Potter 14 vs Com-Pac 16 vs Montgomery 15

This time we explore the differences between the West Wight Potter 15, the Montgomery 15, and the Com-Pac 16.

In 1999 we were hot on the trail of the best minicruiser; “best” being the one most capable and comfortable, while being easy to trail, rig and launch. Personal preferences had caused us to whittle our list down to three, although our minds were certainly still open. The three were: The legendary West Wight Potter 15, the beautiful lapstrake Montgomery 15, and the shippy little Com-Pac 16.

We set about to learn how exactly these boats compared, but while anecdotes abounded, there was precious little unbiased information available. Certainly each boat had a good reputation and plenty of colorful history. Potter lore included Stanley Smith’s battling the North Sea to hand-deliver his boat to a customer in Sweden, David Omick’s trip up the Inside Passage, and at least one Pacific crossing.

The Montgomery camp boasted of outrunning most boats within three-feet of their waterline, and of their boats being “built like an icebreaker,” and Mike Mann’s speedy and comfortable voyage to Hawaii aboard his M-15 did little to diminish the boat’s reputation.

Com-Pac-16 sailor and author Bob Burgess in his book, Handbook of Trailer Sailing, demonstrated the Com-Pac’s capabilities, with stories of his years of adventure-cruising the shallow waters off Florida’s west coast. It was clear the 16 could handle everything from waves to waterspouts with equanimity.

Individual owners of each boat would rave about their model’s strengths, but we were surprised at how few sailors had ever encountered one of the other boats on the water. We were also surprised at how much owner comment was based on stories they’d heard, or “read somewhere.” It was this lack of reliable information that led to our partnering with the Potter Yachters to launch the first-ever Cruiser Challenge—which pits similarly-sized trailerable cruisers against one another each year—and was instrumental to the creation of this magazine.

Just seeing the three boats on their trailers side-by-side was amazingly revealing. It was quickly apparent that the boats we’d viewed as direct competitors were actually in quite different size classes. The pugnacious 475-pound West Wight Potter was really only 14-feet long if you excluded the length of the motor mount. The beamy 750-pound Montgomery was a full 15-feet long and difficult even, at a glance, to distinguish from its larger sister, the Montgomery 17. And finally there was the 16-foot Com-Pac, which weighed nearly as much as the other two boats combined.

Over the next 13 years we editors would watch these three boats race against one another countless times; we’d sail each, and write detailed reviews about them, and between us we’d eventually own them all. What follows is a head-to-head comparison of the three boats based on our traditional review categories. Although we’ve learned a lot about their relative performance and capabilities, and we’ve discovered no shortage of significant differences, to our surprise, our appreciation of and affection for each boat not only remains to this day, in fact it has grown.

Although our experience with each boat has been significant, we’ve also asked for feedback from owners—but only those who’ve owned two or all three models. Hopefully our combined efforts will result in a balanced comparative article.

TOP—The granddaddy of production minicruisers, the West Wight Potter 15. Photo Don Person. MIDDLE—The quick and capable Montgomery 15. BOTTOM—The stout and salty Com-Pac 16.

PERFORMANCE: