[Rhodes22-list] Hurricane Damage

[Robert Quinn]

Bill:  As always there are lessons learned.  Kathy and I were out of the 
area when the storms hit but we had done quite a bit before we departed the 
area in June, several months before the storms.  We have the boat nestled 
away in a canal not too far from our home behind a friend's home who rents 
the dock to us.  We had stripped the sails, bimini, stored the dinghy and 
dinghy motor in our garage, placed chaff guards, made sure that there was 
nothing lose around (other than the hatch covers).  We had made arrangements 
with friends to double the lines if anything came up. (We will do that 
ourselves this year before we leave for points north in July. The doubled 
lines should be attached to the pilings, not the dock or dock cleats as we 
pulled one out). Our friends also placed an anchor off the dock to keep the 
boat from "crashing" into the dock and dock pilings. This worked extremely 
well for the first storm (Francis).  The anchor was picked up and moved back 
to the side of the boat after the storm passed through.  Everything great 
thus far.  For Jeannine however, one of our friends was not in the area. 
The second fellow saw the line dangling over the side of the boat and 
assumed that the anchor was set.  It was not, so for Jeannine we "kissed" 
one of the dock pilings causing the rub rail to "shave" a couple of inches 
off of the piling.  The rub rail - stainless steel, bent but on the positive 
site the hull was not compromised.  In the process we lost a stanchion base 
(cracked/broke), the mid-ship chocks were loosened / stripped,  the coveline 
stripe was scraped off, additionally a nice scratch in the hull. 
Additionally, the standing rigging was stressed to the point that a spreader 
cracked.  The spreader had to be welded back together, all the standing 
rigging needed to be replaced, and all the running rigging was replaced. 
The rigging issue can to some extent be attributed to the age of the boat 
(1983) but on the same token I had it surveyed in 2003 and replaced the 
forestay, Genoa/jib furling drum and swivel.  (Lesson learned:  Be sure the 
anchor is set to keep you off the dock!)

All in all, a very stressful situation; however, we still have a sailboat! 
There were many, many that were complete write offs.  Our biggest issue was 
getting work done as there was just so much work out there that those in the 
boat repair business were forced to go to a first come, first served basis. 
We had to coordinate between the yard where the boat was hauled, bottom 
painted, and waxed, the rigging company (Mack Sails in Stuart, who did a 
great job), and the hull repair people in addition to lining up the parts. 
We also wound up doing some minor motor work - replaced all of the hoses and 
tuned her up. We also replaced the transmission and acceleration cables as 
they were "sticking" periodically (found that the cable housing was worn 
away at an attachment point).  There items that we wanted to do and the time 
was right.  We also took the opportunity to pull the hatches to replace the 
grommets (not a fun experience).

Other than pulling the boat out of the water and putting her on the "hard," 
I'm not sure that there was much more that we could have done.  Sad to say 
though that some of the boats that were on the "hard" suffered more 
extensive damage than we took.  In two nearby yards, boats were knocked off 
of their stands which created a domino effect - not a pretty site.  The 
yards are re-evaluating their options as well.  One yard up in Melbourne was 
100% successful with their system.  All of the boats on the hard survived as 
they also had tie down points (spider webbed) set into their concrete yard, 
similar to how aircraft are secured.  Many yards are trying to duplicate 
this system.  Other yards in Florida though are going out of business.  The 
ownership has found that they can sell their yards to development companies 
anxious to build condos overlooking the water.  This is a major concern of 
us boat owners.  The state is attempting to come up with some Marine 
Industry incentives to keep these yards from selling out.  The next couple 
of years, will indeed, be interesting.

The biggest frustration was quite simply having to wait nearly seven months 
to get the boat re-commissioned so we could sail.  {:>)

At this point we are considering our options for the 2005 hurricane season. 
Right now leaving the boat in the same place seems the best bet as the local 
yards are not yet ready to do the "spider web" trick done up in Melbourne. 
(The Melbourne, yard by the way, is pretty small and only had m/v housed on 
their property.)  We have a "qualified" monitor to keep an eye on the boat 
this season, so we will cross our fingers that the good Lord and Neptune 
will spare Stuart and the rest of Florida from the devastation of 2004.

Bob on the "NoKaOi"

PS:  It was much easier to"drop the mast" on the R22, put her on her 
trailer, and tie her down in a safe area.  {:>)


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Effros" <bill at effros.com>
To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Monday, June 13, 2005 11:18 AM
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Hurricane Damage


> Bob,
>
> What happened to your boat in the hurricanes?  Could you have done 
> anything differently to prevent the problem?  Are you doing anything 
> differently now?  Are there any general lessons to be learned?
>
> Bill Effros
>
> Robert Quinn wrote:
>
>> Wally's suggestion has a lot of merit.  We moved to a larger boat, a 
>> Tartan 37 keel/center boarder.  While we truly love her, the simplicity 
>> of the R22 is missed.  We "bareboated" in the Caribbean for ten years and 
>> did fall in love with the feel of the bigger boat with the ability to 
>> sail, swim, and snorkel ourselves to the point of exhaustion.  However, 
>> US waters do not provide as friendly an atmosphere.  The Keys are great 
>> when the weather cooperates; however, the Keys are a three day sail from 
>> our home port while the Caribbean is a two to three hour flight.
>>
>> We still have not made the Bahamas as last year's hurricanes necessitated 
>> repair work.  We re-commissioned in late April but the weather has not 
>> been very favorable in our neck of the woods recently - three weeks of 
>> rainy thunderstorms.  We did get a great sail from the St. Lucie inlet 
>> down to the Lake Worth Inlet for an overnighter three weeks ago.  We then 
>> came back up and spent the night on Peck's Lake, a little cut in the 
>> intercoastal.  It was fun as we sailed in the company of two other boats: 
>> a sister ship and an IP28.
>>
>> For simple day sailing though, the R22 is tops. Our plan is to move back 
>> to the R22 when we feel the T37 becomes too hard to handle.
>>
>> Bob on the "NoKaOi"
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wally Buck" <tnrhodey at hotmail.com>
>> To: <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>> Sent: Sunday, June 12, 2005 10:18 AM
>> Subject: RE: [Rhodes22-list] Larger boats
>>
>>
>>> Charter a big boat, keep the R22. I think that is my outlook for the 
>>> next few years at least.
>>>
>>> Wally
>>>
>>>> From: "J Cook" <joscook at msn.com>
>>>> Reply-To: The Rhodes 22 mail list <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>>>> To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>>>> Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Larger boats
>>>> Date: Sun, 12 Jun 2005 09:55:48 -0400
>>>>
>>>> I know some of the list members have larger boats.  My wife has us 
>>>> seriously hunting for one, but so far, I haven't been able to get too 
>>>> excited.  I'm pretty stuck on the R22 design for sailing and ease of 
>>>> maintenance and storage.
>>>>
>>>> She likes the stern swim platforms and all the creature comforts on 
>>>> some of the newer boats.
>>>>
>>>> I like the heavier, older designs with a centerboard or shoal keel, and 
>>>> solidly constructed.
>>>>
>>>> She'd prefer  more of a  floating condominium that could comfortably 
>>>> sleep another couple for a weekend and go to the islands for several 
>>>> months at a time.
>>>>
>>>> I would be just fine with keeping my R22.
>>>>
>>>> Any suggestions on compromise here?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Joseph
>>>> __________________________________________________
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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> __________________________________________________
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>>>
>>
>>
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