[Rhodes22-list] Dinghy Selection Complete and other notes

Goodness spreadgoodnews at gmail.com
Wed Sep 26 00:13:05 EDT 2012 

Speaking of a sailing pram, Check out the prameke on the bateau.com website.  Everyone could make one in the garage this winter!



On Sep 22, 2012, at 3:28 AM, "Jay Curry" <jac2 at wavecable.com> wrote:

> Thanks Pete. The sailing pram sounds interesting.  I will let my wife know 
> about the pad you mentioned. She may need it when she finally makes good on 
> her threat to replace me with a dog. Thanks as well to the others who 
> responded. I am archiving the dinghy feedback for future reference in case 
> the Sea Eagle I ordered turns out to be a bust.
> 
> BTW. The Lady Washington crew and Captain had been trying to get the dog to 
> go for a day and a half. I petted it briefly when it sat next to me and then 
> turned away just before it decided to let loose. The crew peppered me with 
> questions the rest of the day. They wanted to know what I said to it and 
> what I was petting. Take care.
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "peter klappert" <peterklappert at comcast.net>
> To: "The Rhodes 22 Email List" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> Sent: Friday, September 21, 2012 10:33 PM
> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Dinghy Selection Complete and other notes
> 
> 
>> 
>> Jay--
>> 
>> I really got a kick out of your message. Thanks!
>> 
>> Two comments.
>> 
>> Dogs: Training pads are available for house-breaking a dog & I think they 
>> may be washable & reusable. They have some kind of irresistable (for a 
>> dog) scent. I expect to try one some day--I mean let my dog try one.
>> 
>> Dinghy: I ended up buying a 10' Walker Bay with sail kit because it was an 
>> incredible buy: it had been in the water once & never even been rigged for 
>> sailing--everything was still sealed in plastic--and the price was less 
>> than 1/2 West Marine's list. Mostly I wanted it to play around in the 
>> tidal canal behind my house and to get under Aeolia for various tasks when 
>> she's on her lift. Eventually I'll try towing the dink, though I've been 
>> told it's not a great idea with the R22.
>> 
>> Anyway, I just want to mention that I find the W-B pretty tippy and 
>> unstable. (Also, the way W-B has a block for the sheet attached to the 
>> center seat means you can't sit there while sailing. Besides, you don't 
>> need the block anyway.) But the main disappointment has been that the boat 
>> points so poorly. The canal runs East-West, as do the prevailing winds, 
>> and when the tide is running it's often impossible to make much headway. 
>> Coming back before the wind is fun, but it's over in no time!
>> 
>> I guess I was spoiled by sailing pram I had in the 50s & 60s, a prototype 
>> for a boat never put into production though it got a 2-page writeup in 
>> Popular Boating. It was made of sheet fiberglass (teak outboard mount, 
>> seats and gunwales) and weighed maybe 45 lbs. (The W-B weighs 120.) I 
>> could get the center seat across my shoulders, wade out knee-deep from a 
>> beach, and sort of shrug the boat off so it flipped upright before hitting 
>> the water. This protype had a Dyer dink sail but was faster than a Dyer. 
>> It pointed well and turned on the proverbial dime. I remember sort of 
>> slaloming between lobster-pot floats or mooring markers in the old Block 
>> Island harbor.
>> 
>> 
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Jay Curry" <jac2 at wavecable.com>
>> To: "rhodes List" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>> Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2012 1:09:22 PM
>> Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Dinghy Selection Complete and other notes
>> 
>> Thanks for the feedback folks. I was looking at sea eagle models. Knowing
>> others had used them successfully made the choice easy. We have a model 
>> 370
>> package on the way.
>> 
>> I loved the idea of just beaching the boat, but in the Great Lakes for
>> example the beaches are often very rocky and some serious rocks are often
>> hidden just under the sand. In addition, exploring small islands is often
>> much easier from the shore line than on rough trails inland. You often 
>> need
