| Skipper 20 | |
| Location: | United States |
| Year: | 1978 |
| Builder: | Southern Sails |
| Draft: | 2feet |
| Displacement: | 20000NaN0 |
| Hull Type: | monohull |
| Construction: | fiberglass |
| Loa: | 20feet |
| Lwl: | 15feet |
| Beam: | 6.67feet |
| Engine: | outboard motor |
| Keel Type: | shoal draft fin keel |
| Ballast: | 8000NaN0 |
| Rudder Type: | transom-mounted rudder |
| Rig Type: | Bermuda rig |
| Sailplan: | fractional rigged sloop |
| Sailarea Total: | 143square feet |
The Skipper 20 is an American trailerable, "character" sailboat that was designed as a daysailer and pocket cruiser and first built in 1978. The designer is not known.[1] [2]
The design was built by Southern Sails in the United States, from 1978 until 1981, but it is now out of production.[1] [2]
The Skipper 20 is a recreational keelboat, built predominantly of fiberglass, with wood trim and simulated lapstrake construction. It has a fractional sloop rig, canoe hull with a raked stem, a rounded transom, a transom-hung rudder controlled by a tiller and a fixed fin keel. It was produced in two versions, one with a standard cabin and the other with a cuddy cabin.[1] [2]
The boat has a draft of 2feet with the standard shoal draft keel.[1] [2]
The boat is normally fitted with a small 3to well-mounted outboard motor for docking and maneuvering.[1] [2]
The design has sleeping accommodation for two people, with a double "V"-berth in the bow. The portable-type head is located under the "V"-berth. Cabin headroom is 540NaN0.[1] [2]
The design has a hull speed of 5.2kn.[2]
In a 2010 review Steve Henkel wrote, "this is a character boat of a type attractive to people who think that a sailboat hull shaped like a lifeboat is safer than a hull with a normal transom, In reality, it isn't, at least in a vessel this small. Best features: Compared with her comp[etitor]s, the Skipper 20 has a larger cockpit, with a convenient outboard engine in a well under a hatch just ahead of the rudder, and her simulated lapstrake topsides give her a jaunty antique look. Worst features: Perhaps the designer (who is unidentified in the literature we've seen) expected all skippers to spend most of their time under power. That seems a likely possibility considering the boat's pitifully short mast and tiny sails—exacerbated by a main boom which is needlessly high on the mast. Moreover, the stubby keel is too shallow to keep the boat from side-slipping under sail, and for reasons we can't fathom, the rudder is much too small for effective steering while sailing ..."[2]
