Hi,

I sail a P-19mx that I have had since 1991. At your crew wieghts you should be on a P-19 also, anything above 325lbs is 20' boat crew wieght territory. The P-18/2 is a wonderful boat but it was designed to sail in the 275-325lbs weight range with the P-19 being its bigger stronger brother. In fact if you look at the two boats from a distance they a impossible to tell them apart as they are just different sized clones.

All the advice mentioned above is very good. Lets just "fill in" some blanks.

When you have a chance, go and with your palm flat on the hull, rub/feel just in front of the front beam (between the hulls). Does it feel smooth and flat ??? Or does it feel like it has ripples/waves there ??? If you have waves/ripples they are being caused by excessive forces toeing-in the bows. So how can we stiffen your boat to carry higher loading in the rig.

First, The dolphin striker to the P18/2 and P19 are bolted onto the front main-beam. Inspect it closely at the last (outside) bolt/nut holding the dolphin striker onto the front main-beam, the one closest to the hull. When "pushed" excessively the front-beam can crack starting at that hole/point and the crack slowly propagates around the front beam until it catastrophically fails. (been there, done that). If it has started to crack you will need to replace the front-beam.

I had just converted my P-19 to a P-19mx (sq top) when my front-beam failed, what I did when my origonal front-beam failed is I sectioned the old beam into 18" lengths, cut off the luff track portion, and the DROVE the 18" section into/inside of the new front beam. This gave me a double thick front-beam at the point of highest loading, greatly stiffing the front-beam. I also installed a NACRA bow-foil on the boat also. I tried both the N5.5NA and N6.0NA foils. The one that worked best was the N6.0NA Bow-foil. By installing the bow-foil I greatly reduced the "toe-in" loading forces on the hulls that come from the 45degree attachment angle the bridles are configured at that transfer the load to the hulls. The bow-foil is only 9-12" above the deck and I am using Amsteel/Vectra/Dynema for the short bridle pigtails as the SS Wire one breaks very quickly at the marine eye terminals due to their very short length. Currently my angle of attachment in the horizontal plane is 15degrees vs the previous 45 degrees.

If you wish you may use 1/8" amsteel/vectra/dynema for trap wires as it is actually stronger then SS wire and is rated at approx 2400lbs. BUT note it is more prone to Chaffing and UV damage and should be replaced every few years.

I hope my experiences are usefull to you ...
Sail Flat, Sail Fast
HarryMurphey
H18mag/#9458, Fleet54/Div11
P-19mx? #86, CRAC:{Catamaran Racing Fleet(of the)Chesapeak}