>> the option of a stowable dinghy to get around. Shore waters can often be
>> rough and you need a stable maneuverable boat to stay safe.
>> 
>> In my experience, most of my fellow boaters at anchor on lake superior, 
>> used
>> their dinghy's solely for trips to shore for their dogs. They would get up
>> at dawn, haul what often seemed like a Great Dane size mutt off of
>> everything from small fishing boats to large sail boats and dinghy it to
>> shore for a walk. Of course this had to be done in any weather and in in 
>> any
>> conditions. I kept waiting for someone to just hold the dog over the side 
>> on
>> a really bad day. I love dogs, but not on a small boat with two people
>> already competing for space.
>> 
>> In October 2010, I took a transit on the Lady Washington from Westport, WA
>> to San Francisco. The Lady Washington is an authentic wooden replica of 
>> the
>> 1787 Brig of the same name. She was instrumental in opening up the west
>> coast to trade and exploration. The replica is now the official WA State
>> ship. It is also the ship that Captain Jack Sparrow commandeered in the
>> first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. It was fitted with a wheel for the
>> movie. Ours had the original tiller back in place. We spent 7 days in 
>> rough
>> seas with no showers and until the last two days, it was all under sail 
>> day
>> and night. We crossed the Westport bar once at night and the Columbia 
>> River
>> bar twice. The captain had a dog on board with its own life jacket and
>> beacon.
>> 
>> Since the dog could not go to shore, they set a litter box on deck after 
>> we
>> left the Columbia River for San Francisco. The dog refused to use it. The
>> Captain did his best to walk the dog all over the ship and kept stopping 
>> at
>> the box. The dog would just wag his tail and look up at the captain and 
>> keep
>> motioning toward the area where he knew the gang plank was always set up. 
>> By
>> the second day, you could see the dog crossing his legs and walking funny.
>> He was bound and determined not to use that box. Toward the end of the
>> second day, The dog was wandering the deck between walks around the litter
>> box and came to visit me. It decided to let go right next to me while my
>> attention was elsewhere. The crew saw what was happening and warned me in
>> time, but I still nearly fell over board trying to get away.
>> 
>> Moving on deck was tricky, you had to time your steps with the motion of 
>> the
>> boat. If you guessed wrong, you went for a tumble. I went for a tumble. On 
>> a
>> trip to the head from my bunk one night, I misjudged my reach to the steps
>> from my bunk, got caught by a violent swing to one side and got slammed 
>> into
>> the stair rail. It left a mark. One of the other passengers misjudged his
>> exit to from the hold in a similar manner and banged his head hard enough 
>> on
>> the hold cover to cut his scalp. He refused any help and spent the next
>> couple of days with a napkin on top of his balding head held down at each
>> corner with Mickey Mouse band-aids. At least most of the time it was under
>> his rain cap. It was an interesting trip.
>> 
>> Anyway, during the rest of that night and the next morning the crew on 
>> each
>> watch spent a good deal of time throwing buckets over the side and hauling
>> up water to wash down the deck. This was sometimes for the dog and other
>> times for those on the crew who were sea sick. The dog seemed to now have 
>> a
>> constant smile and the litter box stayed unused. I decided long ago, that 
>> if
>> we ever had kept a dog on the boat, it would have to be trained to blow up
>> the dinghy and then get to shore and back on its own.
>> 
>> I love cats too, but I am really confused by those who keep cats on board.
>> The cat we kept for 18 years could peel the pain off of the wall for 10 
>> feet
>> around the litter box after a night out chasing critters. Imagining that 
>> in
>> the small confines of a sail boat is nightmarish. I would bet our cat 
>> could
>> have softened the fiberglass. Maybe cat owners with boats have found some
>> feeding routine that helps like a full vegetarian diet mixed with carpet
>> fresh.
>> 
>> Thanks again for the feed back. Take care.
>> 
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