I sail an 18-2. You shouldn't have hard helm if the rudder rake is set properly. When set right, mine is two-fingers-on-the-tiller smooth.

The P-19 has 18 inches more of mast and I believe a different forestay. An easy way to check is to see how many holes down on the stock shroud adjusters you go to get a tight rig. If you have an 18-2 forestay, 6 holes down should be tight but allow mast rotation. 7 is way tight and anything more than should be near impossible. If you can get your shrouds pinned near the bottom holes, your mast is raked way too far aft which means your forestay is too long. The pic below is almost square on and you can see the degree of mast rake on the rig with unloaded downhaul and mainsheet.

I would check to make sure that you don't over-tighten your gudgeon to tiller crossbar bolts too much. Have you bought the extensioner kit with springs? If not, you should along with the plastic shims to take out the slop. Cheap and easy. Should be tight, but easy enough to move the rudders with one finger. Also, make sure you're not accidentally running your mainsheet from the traveler car over the tiller crossbar down to the tie-off. That'll add tighten it up a bit.

Really hard helm or nasty lee helm usually means the rudders are raked too far aft. Turn the lockdown bolt so that when down, they're about 2 inches forward of the transom line. Use a yardstick against the stern of the transom. Bottom fore tip of the rudder should be about 2 inches forward of this line.

Hope this helps.



Doug