hi, I`m new to this excellent forum, I`ve just bought a P15, I live in the UK, where there are very few of these fine cats. I will need to dimantle the boat for storage in the winter time, and I notice that the cross-beams un bolt from the hulls . Great, but I have a fear that nuts may not be "captive", when I unscrew the bolts, and then i would have a difficult job of retriving them again. Can any one confirm that dismantling the cross-beams, and reassembly is straight forward. Also my boat has a jib fitted, but it is very small. Has any one else got a jib on there P15, if so what is the best type/from which other boat should i try and obtain. Many thanks.

Removing the front and rear crossbars is truly straight forward, only the inboard bolts are through hull fittings, just remove the inspection port on the front and the hull plug just under the rear beam and you will find the nuts that hold everything together. When you reassemble just put a ring of silicone in the beam saddles to help make it waterproof. As for the jib, Prindle 15 were only sold as cat rigged or only with a mainsail and were intended to be sailed that way. If you want a sloop rigged Prindle the P-16 is also a great boat. I imagine that because of the lenght of the bridal wires that came with the P-15 (longer that P-16) is the reason for the small jib that was added. I can remember sailing a P-18 and getting beat to the weather mark by P-15s, because of thier weather performance without a jib.