 for the 
sake of strength and reliability. The boat is made for severe conditions and we 
didn’t want the rudder to be the weak link, as it is in most trailerables. The 
rudder slides up and down on a ½" bronze rod so that it can be installed while 
the boat is on the trailer, before launching, in the up position, then dropped 
to the down position after the boat is in the water. The rudder is made of 
mahogany out of 1 ½" thick stock.

KEEL BILGE:
In the aft part of the keel, behind the centerboard trunk, is an open bilge. 
Any water that finds itself into the boat will collect in the bilge and can be 
easily dipped or pumped out instead of sloshing around in the bottom of the 
boat. Also, when cruising, I dump the chain of the spare anchor and rode on top 
of it. This locks it in place where it becomes additional ballast but allows 
the anchor to be taken out quickly if needed. Our 15 had this same ad 
advantage.

 BALSA CORE DECK:
We have more man hours in laying up the deck than we do in the hull! The 17 
deck weighs less then 250 lbs yet is extremely stiff and strong. End-grain 
balsa is expensive and labor-intensive but is worth every penny. The CG (center 
of gravity) of the boat is lowered considerably, there is less strain on the 
hull-deck joint because of the stiffness, and it insulates from heat and cold  
and deadens sound. Spider cracks from flexing are eliminated. Unless my memory 
fails me, we started using balsa in 1974 and were one of the very first 
production builders to do so. Now, most of the more expensive builders use it, 
but the builders of the price boats use plywood or particle board or a slurry 
made from sawdust and resin, or nothing at all. Our decks are one of the 
secrets behind our outstanding reputation. The 15 deck is built the same way.

PERFORMANCE:
I’m the kind of guy that from the first time I went sailing I tried to pass 
every boat in sight, and I’m not alone. One of the fun things in life is to 
work your way past a Catalina 22 and, once ahead and upwind, oversheet just a 
bit to rub it in. The 17 is a giant killer. A well-tuned 17 is very 
close-winded and excels in the extremes. She glides along beautifully in a 
drifter and will outsail most trailerables of 20 to 22 feet in a blow, 
particularly upwind. Boats like Potters and Compacs are so far behind they 
might as well be going the other way, A slow boat is not fun to sail, and I 
imagine that it’s not fun to have a couple of little kids in an 8’ pram jeer at 
you as they overtake and sail past. A boat that is a dog in light air or won’t 
sail to weather against a 25 knot wind is frustrating and a real bore. Think 
about it. I sometimes joke about "floaters" or "floating house trailers" (boats 
that float around rather than sail), but they’re really not a joke if your are 
trying to sail one. I have the attitude that the first requirement of a 
sailboat is to sail well and I take great pains to make the 17 an outstanding 
sailboat.

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