[Rhodes22-list] Trailer Measurements

[Herb Parsons]

Again, I agree with everything below, but this time with one exception. I'd never pull any boat at 70 mph. I towed my O'Day 25 from Alaska to TX, over 5,000 miles, and my wife and friend both would get nervous if I started going over 55 mph, and at times, even I was nervous going even that fast.

My plan was to use whatever measurements I got as a "starting point", and adjust the bunkers from there, as needed. If my brother ever decides he wants to tow his boat long distances, I will recommend to him he purchase a custom built trailer. As it sits right now, this is his first boat, he paid $500 for it, and I'd be hard pressed to recommend a $1500 trailer for it, at least until he knows for sure it's something he's going to keep doing.

He'll probably be 6-12 months just getting it to stay dry, getting the interior replaced, and learning how to keep it floating and pointing in the direction he wants to go, instead of stuck in the mud calling me on the cell phone to help him get it out.

>>> Bill Effros<bill at effros.com> 7/26/2004 1:56:52 PM >>>
Herb,

If you took a look at Todd's drawings you saw that what he sent was closer to the parts of everything on the trailer than it was to sail measurements.

If you build it and it contains a design flaw that results in your death, who should your insurance company sue?

That was a rough way to restate the problem, and I don't mean to sound hostile, especially coming after Stan's gentle reply.  But it does sum up the most dire possibility with regard to copying some of the engineering problems Stan has dealt with over the years.

When I look back at answers Stan has posted to help people build their trailers, it is clear that one trailer will not fit all R-22 boats.  I'm sure Roger built himself a great trailer, and I'm equally sure Roger would go directly to Stan for help if he were having a problem.

Todd's trailer may be better than Stan's or Roger's, but you simply can't know, nor can you assume that his bunk placement is right for your boat.

If you follow the list for a while you will see that some people are having a lot more trailering trouble than others.  The boat doesn't go on the trailer properly, the trailer fishtails going down the highway, stuff breaks--at 70 miles an hour.

Even though most of us think of our boats as just wonderful expensive toys, we repeatedly entrust our lives to the underlying engineering and manufacturing that makes the boats float and sit properly on their trailers.

I know your initial question was innocent, and you certainly did not expect replies of this nature.

I asked only that you consider the ramifications of your questions, and you have done so.

I'll try to get back to work.

Bill Effros



----- Original Message ----- 
From: Herb Parsons 
To: The Rhodes 22 mail list 
Sent: Monday, July 26, 2004 2:02 PM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Trailer Measurements


I understand the issue of itellectual properties; however, I was referring to bunk measurements and placements I had seen here on the list. I liken it more to giving out the measurements of the sail. Now, if I were asking for the exact parts of everything on the trailer, and all of the information on exactly how it was put together, etc etc, I might agree.

>>> Bill Effros<bill at effros.com> 7/26/2004 11:31:22 AM >>>
Herb,

I'm an author who earns a living off my intellectual property.  I think it's wrong for people to buy what I've written, make a copy, and send the copy to their friends without paying me for my work.

Stan spent a lot of time and money developing these trailers.  Anyone can look at them, say "that's a good idea" and copy the concept, and modify their own trailer, or have someone else build one--to their own specifications.

But to ask people on the list to measure the trailers they have bought from Stan, and to send you the measurements, so you can build your own trailer, or teach someone else how to build these trailers, without paying Stan for his intellectual property, is wrong, in my view.

I'm sure that is not what you were thinking when you asked the question, and I do not think badly of you for asking it.  This has come up many times before, and I only sometimes respond in this way.

But I do think it's wrong, and I haven't said anything about it for a while.

By the way,  there have been people who extended your idea of "send me the trailer measurements," to "why not copy and sell the whole boat"--let me borrow your boat, I'll make molds from it, we'll make our own exact copies of the boat, we'll sell them and split the profit--if we don't have to pay anything for R&D we can easily sell them for less than Stan can sell them for.

Essentially that's what you're trying to do in the trailer department, in my view.

Bill Effros

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