[Rhodes22-list] Rhodes 22 Questions

[Mary Lou Troy]

Hi Ron Welcome to the group!

>In a message dated 7/4/2011 11:33:06 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
>amazingmisterx at gmail.com writes:
>
>We are looking for a boat  that will make a good boat to sail in our
>retirement. We like to go  cruising in the Great Lakes for a week or 
>so at a time as
>well as day  sailing. We were wondering how many of you do trips and 
>how  adaptable
>this boat is to do this.

We used to do 10 day cruises on our Rhodes 22. We retired, moved 
closer to the boat and got so busy that we don't seem to cruise or 
even sail much anymore. There are a number of people on this list who 
have cruised on the boat for at least a week at a time. We have found 
the R22 very adaptable to this. I wrote a chapter in a book called 
"Sailing Small: Inspiration and Instruction for the Pocket Cruiser" 
edited by Stan Grayson about the technicalities of choosing and using 
the R22 for short cruises. It's out of print but a copy might be 
found in a library or in a used book source like abebooks.com

One of the nice things about the boat for cruising is its 
flexibility. You can sleep in the main cabin and use the v-berth for 
storage or in the cockpit with the filler cushions. You could sleep 
in the v-berth too but that would be giving up all that storage 
space. The pop-top and pop-top enclosure give you real cabin space 
and extra galley space for cooking. (With the pop-top enclosure in 
place, the top of the cabin becomes an extra shelf - very handy)

>If the boat carries 15 gal. of water,  what do you do
>about the extra water you need if you want to be out away  from 
>civilization for a
>reasonable amount of time?

Our cruising has always been planned with a stop at a marina every 
third say or so to take showers, empty the head and take on water if 
needed. If we were going to be planning a trip away from such 
amenities, I would just bring extra gallon jugs or perhaps a couple 
of those flexible 5 gallon jugs they sell to campers.

>What size vehicel  is needed to tow the boat without putting too much stress
>on your  vehicle.

We initially towed our R22 with a Chevy Blazer - 5000 lb towing 
capacity. It was very satisfactory towing on the flat and for 
launching and retrieving. If we had been towing in mountainous 
terrain we would have wanted something a bit more powerful. We now 
tow with a Nissan Frontier that we bought to two our travel trailer 
6300 lb towing capacity and it's more than we need for the boat.

>How satisfied are you with your Rhodes vs. other boats in this  category?

It my mind it's the right trade-off of space and comfort versus 
trailerability. It sails well as a daysailer, is relatively easy to 
launch and retrieve and is very comfortable for longer cruises.

>We want a boat that will be easy to handle as we age and not  be something
>we have to constantly chase repairs for. If we get a 
>recycled  Rhodes, does the
>factory fix anything that needs repaired including leaks,  etc?

Yes, the factory fixes anything it knows about. If you come back to 
them with something they obviously missed right after purchase, 
they'll take care of that too. Any boat needs maintenance. Our theory 
when we purchased the boat was to keep the systems as simple as 
possible. Along those lines, we went for a porta-potty rather than an 
installed head and when our electric water pump gave out, we replaced 
it with a hand pump/foot pump system that works really well. Leaks 
are always an issue. Our goal has been a dry bilge and that has been 
attainable most of the time we've owned the boat. We have had issues 
with the ports and rebedded them after about 8 years of ownership.

>Not sure what else to ask. Where can I find cruising/trip stories  by owners
>of RHodes 22s?

The most recent cruising stories that have been posted to the list 
are Bill Wickman's stories of his trips to the Bahamas and the Dry 
Tortugas (2 separate trips) and Chris Geankopolis's stories of 
cruising in Baja Mexico

http://old.nabble.com/forum/Search.jtp?query=bills+dry+tortugas&local=y&forum=14229&daterange=0&startdate=&enddate=

http://old.nabble.com/forum/Search.jtp?query=bills+bahamas&local=y&forum=14229&daterange=0&startdate=&enddate=

I couldn't get Chris's posts to come up in the Nabble archives but if 
you search Google for   site:rhodes22.org  baja    most of them should come up.

All three cruises are excellent reading.
There are also some good cruise stories at
http://www.rhodes22.org/blew_skies/stories.html

The FAQ on the R22 owners site is old but contains lots of info about the boat:
http://www.rhodes22.org/blew_skies/topics.html

Best,
Mary Lou
1991 Rhodes 22 Fretless
(recycled 1998)
Rock Hall, MD