Anyone know if Prindle ever made a 20’? While on the beach yesterday rigging up the boat I got talking to a local gent who seemed to have a great interest in my boat a Prindle 18-2, and, in the conversation he had mentioned that Prindle had actually made a 20 foot catamaran. Something I have never heard of!

Yes they exist. I think they used one in the Worrell 1000 (80's).

So what ever happened to it? Was it a dog, or did Prindle put everything behind the 19 and forget about a 20 foot boat?

I only sailed against it once in the Key Largo Steeplechase. It wasn't that spectacular but in the right hands I'm sure it could have been quite impressive. Think of it as as a P19 on steriods.

FYI: The Prindle used by Randy Smythe in the 86' Worrell 1000 and set the Overall elapsed time record that stood for years, known as the "Sandwich Island" boat was a P19 w/ 10' crossbars. It carries serial #X001 and is extremely light.
It is currently owned by Mr Ronny Kveck of Bodkin Creek Md. and currently is configured with 8 1/2' crossbeams w/ a set of Smythe "MX" sails.

I have never heard of a P20 but would like to know more.

Currently I'm the last P19 active on the Upper Chesapeake Bay

HarryMurphey
P19MX w/spin, Sail#86
TheMightyHobie18, Sail #9458

Sounds like the same boat I saw.

As far as we know, there was only one Prindle 20, and it was owned by Robert Onsgard, who sailed it in both the Worrell 1000 and the Key Largo Steeplechase back in the late 1980's. I will have more information about it for you soon.

Okay, here's what I have found out about the Prindle 20, with information provided by Steve Lohmayer:

It was a one-off boat made by Performance as a special order for Roy Seaman, who raced it in some event on the West Coast.

It is a "stretch 19" -- they added a foot to the aft end of the boat, and it has a 10-foot beam. It has daggerboards instead of centerboards. The mast is about 34 feet (4-5 feet longer than the P-19 mast. The main mast spreaders are 2.5 feet on each side, so 5 foot from one end to the other. Plus, there are smaller, inside spreaders. Randy Smyth had something to do with reconfiguring the mast -- the additional mast height was sleeved onto the bottom of the mast.

Robert Onsgard of South Florida area bought the boat from Roy Seaman and raced it in the 1988 World 1000 (that was after Mike Worrell stopped doing the Worrell and it was the World for a couple of years).

Steve Lohmayer (Key Largo, FL) currently has possession of the boat and won the Key Largo Steeplechase with it in 1992. The last time he raced it was in the 1995 Steeplechase.

Steve says the boat has a self-tacking jib and is set up to use either a furling reacher or a spinnaker, both of which were carried on the boat. The bowsprit was integrated with the forestay somehow, like a Formula 40. (Something about putting on the bowsprit first and attaching the forestay to the bowsprit.)

Since 1995 the boat has been sitting in the weeds next to Steve's house, and now one of the hulls has become home to a thriving beehive.

Tomorrow a beekeeper is coming to collect the bees and take them to a new home. (Apparently, the bee population in general has been dying out, so beekeepers are happy to find new hives in the wild.)

Steve says they are going to somehow vacuum out the majority of the bees into a container, so they can be transported. And then they have to get out the main hive and the honeycomb and the queen bee, because the other bees will go with the queen.

I asked Steve how the bees got into the hull (through an open deck hatch or what), and he says they got in through the open drain plug hole in the transom.

I know this is more than you ever thought you would know when you asked about the Prindle 20. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

P.S. It is going to be interesting to find out what the Prindle Bee Honey tastes like.

Photos of how this boat is rigged with spi and screacher would be very interesting. Hope somebody get it on the water again as the boat sounds like a real challenge.

I hope you are not thinking they would be using both spinnaker and screacher at the same time. They just carried both on the deck and used whichever one seemed most appropriate for the conditions.

Right, seeing how they had this rigged would be interesting. There are severaly ways I can think of doing it, but learning from their experiences would be good. Not many beachcats have gone that route, so it is a very good thing to have documented.

The hull looks kinda similar to the Hobie 20. UC Santa Cruz has one that they built a wing sail for and added a bunch of sensors and a computer in hopes of making a craft that can sail by itself. I see it here in the harbor occasionally. Never seen it sail. Just float at the dock. It's a 2 piece wing that stands about 25' high. I can't find my pics, I'll dig.

Jeremy

I wonder if it was Roy Seaman I was talking to. We have a few of the cat sailing pioneers running around these parts.

When I bought my P19 (Sail #106) it was trailered at the Miami Yacht Club right next to the one-off P20. After I closed the deal on my boat (back in 1989) I went to the MYC to pick it up on a Saturday afternoon and Mr Onsgard was there doing something on his boat and he gave me and my brother the grand tour. I do remember that impressive bow sprit that was about 12-14 feet long. IIRC there was an 'add-on' plug right in front of the fwd crossbeam as well as aft of the rear one.

Jimbo