Well, with all of the advice, but still no prospect for any "seat time", I picked up an H17. It has the roller furling reacher sail, and wings. The price was right, as the boat had been sitting in the guy's front yard under some sort of a berry tree for about 3 years.
3 bottles of Soft Scrub with bleach later, you can tell what color it is!
Just a couple more minor fix-ups to do, and then I begin to try to learn how to rig the thing up!
Since my only previous experience is the Wave, with it's single sail, there are a LOT more halyards, sheets and cables with this boat!
My wife and I will make a crew weight of just about 300 lbs. It's OK if it's a bit slower with her on board, as I don't want to scare her with my incompetence!
If we end up not liking the boat, you'll see it in the classified section soon.
One troublesome point: The two season old factory mainsail was stored away apparently damp for 3 years, and has black stains which I have not been able to remove with Soft Scrub, Fast Orange, Greased Lightning, or X-14. The sail is MUCH cleaner than my kitchen table, but the dark stains really detract from it's appearance. The white reacher was properly stored, and looks like new.
Any PROVEN remedies would certainly be appreciated!
Hope to see you all on the water soon!
Bob Cowgill
Cocoa, Florida
E-mail: rcowgill@cfl.rr.com