[Rhodes22-list] Some pre-arrival questions

[Mary Lou Troy]

Tim,
Congrats on the anticipated arrival! If you can, follow Ed's advice and pick it up in Edenton. It is a wonderful learning experience!

Where in Rock Hall?

Some answers to questions below.
> 1.) We are slated to receive our newly refurbished Rhodes in early spring, and will keep it in Rock Hall, Maryland May to October.  I live in PA, so the question is...where do I register the boat? Do I do the same for the trailer? 

Trailer gets registered where you live. 

Pennsylvania law says if you keep the boat more than 6 months in PA it should be registered in PA and the one-time 6% tax should be paid to PA. 

Maryland law says if you use your boat 6 months of more in MD you should register it there and pay the one-time 5% tax. 

We initially registered in PA and then switched our registration to MD when we started keeping it down there from late April through early November. It was not too hard to switch and because we could produce proof we had paid the 6% to PA we did not have to pay the 5% to MD. 

The initial registration in PA was another story. The license agency we used screwed up and it took two state legislators 2 1/2 months to get the paperwork out of the pile on someone's desk at the Fish & Boat Commission. We should have gone direct.

> 
> 2.) The marina specifies 'Complete Marine insurance coverage'. Any thing I need to watch for / know about here?  Any suggestions on a good company, low rates? 

Fretless is insured through Boat/US. They know boats, routinely include coverage for kinds of liability that you might not have thoght of like fuel spill and have a reputation for settling claims quickly and well. We haven't seen our bill yet but word is that costs are going up this year because of the hurricane losses. On the other hand it's cheaper to insure on the Bay than almost anywhere else because it's so benign.

> 
> 3.) What size (weight) and type of anchors do you use?  We will be on the Chesapeake if that helps for a  recommendation.

There's a Danforth like anchor that comes with the boat. We've relegated it to back up because we had an old 12 lb Danforth that we like a lot. Danforths tend to hold well in the Chesapeake mud. There is a knack to setting them but it's not difficult. We have 18 ft. of chain on ours and it has held us in a pretty good blow.

> 
> 4.) Anyone read a good book about Chesapeake cruising lately??

My favorite is old and out of print - Robert De Gast's book about circumnavigating the Delmarva peninsula in a 22 foot sailboat "Western Wind Eastern Shore". I first got it on interlibrary loan and finally located a copy I could afford in an used book store on the Internet. A similar story - almost as good is Howard Walker Schindlers "Between 2 Bays and the Sea" about his Delmarva circumnavigation also in a 22 foot boat inspired by De Gast. 

Best wishes and again congratulations!

Mary Lou
1991 R22 Fretless
Ft. Washington, PA / Swan Creek, MD