The Princess Sharpie 22 is an easy to build trailerable, beachable vessel that will happily take you and yours on social sails with several friends, a family weekend, a romantic vacation or a solitary adventure. | LOA………………22′ 0″LWL……………..21′ 2″BEAM……………7’2″
DRAFT………….1’0″-4’0″ SAIL AREA …….210 sq. ft. working sail (stays’l optional) BALLAST 400# DISPLACEMENT 1900 lbs @ DWL Disp./L 87 — SA/Disp 22 — Cp .54 — LCB .547 of WL aft — .PPI 498#
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The sharpie hull shape was chosen for it’s good looks and performance. The long waterline gives a low displacement/length ratio of 87.The V-bottom does add an extra step in the building (compared to a flat bottom), but, it improves the handling and performance many-fold. Because it is so much stronger, the “V” form allows the chine beam to be wider, hence you get increased stability. While the gentle lapping of waves against the hull may sound romantic, try sleeping with waves slapping under a flat bottom forward. It is very hard to make this boat pound.
The shallow keel protects the bottom, and gives enough lateral plane to be able to beat to windward in only 12″ of water. The keel allows the CB to be smaller and less obtrusive in the interior. Offset to port and with half its length under the cockpit, it hardly interferes with the layout. A nice departure from the traditional sharpie accommodations with the huge trunk bisecting the cabin. Additionally, the keel allows the lead ballast to be as low as possible, giving a greater range of stability for the same weight. The basic hull construction, except for the keel batten is stitch and glue. Building requires no special skills or tools. |
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This design was originally done for Chick Ludwig, the owner of Princess Marine. Chick is an experienced sailor and wanted a light inexpensive boat that he could singlehand for weekends and vacation with his wife, or take several friends or clients out for a day sail. It was imperative that he could launch and retrieve the boat alone and with ease, and pull it with a normal full pick-up. A traditionalist at heart, Chick had previously owned a catboat, but wanted a boat that sailed well and was “less cranky”, while still being able to take on the shallow waters of Coastal Carolina. |
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If you are not familiar with this rig, we suggest you go to Why a Cat Ketch? | ||
Shown at the right: our no lofting building method: Two stages of the hull construction … Top: The 3/8″ ply pre-developed sides* (blue) are wrapped around the bulkheads, temporary frame, transom (red), & stem.Bottom: forward sections are diagonally planked with two layers of 1/4″ plywood with staggered seams; while the rest of |
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the bottom is 1/2″ sheet plywood.(green) This method allows the formation of the beautifully shaped sharpie bow while still being simple to construct. The stringers are shown in blue and keel batten in black.*There is no lofting required, because we have done the work of developing the shapes. You just measure straight lines and connect the dots. | |
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The interior is simple, clean, and open. It is a pleasant hide-away from the elements while sailing and has a galley and generous berths (6’6″ & 7’9″) for weekending and vacations. A porti-potti fits between the forward end of the berths. We suggest that young children will like camping on the sole, between the berths. The OB is located in it’s own well, out of the way.
Below, Chick took about 7 1/2 minutes to rig the boat the first time, now he says it takes under 5minutes….single handed. The masts hinge in their tabernacles with the main mast hinging aft and the mizzen mast hinging forward. |