In reference to the M23 for sale, I have seen it recently and have pictures of it both before and after its recent paint job. I actually made an offer on it before the paint was applied, hoping to get a hold of it before it went from a "big project" to a "huge project". It is located just north of San Francisco. My wife and myself flew there specificaly to look at the boat about 3 months ago. Its name is "Tonina". The boat was cosmetically in very rough shape. It had been sitting on its trailer for some time. It's hull and deck were originally white before the paint job and I think that they could have been brought back without painting. It is not a hurricane boat. The trailer is in extremely rough shape due to rust The owner reported that the brake system had just recently been gone through in order to have a towing company agree to move the boat.The boat was originally sold in Arizona and used in the Sea of Cortez (Mexico) by the owners father. Eventually the son ended up with boat and brought it to SF where he used it some. The owner is a very nice young guy who is a tugboat captain in San Francisco Bay. The keel has been "re-worked" with a new winch/cable and the owner reports that the board was sandblasted and painted, however instead of rebedding the pins in the glass, stainless bolts were just pinned through the outside of the keel for both the pivot and the stop pins. I did not like that at all but it could be repaired correctly. There were a few major gashes in the leading edge of the keel trunk and the stem of the boat that needed to be adresses. There is an 4" open hole in the cabin house wall at the front of the cockpit ,apparently where an old instrument had been, that has let a lot of water in over the past. Between that and the leaking portlights, much of the interior wood is water damaged or stained. There was a fair amount of water lying in the bilge when I looked at the boat. The owner reported that is was rainwater. It did not seem to be saltwater on inspection. Prior to its recent paint job the boat had multiple layers of either ablative or sloughing anti-fouling on it. From what I can see in the pictures of the new paint job it appears that the prep work was minimal and I dont know if the anti fouling was removed, but by the fact that the boat and trailer were obviously painted as one, I suspect not. The owner reported that the 9.9 Yamaha was "in need of a tune up and service". He said it ran but not very well. He believed that it was something minor. Because I wanted a M-23 and this was the only one of the 18 made that I could find at the time, I offered him $7500 for the boat as it sat. I did not want him to have anyone do any work to it so that I could control the quality of work being done to it myself. Unfortunately, he indicated that he felt that the boat was worth $15000 and that after he had the yard work on it during the coming weeks it would be obvious that he was correct. About a month after my visit I got an email with the pictures of the new paint job from him. It has been for sale on the MSOG site, Ebay, in local paper around the area where it is, and now on yacthworld. Unfortunately, and this is only my opinion, the paint job looks like a quicky and I suspect it wasn't done with something like Awlgrip. If I was to purchase this boat now I would plan on stripping all the paint, and that would be a huge job. I have since puchased M-23 no83 in Florida so I am out of the market. Tonina is in serious need of finding an owner that is serious about Monty's. I think the boat is structurally sound. I did not find and delams or soft spots in the deck. The speaders have been relocated on the mast which caused me some concern. The owner did not know why. She will need lots and lots of TLC, a little glasswork, a lot of trailer work or a new trailer, outboard work....and honestly, I never even looked at the sails other than the fact that they are Mckibbins so I am presuming that they are the originals and just assumed them to be in need of replacement. I think that if someone who is not knowledgeable about Monty's gets ahold of her it will be her demise. Only someone who truly appreciates the quality of construction and design of Monty, and how rare the 23's are (only 18 of the originals ever built) will be willing to put in the time and effort to bring her back. It will be a long journey but its still not out-of-reach. I hope someone does. If you are interested in pics of her about 3 months ago before the paint job, send me an email.