[quote=benedict]I've got a P-Cat. I'm not currently sailing it. Some of this is personal (no real beaches to launch from on this side of the island, kids are too young to take every crew position on the boat, health concerns, etc.) Some of it is functional, and goes back to something BobBill said: It's a bear to rig.
I learned on a Prindle 16. We always rigged with two people, and took a little less than an hour. It'd be dead nuts simple to set a P16 up for solo rigging, and I don't expect it would take much longer than that, except that you'd want to take more time with some of the steps.
With two people our P-Cat takes us about an hour to an hour and a half to rig and get it in the water, and another hour and a half to tear down and set up for trailering at the end of the day. You could shave a lot of time off this by storing it with the mast up. You'd also get away from one of my biggest bugaboos with this boat: the mast is heavy, and stepping it isn't fun.
All that being said, the P-Cat is a neat boat. I bought mine for $1500, not ready to sail. I got lucky and wound up with an incredibly sound hull, solid rudders, a solid mast and standing rigging, and a set of sails that only needed light repairs (new headboard, new jib zipper.) I had to replace all the running rigging, including most of the blocks. I think $1500 was a little much for what I got, but I don't feel robbed.
I'm not sure I'd take one on with the kind of damage you're describing. That's a lot of work, and a lot of missing parts that may be tough to find. Running rigging isn't too big a deal. But if there's rudder damage, missing daggerboards, missing rig, etc. I'd give it a miss. Those parts will be tough to source.
That Craigslist boat seems to be in pretty good shape. I'm not sure that exact boat was used in Endless Summer, though. The sail number looks a little too high. Still, it's in about the shape mine is now. If $1500 is a good price for a turnkey P-Cat, that's actually good news for me. I may sell mine in the not too distant future.
Tom[/quote]
