Selling my P165, She-said-no

[Quantico Frank]

fyi, there is a nice review of the U20 in Practical Sailor, https://www.practical-sailor.com/sailboat-reviews/ultimate-20

Sounds fast, Ron— perfect for you. When's your first sail with her?

[Riggerdood]

I'm looking forward to seeing some pics (or better yet in person) of that retractable keel. And, I had no idea those boats were built in Santa Cruz, where we lived for a couple of years.

[tjspiel]

Not many used ones out there and the ones that are, are about twice as much as I'd want to pay, but one can dream.

You ordering from the factory Ron?

[Straander]

Thanks gentlemen, yes, I'll stick around on the forum and hope to still make the annual Catalina trip. I've put a down payment on an Ultimate 20. For those familiar with it, it is a sport boat. I love racing and the Ultimates are quick. The cabin is still quite small, but at least it has one!  All boats are compromises, but with this one I can still do short trips, do more racing and not be totally dependent on a high PHRF rating to win something. (It is embarrassing to be the last boat in!) Also I can still trailer it without buying a new SUV. Plus dry storage is always going to be about 70% less expensive than a slip in Ventura. (I actually thought I had it sold, but the buyer backed out today, because, ok, his wife said no! Honest.)

Oh cool. I briefly knew a fox in Montana who had one of those. I was kinda interested myself because it seemed like my Crosstrek could almost tow one, if you squint a little. But it was definitely a lot more of a sporty boat then would have been suitable for me to learn to sail on.

[eaglecreeksailor22]

Good luck with the U20, you have been a great inspiration to me with my P165 and re-entry to sailing. I also am always on the look out for the next boat, this is sail boat # 13  don't remember how many power. Please post your racing events. Tip I learned, win the start and feed them dirty air. But only works on small lake racing.
Rich

[Brian N.]

Rich - A good start position usually translates to a good finish, on big or small water. The best racers always seemed to be at the favored end of the start line at the gun, feeding dirty air to the rest of us, pointing higher and on a great line to the mark.

[Shesaidno]

Will try to answer some of your questions in one reply.

Went to Monterey last Thursday to buy the Ultimate 20. Bought it on Friday. Spent much of the afternoon at Monterey Harbor with the seller who was great about helping me set it up. He did most of the work as much of it is very different than the P165.

We raced Saturday morning/afternoon in the annual Potter Yachters Cruiser Challenge. We had two races and plenty of wind. Wow, the Ultimate 20 is really fast, as it should be given the amount of sail she carries. fyi, no spinnakers allowed which was fine. We didn't need one. Did not have great starts, but not horrible either. Did not make any difference. The Ultimate 20 just pulled away from everyone including a Santana 2023 and Santana 22. Pointing is amazing and in the second race, we never needed to tack until we reached the mark, whereas the other boats mostly sailed well past the mark until they could reach it, then sailed back down. Remember however that other than the Santanas and a Balboa 21, these are smaller boats, Montgomery 17, Potter 19s, etc. I think we had about 12 boats altogether in two classes, 15-19 feet, and 20 feet and above. Anyway, the Potter people are always super nice and we had another great time. Several of them were also on our Catalina trip.

Price, yes, the Ultimate 20s are very expensive (less than J-boats usually). But I'm not getting any younger. There are very few for sale and when they get listed, even at high prices, they sell fast. The one I bought has a carbon fiber mast, most others are aluminum. Rudder is also carbon fiber and very deep. There were a total of 5 different builders (initial builder was in Santa Cruz) who supposedly built some 200 plus boats. However, rumor is that that number was inflated, i.e., that the builder skipped hull numbers to make it appear that they were selling more boats.  ?

Traileriing--I was concerned that my Subaru Forester would have trouble pulling the Ultimate (plus trailer) with all the gear the seller gave me, three complete sets of sails, main, jibs, and spinnakers, and other stuff. The sails we raced with looked like they had never been used. But no trailer problem, other than the typical bad gas mileage. The Ultimate 20 sits much lower on the trailer than the Wing keeled P165, which I think helps keep windage down. So trailered mileage was about the same, around 17 mpg. Without a boat, my Forester is usually 35 on the highway. Gas here is now $5.00 per gallon almost everywhere.

Accommodations--The total space on the U20 is quite generous, but headroom is less than a P165. Nice long V berth and two quarter size berths that are very deep. No cushions anywhere, but then it's a sport boat. No electrical whatsoever, so I will do that from scratch. Keeping my auto tiller from my P165.

So very happy with the Ultimate 20, just trying to complete the sale of my P165, due all the paperwork, etc.

Link to seller photos that I may already have sent. Best!

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPpiQhofHhG_Zntkbnp-VdmoYI02gJeouXZivZZ5-yIbrseCPWaaoaqrflmvlUoYg?key=SEN1bnp0VVFtX016Z2F5c2JieTVYc2IwTWdkSWNn

 

[eaglecreeksailor22]

Thank you Ron for this report. Sounds like you have found a great boat. Once you get it personalized it will be full speed ahead. There is a U20 at the club I belong to I think in dry lot. I plan to find it and get a visual of what it is all about. Good luck to you.

[Shesaidno]

My pleasure!!!

[Captain Kidd]

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPpiQhofHhG_Zntkbnp-VdmoYI02gJeouXZivZZ5-yIbrseCPWaaoaqrflmvlUoYg?key=SEN1bnp0VVFtX016Z2F5c2JieTVYc2IwTWdkSWNn

Beautiful boat! And she does look fast!

Curious: what does the setup time look like?

[Shesaidno]

I think that once I get my act together that set-up time if I have trailered to a new location will be about an hour or an hour and 15 minutes. Depends on if someone knowledgeable is helping. However, keeping the boat in dry storage will be much much faster. A little longer because the lifting keel must be lowered, the rudder attached separately, and the sails include a spinnaker. Photo shows my new boat to the left with the main sail up.You cannot view this attachment.

[Quantico Frank]

Looks roomy, Ron. What do you figure you're going to do about cushions?

[Shesaidno]

Frank, I'm not sure about cushions but I have been thinking about them. I've got to get the boat set up sometime this week. Right now, we just sort of piled stuff in after the race so my next step is to completely take everything out, do a scrub down, and figure what I really need. The boat is 70 miles away in dry storage so will do what I can during each trip. 

[Shesaidno]

Did my first sail out of Ventura on the new Ultimate 20 with a couple of good friends. Was very happy with the speed. A little video on Youtube.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T41Ur0L8Bko

[Shesaidno]

P.S. My P165, She-said-no, headed this week with its new owner to New Mexico. Sad to see her go, but can only sail one boat at a time. I'll suggest the new owner participate in this forum as you all have great knowledge and suggestions!