I am thinking about getting either a nacra 5.0 or hobie 16 (maybe a prindle 18 cause there is one close, not sure yet). Anyway my parents have a lake house that I would probably be sailing at mostly. The only problem is that there is no beach-like access to the water, there is about a 3' bulk head. How hard is it to raise the sails with the boat in the water?
From what ive read and heard, raising the sails is usually done on land or in shallow water, which isnt really possible in this case. Any suggestions on this? If you cant tell, I am new to sailing but my dad grew up with a hobie 16 and will be the one teaching me. We were thinking about maybe mounting a winch to the main sail to help?
Thanks for input

Drill a 3/8 hole in tip of bows and attach on foot loop of rope. Attach a set of trailer rollers to top of bulkhead 7 1/2 feet apart. Bring boat nose on to seawall & you & dad reach down,grab loop of line & pull boat over wall. Pete

Thanks Pete,
Im not real concerned with getting the boat up and over the bulkhead, more concerned with being able to raise the main sail with the boat in the water. With such a large drop i dont think we would be able to pull the sail up and then drop the boat in the water.
Thanks for your response though, thats almost exactly the idea we had for raising and lowing the boat into the water.

The first time I took my Prindle 16 out, we raised the mainsail out in the water. Paddled out a ways and then did all the work etc... The next time I went, I made sure to have beach access because it turned into a huge pain haha.

Not exactly sure how the Hobie 16 works, but I would highly recommend finding some sort of shallow water you can work from -- at least the first few times yall go out. Can you possibly paddle to an area and then rig the rest of the boat up?

Looking at the Prindle 18 in San Antonio? If you and your father are hefty size (like myself), I'd consider the 18 over the 16'.

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83' - Prindle 16
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Thanks for the response. I actually found a prindle 18 in katy (by houston). Not sure if it is still available though. I guess if we had to we could always just take it to a boat launch and do it there. I know of a launch that usually is empty. I am 6' 180lbs and my dad is 6'2" probably 220-240 ish. The only thing that worried me about an 18 footer is being able to sail solo, but after reading it seems like that is perfectly fine. There are always boats on that lake to help get it righted if need be.

The P-18 mainsail will be easier to raise on the water because it has an internal halyard and can be raised easily by standing or sitting on the tramp. A small anchor will hold the boat head to wind. I would take a paddle with me to insure I had enough room, especially if the wind was blowing off shore as you will need room to tack away. A Hobie 16 or Prindle 16 will be more difficult because you will be pulling the halyard from in front of the mast.

I own a Prindle 18 and used to own a Hobie 16 and had to trailer both of them and typically have to raise sails on the water at the dock. The Prindle main with the hook and ring is relatively easy to raise on the water, however the jib is zippered on with the halyard inside the jib. The Hobie was the opposite - the main takes a contortionist to raise from the tramp, but the jib was easily raised from the tramp.

Get a jib furler on the Prindle and the jib is no longer an issue. Being able to furl the jib will also depower the boat when you are solo.

Thats good news about the prindle, im going to look at one tomorrow and will check that out.
Thanks for the advice on the anchor, wouldnt have thought of that one

Sold a P18 to a guy out of Hot Springs, AR, he paid me to deliver it and put me up at his lake-front cottage. He had the same problem, 2'-3' bulwark at the waters edge. He wanted to store the P18 mast up at his jetty but I had to explain to him we don't moor cats out on the water. The solution - a floating jet-ski dock. If you see one around your lake, check it out, the double jet-ski dock worked out perfect, the 2 depressions for the jet-ski hulls were almost exact fit for the P18 hulls. Boat is stored up on the dry, mast up, enough floatation for P18 and 4-6 adults.




http://www.jetdock.com/



Edited by the-renovator on Dec 05, 2012 - 12:19 PM.

How deep is the water at the edge of the breakwall? If not more than 4-5' you can sit the Cat on a modified seadoo lift. Roller furling is real bonus if you go this route. Normally I walk the Cat around the power boat & tie to dock, then raise sails.
We do it with 2 Nacras, a 5.0 & a 5.7.

Petes roller idea works well. A retired gent down the bay uses a modified version, utilizing two sections of conveyor rollers, the ones you see in the Beer Store for sliding large cases along. The top ends are secured to his breakwall, the bottoms are kept true by securing a 2x4 across them at the appropriate distance. The weight of the roller section keeps them submerged on an angle. He doesn't have to worry about stopping short of the wall & lifting the bows up, they work like a low friction ramp. He has small winch installed to bring his Hobie 17 right out & hold it. He just reverses the winch to let it slide back into the water.
I use Petes idea, just walking the boat up to the breakwall & lifting the bows.(Depending on water depth, you may have to reach over the breakwall from land). Instead of 2 rollers I have 2x4 screwed to the edge of a 12' 2x10 floor joist. It sort of forms an "L" shape. Hang the 2x4 edge over the breakwall, with the 2x10 laying flat on top of the wall. There is enough weight it won't get lost or move, & you don't have to worry about lining things up,(my breakwall is made of those 4' long flat topped rocks, sharp edges, hard on boats). The boat slides easily on the wood, though I only bring it ashore at the end of season, or if I need to work on it.




