[Rhodes22-list] first road trip with R22

[Chris Geankoplis]

Thanks for sharing your adventure with us. I enjoyed the tale and lesson
too!  Bottle jack, don’t leave home without it.

On Fri, 10 Jul 2020 at 16:40, Jesse Shumaker <jesse.laten.shumaker at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Last weekend, a couple of friends and I took my Rhodes 22 to Rathbun Lake
> in Iowa.  It's about 10 times as large as Lake Manawa, where I normally
> sail.  Preparation and getting there turned out to be more of an adventure
> than expected.  The week before the trip, I realized the brake line on the
> trailer had rusted through and had to be replaced.  Fortunately, one of the
> guys going on the trip is a mechanic and took care of that.  We tested out
> the brakes on the trailer the night before leaving, which resulted in a
> broken bunk.  I saw that right before we were going to load the boat on the
> trailer.  Much better to have that happen without a boat on it!  We
> replaced the bunk, got a spare bunk for the other side (more on that later)
> and loaded up the boat.  For the first time, I used the mast lowering
> system on the water and that worked well.
>
> I picked up a bottle jack and jack stand just before we left the next day.
> An hour into the trip, the driver side tire on the trailer blew.  We
> quickly pulled over since the tire was completely shredded and the trailer
> was resting on the rim since this is just a single axle trailer.
> Fortunately the rim was not damaged.  The tires were 8 ply from 2017.  They
> made the trip from Florida to Iowa a year ago with no problem but appeared
> to have developed flat spots from sitting over the winter.  The shredded
> tire took out a minor side light on the trailer and knocked off a trailer
> guide bar on that side.  I'm lucky it was not more serious.  Anyway, after
> putting on the spare and getting back underway, I found a tire shop a few
> miles away so I went ahead and got all new Power King 10 ply tires.  They
> got us in right away and it was only $100 a tire installed, so I'm probably
> lucky the blowout happened close to that shop.  The trailer runs smoother
> on the new tires.
>
> Upon arrival, we were moved to a larger slip than we had reserved since
> that is where they had availability.  Instead of the small boats for
> company, we were the tiny boat in these slips.  Imagine my surprise to see
> sailboats up to 40' in Iowa.  Some of these bigger boats seem to be used
> more as floating condos with a mast rather than getting out and sailing.
>
> There was a ramp right next to the slip that we were assigned and we saw a
> couple of powerboats launch and retrieve there, so we figured we would use
> that ramp.  We got the mast up on land and proceeded to back down the steep
> ramp with the trailer extension in use.  After we were fully off the
> trailer, the truck couldn't get back up the ramp.  Uh oh.  It turns out we
> backed off the end of the ramp.  Fortunately, we had taken the new spare
> bunk with us and had removed it from where it was strapped to the trailer
> just before launching.  We used that as a giant lever placed under the
> frame in front of the wheels to pop up the trailer and then the truck was
> able to pull the trailer out.  Whew!  We later learned that we used the
> high water ramp (the water was not high).  Unfortunately there was not
> signage to identify it as the high water ramp and there was no mention of
> this by the staff.  Oh well, we came out unscathed other than feeling
> embarrassed.
>
> I was also surprised to see two R22s at Rathbun: one from 1976 (which had
> been recently for sale) and a 2000.  Unfortunately, I did not see the
> owners there.  It would have been nice to meet another Rhodie in person.
>
> The knot meter read 22NM after a full day of sailing on Friday which is the
> furthest that I've gone on my boat in a day.  We anchored out on Friday and
> Saturday night.  We used the Fortress FX7 anchor that came with the boat on
> the first night and on the second night we used a 13lb Mantus M2 that I
> recently bought.  In time I'll be following up with some questions on
> anchoring now that I've got a chance to try out a few things.  I've read
> the anchoring threads in the archives but I'm really curious to see how
> Peter's new anchoring setup (described at https://youtu.be/VeL_3Ir0yQ4) is
> working out in practice.
>
> I slept in the cabin on the extended settee and my friends each slept on
> top of cockpit cushions on a bench.  I had made cockpit filler planks but
> they were content to each sleep on a bench.  It wasn't buggy and we didn't
> even end up using the netting or pop-top on the second night anchoring.
>
> Returning was a lot easier.  We used the normal ramp to retrieve and didn't
> have any problem.  I waded out to check the water depth first to be on the
> safe side.  Mast lowering and raising was easier since we all had been
> through the processes together a few days earlier.  Trailering was
> uneventful on the way back.  My trailer is at the trailer shop for a few
> minor repairs to make sure it's ready for the next adventure.
>
> I definitely learned some lessons about trailering, ramps, and got used to
> camping on the boat for a few days with a couple of friends.
>
> My friends (both are automotive guys) recommended taking weight off the
> tires by using some jack stands when the boat is on the trailer for the
> winter.  Does anyone else do this?
>
> I attached a photo from the anchorage on the last morning before leaving.
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