Hi Chad, thanks for the comments. The people selling the M-17 are not the owners -- the owner passed away and they are his children selling the boat. I'll ask them to check that the centerboard moves freely, although as the boat is now on a trailer this may be difficult. The boat seems to have been stored in a dry area though, with a cover on it. I get it that you had a CP-16 before the M-17. How would you compare the two boats? Was the M-17 the fantastic improvement everyone seems to be saying it is? Especially, how do you compare the build quality of the two? Mine is a 1985 CP-16 Mark 1 (no centerboard, no bowsprit), but it is in great condition, you couldn't tell this is a 23 years old boat; other boats I've looked at (Precisions in particular) all had their share of gelcoat cracking, repairs, etc., while the Compac is like new. Is this the same experience you had with the M-17? The price difference between the CP-16 and the M-17 is quite a bit, the M-17 is almost double the CP-16. When you say a better system for raising the mast, do you mean a crutch at the front with pulleys, or a similar system? With this, how long does it take you to rig? Thanks, Andrei.