I’m not very familiar with this boat and there is one for sale that looks pretty clean. Anyone have any experience with one? Worth buying for a decent price?
I have a Prindle 18-2 which is similar. If what you are looking for is a clean boat it would be worth buying for a decent price.
The real question is what do you wanna use it for. The boat is light, fast, has a big sail; and by some accounts needs a big crew (400 pounds crew weight). It is sorta Tornado clone.
Without knowing what you are expecting out of a boat it is not easy to answer your question.
Your post actually answered a lot of the questions I had. 400 lb crew weight is perfect for San Diego light air! I absolutely love the 18-2 so this may be a good choice for me! I was looking and buying a tornado but the storage is the biggest issue. I absolutely want to upgrade from my old p16 so this may be a good picker
P19's are great boats. i have sailed 19's and 19mx's. fun and fast boats, powerful (anther boat based off the olympic racing catamaran of the 70's through the early 2000's) so it is a race boat. can be depowered, and fine for island hopping / cruising: but at it's dna it is a racecat
but with a furling jib, correct sheeting settings all around, and knowledgable skipper (that weighs more than jockey) should be able to handle it in light to med-heavy air solo-
i am 180 and own a 5.5 and 6.0 of the same cat design. i love my 5.5 solo in most winds, appreciate some rail meat in heavier air - my 6.0 i don't enjoy in big air solo - so i reduce sail area by using my smaller (5.5) main and jib for days that look gusty or a bit too much for me to enjoy.
i need crew for heavy air or i am out of my "comfort zone"
if your talking about the one for $1900 - looks pretty good but I would need lots more pics - usual rust and wear spots esp
and details details details.. ask about any repairs, soft spots, rust spots, replaced parts, any known issues, what would he do maintenance on next if he kept it, salt or lake exposure? what has he done for maintenance, basically all those qustions about the trailer too, when can we rig it? when can we take it sailing? etc
jib sounds dead (usable but blown out aka ... dead), tramp restitched sounds like it is end of life ... so there is about $1k in needed/could really benefit from updating eqip off the bat can't tell if the main is an older mylar but if it is they have short lives with poor storing ... and that's a pricey thing to replace ...
Never owned one but sailed one a few times. The only thing I didn't like was the hard angle where the hull and deck meet. Hard on your butt and bare feet when on the wire. I remember trapezing low enough to where my feet were flat against the hull. Supercat got it right with it's really round hulls. The P-19 was easy to right from capsize with two of us. The P-19 has centerboards so you're looking at some mechanism there which could be a source of problems. A fast powerful boat, if done right will be awesome!
Not sure how the 19 centerboard set up is but on my 18-2 which is based on the 19 the centerboard "mechanism" seems very bulletproof to me. There are two slots in the centerboard slot the board fits in and circular "bumps" on the centerboard that fit in indentations in the centerboard case. Not really anything to go wrong.
I love my 19, Ive made a bunch of small changes to mine but she is still the prindle 19. I havent had any problems with the centerboards leaking. I did however have my pucks break so i built a bungie system to pull the boards down. the best change ive made to my boat is going to Randy Smyth and having him make me a more efficent square top sail plan. she is so much more responsive and better handling single hand in up to 25 than she ever would have been with the old pin top.
The other change ive made is going to a full synthetic on the rig. it has allowed ease of rigging and tensioning.
I have had a P-19 and a modified 18-2 since 1990-ish. I had turbo charged my 19. I added a bow foil and a larger jib and a square top main. The jib area was a bit smaller than the MX, but I could furl the jib and the MX owed me time. The Prindles do ok in light air. But, that is relative to other cats of their size. Ultimately, a Nacra 6.0 will do the best in SD. The Prindle centerboards are a great feature for the boats. They will handle 400# crew weight. Just remember that lighter is faster. The cneterboard trunks on the Nacras prove to be a challenge. I have owned 2 N5.8s and a N5.0. Raced many years on a N6.0. I have rigged my Prindle boards to shock load down. The main reason was for mark roundings where the crew would just release the board and keep working on their other items. It does make it nice if you hit something, they will retract and held down to break something.
