The Skipper 20 is a recreational keelboat first built by Southern Sails in the United States, from 1978 until 1981.Henkel, Steve: The Sailor's Book of Small Cruising Sailboats, page 57. International Marine/McGraw-Hill, 2010.
Design The Skipper 20 is 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.
The boat has a draft of with the standard shoal draft keel.
The boat is normally fitted with a small well-mounted outboard motor for docking and maneuvering.
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 .
The design has a hull speed of .
Variants Skipper 20 This cabin model displaces and carries of ballast. With its bowsprit it has a length overall of . Skipper 20 Cuddy This model displaces and carries of ballast. Lacking a bowsprit, it has a length overall of .
Reception 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 ..."
References
External links
Skipper 20 video