Edited by Edchris177 on Dec 05, 2012 - 12:40 PM.

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Hobie 18 Magnum
Dart 15
Mystere 6.0XL Sold Was a handful solo
Nacra 5.7
Nacra 5.0
Bombardier Invitation (Now officially DEAD)
Various other Dock cluttering WaterCrap
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If the water where you are is not deep, waist high, you can do everything in the water. My buddy has a place in FL and is on sea wall. He put a post about 30 ft off shore. We put the boat in tie it to the post do all the hoisting and go sailing. At low low tide we drag across the sand at high it is waist deep. Works great. HTH, Ricardo.

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Lake Perry KS
H-18
N-5.5 UNI +spin
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Where are you? If youre talking about Lake Conroe, the Conroe Yacht Club has a grassy area with a 1' or so bulkhead, and a beach beyond the bulk head. We launch our hobie 18 from there.

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Jeff
Houston TX
1986 Hobie 18 Sail# 13031
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Thanks again for the replies.
The water at the bulkhead is about 6-8' deep. They just got the house so i havent had a chance to measure it that was just what they were told. This is at lake Livingston, not conroe, although im sure I will be sailing at conroe, its only about 10 minutes from my house.

Well, Picked up the Prindle 18 yesterday. It was in really good shape and doesnt look like it needs any work. Cant wait to get out and sail now!

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The water at the bulkhead is about 6-8' deep.

It that turns out to be the case, it complicates things. Risky move aiming for 2 rollers or narrow ramps, you don't want to run up against the wall. It is impossible to jump off into water chest/shoulder deep & be able to do anything with the Cat, unless it is pretty much calm...& in that case you wouldn't be sailing!
You will need to look into some sort of floating dock to tie up to, a pole driven into the bottom, or some sort of mooring buoy that you can tie to while dropping the main. I would recommend roller furling for the jib, that will do wonders to ease docking.
I furl the jib, & if the wind is from a favourable direction, & not honking, head up between my neighbors dock & my powerboat/dock. Have the traveler full out, along with main sheet, you can do the turn on momentum, or hand pull the clew in if you need a bit more. As you come around pop the S hook out of the mainsail clew. I can then hop off & walk the Cat to the dock or seadoo lift I keep it on. The main will go to the null position, though you must make sure you don't turn the Cat enough that it will swing to the shrouds. If it does you won't be able to hang onto it in even 5mph wind.
The big issue will be strong winds, crossing or onshore, very easy to get run against the wall, & with deeper water you have no footing to fend off. An offshore wind is easy, you just luff up on final approach.

--
Hobie 18 Magnum
Dart 15
Mystere 6.0XL Sold Was a handful solo
Nacra 5.7
Nacra 5.0
Bombardier Invitation (Now officially DEAD)
Various other Dock cluttering WaterCrap
--

Thanks Chris. I havent really worked out how we're going to dock it right now. For now I will be going to another lake that has a shoreline until I learn how this thing behaves and all that. I am looking into a roller furling jib, trying to find what all parts would be necessary.
Appreciate the advice. It will be interesting to see how hard the main is to raise and lower while on the water. If its not too bad, im sure we will just lower the main and paddle in. I know its not sailing, but its better than running into the dock or wall.

The easiest way to roller furl would be to get the kit for Prindles at Murrays but if you are determined there are cheaper ways. I rigged mine with a hobie 18 furler drum and a Ronstan swivel on the top. Took some figuring and some mistakes along the way but worked out ok. There many posts about this subject around.

I think you will love the P18. You can really load on the weight if you need to and you should be able to sail it solo and right it solo with practice. I have soloed mine in some pretty good blows but I prefer some crew if the wind is high. The nice thing about about your location is you will be able to make your rudders and down and secure. Prindle rudders have a bit a troublesome reputation but can be just fine with some tuning.



Edited by Quarath on Dec 07, 2012 - 11:37 AM.

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Dustin Finlinson • Magna, UT
Member: Utah Sailing Association
1982 Prindle 18
1986 Hobie 17
1982 Prindle 16
1980 Prindle 16(mostly)
1976 Prindle 16(mostly)
Check out "Prindle Sailors" on Facebook.
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I am looking into a roller furling jib, trying to find what all parts would be necessary.

