I recently bought a 1983 Prindle 16. I got a good deal on it but it needs a little work to get up looking and working better. I'm just wondering if there are any tips and tricks I need to know about this boat and any tips for refinishing the hulls and the mast/boom. Thanks in advance!
No Prindle owners here at all? I'm just looking for basic information that I might not be thinking of. Thanks again.
Check out the Performance Catamaran site. They have an assembly manual you can download on line. It is a great simple boat. Pretty solid.
Jonathan Grant
Here is one but I don't really have the heart to type it all up.
If you are willing to phone me than I will tell you what I know which can be told in 10 minutes or so. I'm not to bright on fibre glass repair so somebody else needs to answer those question for you. For the remainder I think I can handle it.
BTW in in Netherlands Europe so the phone call will be long distance.
Send me a mail to wouterhijink@hotmail.com if you want to persue this.
Wouter
If you use the search function on this forum, there have been numerous threads concerning hull refinishing and refurbishing.
Personally, I've repainted my hulls. While I was very pleased with the results immediately after the painting, I've come to discover that numerous beach landings have stripped the paint in a 2" wide strip on the bottom of the hulls from about 1' back of the bow all the way to the stern. Its not noticable unless you crawl up under the trailer, but if I had to do it again, I'd use a tougher paint on the bottom to resist the sandblasting.
My new boat will not land on beaches like my h17. Haven't quite figured out how I'm going to pull it off, but I'll come up with something.
I also have a Prindle 16 - in fact, I think it might be a 1983, but I'm 3,000 miles away from my boat and my papers right now.
I haven't refinished the hulls or the mast/boom. What I *have* done is tightened up the rudders, worked on the alignment of the rudders, checked the hulls for leaks and gotten help plugging the ones I found, ensured that the plugs are water-tight, raked the mast to the proper angle, replaced the line, and replaced the tramp.
These are probably all things that you should check on your Prindle as well. The good news is that any Hobie sailor can help you with these things.
Jonathan
I cleaned up my old '74 p-16, depending on how much work you want to do the order of refinishing is: 1. wetsand all the smooth parts of the hulls (not the textured decks) 200-600 grit should be fine. 2. buff with a grinder type buffer, use the 3m liquid compounds. 3. final step (maybe all you need) buy the gel gloss tub and shower polish at home depot and final polish, I found this is cheaper than the "boat store" gel coat restorer and works just as well. As far as the mast and boom you want to keep as much of the anodizing on so I would not use any abrasives, just a good cleaning and a coat of wax. good luck, I had a lot of fun with my P-16