BuscaBrisas' Layout & Details

The Montgomery 17 was made with three primary arrangements and Busca is one of the last boats made using the first arrangement. All started with a v-berth followed by a quarterberth to starboard and one of the following to port:
  1. Galley (with deep cockpit locker to port) or...
  2. Quarterberth (with shallow cockpit locker to port) or...
  3. Half-length Quarterberth (with deep cockpit locker to port)
The last arrangement is the one currently in production and is probably the best arrangement for most people because it not only provides the extra cockpit locker storage but also two seats in the cabin. A lot of my sailing is singlehanded, so I can live without the extra seat.

Busca's "galley". Originally there was only the sliding door on the left. A former owner added the pull-out drawer and the fold down door, both very useful improvements.

Inside, there are bulkhead dividers to keep the contents of the various sections separated. This shows a little of the construction.

At the aft end of the galley is a shelf under the cockpit coaming.

This shot shows the stbd quarterberth. It is too tight for me to sleep in but the foot of it makes a good stowage area. You can see a plastic tub containing bedding.

I've since "fancified" the lettering as shown in the photo below.

I held the camera at my feet and this is what it looks like looking aft and to port under the cockpit. Fenders, etc are contained by the plywood wall. On an extended trip, I keep trash in the plastic bags from stores in the space forward of the wall. A leeboard of sorts would help keep it from wanting to slide down towards the bilge...a future project. The loose wire you see was just there temporarily because I had removed the fishfinder. (LCD display went bad).

The series of bolts across the cockpit sole are for the traveller. The hose you see is for the bilge pump. In the distance, not very visible, are black cockpit drain hoses.

The black cockpit drain hoses show up pretty well here. I wish this area were more accessable.

The two aft bolts in the coaming top are the clam cleats, fwd (very top of pic) is the sheet winch. The two on the outside were originally for the stern pulpit which I have removed and now they are for a padeye (P&S) that I use for the sheet-to-tiller self-steering.

The rat's nest that is Busca's present small electrical system. I think over the years it has gradually come to look like this because there seem to be quite a number of wires that are no longer connected to anything. A complete re-vamping of this is in the works, mainly so that I, with my extremely limited electrical knowledge and skills will know what is what. I'll add a wiring diagram when I get that finished.