First a little background on the design and the designer: The Montgomery 17 is a Lyle Hess design. Mr. Hess, who recently passed away, is best known as the designer of Lin and Larry Pardey's two boats, Seraffyn and Talesin, but also designed a number of other boats with quite a variation in type, from large, heavy, refinements of English cutters to small trailerables to tiny dinghies.
All appear to have one thing in common: They perform their mission admirably and with a good turn of speed.
Specs:
Length:........................................................17'-2"
Waterline Length:.......................................15'-10"
Beam:...........................................................7'-4"
Draft (keel/centerboard combo), board up:...1'-9"
Draft, board down:........................................3'-6"
Boat Disp.:..................................................1,600#
Ballast:...........................................................600#
Sail Area:.......................................................154sqft
Much more information about Lyle Hess and his designs can be found here. Thanks to Bob Eeg of Nor'Sea Yacht/Mongomery Boats for collecting those articles. Also, there is a very extensive web page for the Montgomery Sailboat Owners Group, or MSOG for short, and a page with tons of photos here.
As I collect more photos, I'll try to include a sort of virtual tour of Busca showing her arrangement and customized things about her that help to turn her into a nice little pocket cruiser.
Busca Under Sail