Rick Awesome. I'm so glad you picked her up and were willing to put in the effort to save her. My wife and I flew to San Francisco in July or August this year just to look at her. She was in rough shape. The owner wanted $15,000 for her as she sat. He had told me that she was in great shape prior to our trip, so I was a little disapointed. When I told him that I didn't agree with his valuation he said that he was goning to have a lot of work done to the boat and then I would agree that she was worth $15,000. I offered him $7500 on the spot as she sat. My conditions were that he do nothing to her 'cause I wanted to do the work and have control of the quality of work that was done. We couldn't come to an agreement so we went home to AZ and waited. About three weeks later I got an email from him telling me how great the boat looked and that now it was definitely a $15,000 boat. You can imagine my heartbreak when I saw the "paint" job. By that time we had located another 23 in Bokeelia Florida which we purchased with the agreement that we couldn't take delivery until Nov 15th. 3 months,two hurricanes (one almost a direct hit on the boat) , one brand new trailer, and 5200 miles of driving we have her here and are starting work on her. I saw the price on Tonina begin to drop and hoped that someone just like you would get her rather than someone shopping for a bargain basement priced junker who would just leave her in the state she was. I'm stoked. Glad you stripped all that paint. Had to be a thankless job although I gather there wasn't much prep work so maybe it didn't stick all that well anyways! Hope not! I have a full set of pics of her before the infamous paint job if you want them. Send me an email link and I'll fire them off to you. My address is: Nebwest2@aol.com I can't wait to see your pics. I am so excited about getting our 23 and it sounds like you are also. The folks on this website are so helpful its awesome. Gerry Montgomery himself sticks his head in here from time to time. How cool is that!! I'm sure he'll smile to learn another of his treasured 23's is starting a new life!!! Send me some pics Sean