-- Scott
Prindle Fleet 2
TCDYC
Prindle 18-2 Mod "FrankenKitty"
Tornado Classic "Fast Furniture"
Prindle 19 "Mr. Wiggly"
Nacra 5.8 "De ja vu"
Nacra 5.0
Nacra 5.8
Tornadoes (Reg White) --
I moved up to the P19 from a H18. It's way more boat and took a little while to get really comfortable with. My first time out on it was really unnerving in how it handled steering wise, and I instantly had buyers regret. After checking out the rudders more closely, one was raked forward and one raked back. And they were misaligned. Once I got those issues resolved, the next sail was a dream in comparison.
For my purpose of make trips to Santa Cruz Island, I determined it would be fragile for landings on rocky beaches compared to the H18 which is a tank. During a Wet Weds in heavy air, I nearly broke the boat in half buckling one of the bows at the front crossbeam. I fixed the boat and added subdecks which gave me a good view of just how lightly the boat is constructed. I think a landing any of the north shore rocky beaches of Santa Cruz would probably punch holes in it.
I have since acquired another P19 and have yet to sail the repaired one. I do a lot of solo sailing on the boat and it is very well behaved in that regard, equipped with solo righting pole that allows me to right the boat myself. When crewed, my buddy is a bit on the large side at 6' 7" and 210. I've had the boat at speed in really rough stuff, with all 400 lbs of us out on the wire. Coming off the tops of waves and the leeward bow slamming into the next one. No issues, no stress cracks, so this boat is solid. I initially beat boats up to build my confidence in them before making a channel crossing. I'm thinking of getting this one on the south side of the island where the beaches are sand. Or I may take the repaired one and add a bunch of glass to the lower portions of the hulls and use that one anywhere on the island.
I am running radial cut sails with a square top main. Not getting good performance on the race course, I am now playing around with mast bend after contacting the sail maker. Interestingly, the square top has a shorter foot that actually gives the sail less area than a stock P19 Main. The jury is still out for me on this, as I am still playing with stuff to see if I can get more out of the boat.
Another small modification I made is adding a block internal to each tiller, giving me a 2:1 purchase on the rudder raising line. I found the stock setup to take a ridiculous amount of force on the line to get the rudder up.
For just playing around, the P19 is a great recreational boat. I've only capsized once, and that was solo, trapping out without being hooked in (a real bone head move). Otherwise, I don't think I have ever come very close, even when pushing the boat. It is very responsive, well mannered, and predictable. For racing, it is a somewhat technical boat with A LOT of settings to play with. I figure I could go a good year before I really learn to get the most out of it.
Note that I am running the larger P19 rudders on my boat. The one you are looking at appears to have the smaller rudders. I had these smaller ones on the first P19. Personally, I don't think the difference is that big and should not at all be a deal breaker for you.
-- Bill Mattson
Prindle 19 "Gelli Bean"
Prindle 19 "Cat's Pajamas"
Nacra 5.2 (Will sail her a bit and let her name herself) --
I love my 19, Ive made a bunch of small changes to mine but she is still the prindle 19. I havent had any problems with the centerboards leaking. I did however have my pucks break so i built a bungie system to pull the boards down. the best change ive made to my boat is going to Randy Smyth and having him make me a more efficent square top sail plan. she is so much more responsive and better handling single hand in up to 25 than she ever would have been with the old pin top.
The other change ive made is going to a full synthetic on the rig. it has allowed ease of rigging and tensioning.
Hey Chris. Pm'd you about cost on the synthetic rigging. I've got an 86 19
I just replaced shrouds last year, wish I would've went.synthetic after
Watching your rigging video.
Mind relaying what the cost was?
Edit, looks like 279.00 found the link in your video..thx!!
Same rig as the video. In going on a year and a half of hard sailing....and showing no stretch or wear. I'm still able to achieve 500 lbs on the shrouds. I had a harken barrel swivel for my furler fail last week causing the rig to come down. The synthetic made pulling the rig back on the boat so easy as it just coiled and layed instead of flopping.
Their site isn't displaying images currently but ...
https://www.colligomarine…cts/beach-cat-shroud-set
Beach Cat Shroud Set
from 279.00
Synthetic shroud set, comes with thimble on upper end for Forestay shackle to Stopper Knot lashing system for easy and quick adjustablity. 5mm Heat stretched line with covered lashing system.