As a owner/builder of a CK 17 I can agree on some of what was said here. The boat does have a lee helm in light air. as the windspeed increases as well as the heel of the boat then the helm seems to go more neutral. I'm not sailing the southern ocean in the thing so it doesn't seem to be too big of a problem. Mertens suggests putting a reef in the main as wind speed approaches the upper teens. In this configuration with the sails adjusted properly there is a slight weather helm.
I picked the design because of all the room. I had big plans to do some extensive camping sailing and this design seemed to be a good compromise of the stowage/simple rigging/easy to build/easy to sail requirment that I had.
As far as Mertens himself goes, all I can say is he and his staff have always been there on the other end of the phone for advice. great customer service. His philosiphy seems to be minimal hardware (which can break).
I now have moved to an area with a lot more water, much of which is shallow. I'm considering modifying the boat to a c/b or adding a pin or clamp device to the dagger board to that it can be lifted and locked as the water shallows. However, I might do nothing. Currently with the kick-up dagger board trunk, when I contact the bottom, the board angles then slides up as much as required. As the boat moves back into deeper water, the board drops back down. Come to think of it, thats exactly what a c/b does.
