[Rhodes22-list] placing the boat on trailer

[Mary Lou Troy]

Looks like I left off the last part of the post.
It should have continued:

Hope this is helpful to someone.
There is more at the link above including Roger's and Stan's comments: 
http://www.rhodes22.org/blew_skies/tip001.html
Former Rhodie Rik Sandberg had this to say in 2002. 
http://www.rhodes22.org/pipermail/rhodes22-list/2002-December/004100.html

Mary Lou
ex Rhodes 22
now the trailerless Rosborough RF-246 Tara
Rock Hall, MD










On 12/7/2019 3:05 PM, Mary Lou Troy wrote:
> I did a search in the archives and lo and behold I found the 
> "Fred/Mary Lou" boat recovery technique. I forgot that a departed but 
> fondly remembered Rhodie named Alex had inadvertently named it after 
> us. I've copied a couple of pertinent entries here and given some 
> links to other entries that I found in the search. All are from 
> 2000-2002.
>
> This entry from Alex and the next one from me are on the Rhodes 
> owner's site in the FAQ 
> (http://www.rhodes22.org/blew_skies/recovery.html)
>
> I will add that whenever we retrieved the boat, we moved the bow stop 
> on the trailer all the way forward to give the bow room to move and 
> then moved it back when the boat was in position. We painted a 
> vertical line on the bow stop arm to mark the spot where the bow stop 
> would rest against the boat if the boat is ideally positioned on the 
> trailer and used this as a check when retrieving the boat to make sure 
> it was where we wanted it. And note that this varies by ramp and 
> probably by trailer - ours was a single axle Triad.
>
> Alex said:
> "Pamela and I used the Fred and Mary Lou technique several times with 
> very good results. They were dry sailors and launched and recovered 
> many more times than most of us. To review:
>
> Bring the boat up as far as it will come. We usually have about 6" of 
> the support bunks showing. If we submerge the bunk all the way, the 
> boat floats all over as you mentioned.
>
> As one person drives and pulls v-e-r-y- slowly, a second person can 
> crank the winch as the bow comes down from on high. We would move 
> maybe a foot and crank, then another foot and crank and so on. The 
> result the last time we pulled the boat was that the boat was against 
> the stop all the way forward, which I felt was too far forward and we 
> backed her down again and let the boat slip enough to allow the bow 
> stop to be moved 4" from the post.
>
> This method works well for our Triad trailer and the R22. As I said, 
> we had the boat all the way forward with no space between the bow stop 
> and winch support post. That probably would be fine, but I think it 
> might give excessive tongue weight at that point.
>
> It seems that the launch and recovery procedures might be different 
> based on the trailer. My old Rhodes had a 1987 Triad that was not as 
> difficult to recover and launch as the newer (1996) Triad that 
> supports Blue Daze. I don't recall anything major in the way of 
> differences, but there was something different. It might be that the 
> older trailers let the boat sit a bit lower to the ground than the 
> newer ones??
>
> Alex"
>
> and I replied
>
> "Wow, what an honor to have a technique named after us! It is, 
> however, patented so you can send the royalties to...
>
> Glad to hear it works for others but I truly believe that you have to 
> adapt the technique (ours or others) to the ramp. The ramp at Bowley's 
> is relatively steep which is one of the reasons we developed the 
> (ahem) Fred/Mary Lou technique. For the last haulout of this year the 
> tide was way WAY out. We could drop the centerboard and have it hit 
> bottom long before it was fully deployed. With the tide that far out 
> the angle of the ramp was not nearly as steep as usual. We've never 
> used the tongue extender at Bowley's and didn't this time but we could 
> have, as the tailpipe of the Blazer was bubbling away. We normally 
> have the bunks just breaking the surface of the water. This time, with 
> the Blazer backed as far as we could without it drowning (or giving up 
> and actually using the extender) the best we could do was leave about 
> 6" to 8" showing. Fred was able to winch it all the way forward 
> because the angle was less steep. We did take up a little slack as we 
> pulled her out but not nearly as much as usual because the stern was 
> already mostly supported by the bunks.
>
> We've marked the ideal position of the bow support with a bit of red 
> paint. We were right on the money this time and could really tell the 
> difference trailering her home. She was only about an inch and a half 
> further forward than she was last year but what a difference it made 
> in the ride. We also took the rudder off and stowed it in the car and 
> took the anchor out of the lazarette to lighten the load aft.
>
> Now that we are taking a slip I guess we'll get out of practice.
>
> Mary Lou
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Hope this is helpful to someone.
>
> There is more at the link above and Roger's and Stan's comments are 
> here: http://www.rhodes22.org/blew_skies/tip001.html  also from the 
> Rhodes owner's FAQ
>
> Former Rhodie Rik Sandber had this to say in 2002
>
>
>
>
> On 12/7/2019 11:44 AM, Graham Stewart wrote:
>> Roger says that placing the boat in the correct location "is an 
>> adjustment you do once". I can adjust the bow bracket into what would 
>> seem to be the correct position but have had a devil of a time 
>> actually placing the boat that far forward. While the boat is still 
>> in the water I can draw the bow into the bracket but as the boat is 
>> drawn out of the water and the stern lowers onto the bunk there is 
>> enormous pressure exerted onto the hull at the forward end of the 
>> bunks and as soon as the winch is released the bow springs up and 
>> away from the bracket.
>>   When I stripped the bottom of paint I found a mass of hairline 
>> cracks and permanent depressions on either side of the hull where the 
>> front posts of the bunks are located. That didn't seem right to me 
>> and now that it has been repaired I am reluctant to risk damaging the 
>> hull again.
>>   I only tow my boat a few miles to the ramp and back going a low 
>> speed so I don't worry about getting the boat forward but if I were 
>> to take it on a longer trip at highway speeds I would be much more 
>> concerned to get the boat properly balanced on the trailer.
>>   Others have mentioned the same problem and I am wondering if those 
>> who have solved this problem might give advice on how they balance 
>> the boat on the trailer.
>>   Thanks,
>>   Graham Stewart
>> Agile 1976 Rhodes 22
>> Kingston Ontario
>>       -----Original Message-----
>> From: Rhodes22-list [mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On 
>> Behalf Of ROGER PIHLAJA
>> Sent: Saturday, December 7, 2019 12:06 AM
>> To: Dana LeTendre; The Rhodes 22 Email List
>> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Trailering with outboard
>>   Dana,
>>   How many outboards on power boats do you see being trailered down 
>> the road?  How many do you see with the outboard removed and secured 
>> inside the hull?  The Rhodes 22 transom is built like a tank.  Having 
>> the rudder and motor mounted won’t hurt anything.  As long as the 
>> weight of the motor and rudder don’t affect the trailer tongue weight 
>> too much and cause instability on the highway, removing them for 
>> trailering is waste of time and energy.  Getting the tongue weight 
>> correct is simply a matter of moving the boat fore and aft on the 
>> bunks until at least 10% of the total weight is on the tongue.  It’s 
>> an adjustment you do once and it’s done.  While it doesn’t hurt 
>> anything to remove the rudder and motor, there is plenty involved 
>> with rigging and unrigging the boat without messing around with the 
>> rudder and motor too.
>>   Roger Pihlaja
>> S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
>