I have had a Skipper 17 for about 4 years and it is a brilliant trailor-sailor. However I am selling mine and it will be advertised in PBO in June. PBO have done a number of tests over the years and you can get back copies. Boat has large cockpit for size, reasonable cabin accomodation and if you have a boomtent like I have you get even more room. We sailed 2 skippers from Levington, round by Shotley point up to Misterly in October in force 6 conditions and the boats had no problems in those conditions. If buying you also need to consider the Trailor and the outboard as both items new will cost almost as much as a boat on its own. I use a Evenrude 6hp and my pals both have Johnson 6hp which is vertually the same engine as the Evinrude. A smaller engine will not drive the boat as vell particularly if you are fighting a strong current. I have taken mine to the Lake District, the East Coast, North Norfolk, Devon and also Rutland Water. It is a really good boat and I am very reluctantly selling because I have bought a Macwester 30 and the wife wants me to reduce my investment in boats.A Skipper will cost between £1500 and £3500 depending upon condition but also upon trailor and outboard. The Eagle is built by Morton Boats between Newark and Lincoln and a seconf hand one will I guess be nearer £10,000. They are near me as I am at Newark and are good people to deal with and they aften have second hand Eagles and Skippers. They have a web site which I think is mortonboats.com or org or co.uk and their phone number is 01522 868689. They are really helpfull and worth ringing about second hand boats.
We had a Skipper for three years and only sold it as we wanted to sleep 2 adults and 3 kids - not possible with a Skipper.
We sailed a lot in the solent and winds up to about a F6 were OK BUT the biggest problem was the stiffness of the rig. I think a combination of a relatively light construction and no back stay. This makes handling a bit iffy in a blow.
There was an owners club who I found most helpful with advice. they are listed on this web site somewhere.