Here is some info on what myself & others have done. Some of the explanations get truncated, if you click on the photo you will get the whole enchilada.
http://www.thebeachcats.c…ictures/?g2_itemId=88268
Pete Begle had a drum & swivel for $100 IIRC, that is your biggest cost. Look in the Classifieds. You can cut your old forestay & use it again. I'm not familiar with the Prindle, but if it uses a zippered jib up the forestay it should be very similiar to what I did on our Nacras.

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It will be interesting to see how hard the main is to raise and lower while on the water

As long as the track is clean, & not pinched in, it should come right down. If I let go of the halyard mine will crash down...as long as it is pointed into the wind. This is the advantage of a mooring buoy or pole, your Cat, if tied on from the bridal will swing into the wind making raising lowering easy. If you get much of a cross wind the sail swings into the shrouds & hangs up, especially when you raise it.
It is a be itch to get the jib on when in deep water. You can't reach the forestay & pins if the water is even waist deep. I started with a plank across the bows, that gets old real fast. Furling is your friend!

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Hobie 18 Magnum
Dart 15
Mystere 6.0XL Sold Was a handful solo
Nacra 5.7
Nacra 5.0
Bombardier Invitation (Now officially DEAD)
Various other Dock cluttering WaterCrap
--

TXaggie,


You will enjoy the P18 - it is truly under appreciated boat. I put my furler together with new harken drum and swivel for about $100 less then the murrays price for the kit. You will need to cut down the length of the upper forestay to compensate for the addition of the drum, and swivel. If you keep your bridles, you will also need to rig up something that connects to the furler. I took my existing forestay/pigtail to a shop and had them shorten it. The system works great.

Thanks. I took the boat out this weekend and unfortunately by the time we got it set up, there was no wind. It was nice to figure out how to rig it and all of that though. I do have a few questions though.

1. It was quite difficult to raise and lower the main sail. What do yall recommend for lubricant on the sail or in the channel on the mast?
2. The pull cords on the rudders dont seem to work at all. Is there a diagram somewhere showing how those lines are supposed to be run?
3. does anyone make cradles for the hulls on the p18? everything i find is for either a hobie 16 or 18.

Aside from that and finding a couple small soft spots in the hulls, everything worked great. Im planning on installing the roller furl jib and repairing the soft spots in the next couple of weeks.

Check out tabs on top, under photo albums select technical tips, spend some time browsing the different albums that sailors have posted to help their fellow sailors, you will benefit greatly from their experience. Takes a lot of time to post those tips..........

There is a album on the Prindle rudder setup.

Mainsail
1) check your halyard sheaves top and bottom, replace if necessary.
2) check the sail track, clean using warm soapy water, do not lubricate
3) make sure sail track is not pinched from being dropped

If track has been pinched, use wooden dowel/metal rod that is an exact fit in sail track and persuade rod/dowel up track and through pinched area, repeat until rod/dowel slides unimpeded.

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What do yall recommend for lubricant on the sail or in the channel on the mast?

Clean as the-renovator pointed out, but then you can lubricate with dry silicone:


You can get it at

http://www.murrays.com/mm…e=40-0401&Category_Code=

I apply MCLUBE SAILKOTE on the luff rope and the luff (channel) itself 2 per season. It works good and there is no contamination or buildup on the sail.

Also make sure you point your boat EXACTLY in the direction of the wind when you rise the main sail. Even a small angle to the wind will increase friction on the luff.

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Jack B
Hobie 17
BC, Canada
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3) make sure sail track is not pinched from being dropped

Or pinched where it sits on the trailer yoke (thats where mine pinched)

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If track has been pinched, use wooden dowel/metal rod that is an exact fit in sail track and persuade rod/dowel up track and through pinched area, repeat until rod/dowel slides unimpeded.

As always, there are many methods to achieve the same result, in my case:
After conferring with my friend who was a spar builder at the time, I used a small wooden wedge that was the shape of a door stopper (triangle) since the wood would have some "give" to it (compered to any metal wedge) and i could give it a good whack with the hammer so i could reshape the track in 1 swing, trying not need to hit / flex it repeatedly, as this can weaken the aluminum

In addition to looking for pinches, run some 600 grit or higher sand paper along the edges and just inside the track. Works wonders.

I have a copy of the photo that's in the technical section of Beachcats for reference when it comes to the rudders, the need some love now and again. I replaced all the lines with low stretch stuff and replaced all the sheaves, but I think the biggest impairment is that the bolts tend to bend - straight bolts will help a ton.