RE: Looking for P-19 Characteristics vs Model Year Info

From: Judith Franklin Blumhorst (drjudyb@pacbell.net)
Date: Tue Feb 08 2000 - 17:13:52 PST


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        West Wight Potter Mailing List maintainer
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Hi Paul,

To be candid, I personally don't think there is all that much difference
between a 1994 and a 1998 P19, except for age. You'd be happy sailing
either of them, if you found a nice used one. The condition of the boat,
i.e. the maintenance and care that the boat received, is much more important
than the differences between the models. Same thing goes for the condition
of the sails and rigging, and any upgrades.

There's a world of difference between a neglected 5 year old P19 and a
"bristol" 10 year old. Personally, I'd take the bristol 15 year old.

But you asked, so here's some info on the improvements that International
Marine implemented.

1. Hot-dip galvanized keel was re-introduced sometime in early 1996.
Original HMS's-18's had them, but Joe Edwards eliminated them in the early
1980's. During the following months, several additional modifications were
made - softer neoprenene gasket, four lock down bolts to reduce seepage
around the keel trunk, slighly better fairing on the leading and following
edges of the keel, more gook around the pan where it fits over the keel
trunk. Prior to 1996, keels were painted with galvanized paint, rather than
hot-dipped. (My 1985 keel isn't galvanized. My keel was sandblasted and
epoxied in 1991 and has held up remarkably well, at least as well as
galvanizing would have. So if you get a boat with an ungalvanized keel,
don't despair.)

2. Baja-style trailer was introduced in early 1997. The boat sits between
the fenders on the Baja trailer, rather than above them. Prior to that,
all P19's came on the standard trailer, on which the boat sits above the
fenders, rather than in between them. A minor modification was made in the
summer of 1997 because the "v" in rear crossmember dragged on some very
steep driveways. They just cut off the lowest part of the "v" and replaced
it with a short horizontal piece of steel so it wouldn't scrape going up
steep drivways.

3. International Marine took over the company from Joe Edwards in 1993 and
began building a boat with better attention to finish detail and hardware
components. Example: Finished edges weren't as rough as on the Joe Edwards
boats (I own one of Edward's boats, so I know first hand about rough, sharp
edges!)

4. In 1990, the original handcarved P19 mold was retired from production.
A second mold was used from 1990 to 1997 and then retired. The original
mold was refurbished/relined and put back into production in approximately
July 1997.

There are some very minor, inconsequential differences between the two
hulls. It takes a very practiced eye to even see the difference. There is a
slight difference in the compound curve of the bow. One other difference
is that the 1990-1997 hull is slightly more concave in the aft, underside
section than the original mold, and some folks have incorrectly interpreted
that as oilcanning when on the trailer. With a few very specific exceptions
oilcanning of the underside of the hull is not a problem.

(Three or four specific boats from the end of Joe Edward's tenure, around
1991-2 had problems with oilcanning/flexing at the aft end where they rested
on the trailer bunks (which were on the short side). From what I've been
told, you could really notice significant oilcanning within months of
delivery. Most of those boats were fixed by IM to build goodwill, andf
prevent POtter from getting a bad name. It was a hassle for the owners, but
IM did the best they could and fixed it at greatly reduced cost. I've seen
two of those boats myself, and they look pretty good.)

In late 1999, IM commissioned a new, computer generated mold for the hull
which corrects some of the asymetries of the handcarved original mold.

That's all I can think of right now that I can put a date on. Some other
things to look for are Harken winches rather than Enke, cause you can't get
parts for the Enke's anymore. HOpe you found all this trivia interesting!

Fair winds, Judy B, 1985 P19 #266, Redwing, SF Bay, CA

 -----Original Message-----
> From: Paul Snellenberger [mailto:psnell@besd53.k12.il.us]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2000 3:50 PM
> To: wwpotter@tscnet.com
> Subject: Looking for P-19 Characteristics vs Model Year Info
> Importance: High
>
>
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> West Wight Potter Mailing List maintainer
> dfarrell@ridgecrest.ca.us
> List hosted by www.tscnet.com
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> Hello,
>
> I have heard many good things about the Potter. I am wanting to
> buy a used
> Potter 19' and wondered if anyone could help me. I understand
> that in the
> past 6 years many improvements have been made, i.e. gel coat, stronger
> hull, better keel design and composition, and hardware upgrades.
>
> I'm wanting to buy the best boat for as little money as possible and want
> to be sure to get the better gel coat and keel design. My question is,
> what year did these begin to appear on the 19' Potter? Do you
> know year
> by year upgrades that would tell me when these enhancements and
> others were
> added ?
>
> Knowing this, it will help me narrow down my 'year' search. And
> any advice
> on where I might find used ones would be appreciated, so far they are not
> abundant where I have been looking.
>
> Thank you .
>
> Paul Snellenberger (a soon to be Potter owner, hopefully! )
>



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