[Rhodes22-list] Alice - Right From The Get Go!

[Roger Pihlaja]

Alice,

You're welcome!  As you can probably tell by now, the Rhodes List is a very diverse group of individuals, with nary a shrinking violet among us.  We argue & don't agree on many things - std mainsail vs. IMF mainsail, 2-cycle vs. 4-cycle outboards, lifelines vs. railings vs. nothing at all, etc.  But, we all have one thing in common, we all really like our R-22's.

Alice, if you are buying a recycled R-22, that means you will get a relatively recent model, less than 10 years old.  Keep in mind the R-22 has been in continuous production for nearly 30 years.  Dynamic Equilibrium, my own personal R-22, is a 1976 model & it's by no means the oldest boat on the list.  Although the basic hull shape has remained unchanged in all this time, GBI's policy has been one of continuous improvement.  The result is that the boat has changed & evolved over the years.  The good news is that if you really like some particular new feature, the chances are that it is available & retrofittable onto an older boat.  GBI is such a small "Mom & Pop" operation, that it's very much like a customizing shop when it comes to fitting out a new boat or retrofitting an older R-22.

If you buy a new boat, GBI will literally sell it to you with no winches, no running rigging, & no interior if you wish.  This is the cheapest initial purchase option & might be preferred if you wished to fit out your boat.  In reality, very few boats were sold that way.  Boats are not like houses, there is nary a straight line or a right angle in sight, it's all compound angles & flowing curves.  Thus, carpentry aboard a boat is a much higher, more time consuming, art form than its land-based counterpart & very few people possess the necessary skills, tools, & time.  This is one big reason why boats tend to cost so much & why so many production boats have gone to molded-in interiors to save labor costs.

The point is that R-22's are not built with molded-in interiors.  So, although R-22's are somewhat more expensive than mass-produced boats, to a large extent, you really can have it "your way".  The chances are that any recycled boat GBI puts up for sale will have a lot of options on it already.  It's sometimes almost as costly to remove an option & then refinish the mounting holes so that the repair is undetectable as it was to originally install the option.  So, you probably won't want to delete any already installed options on a recycled boat.  Take a good hard look at the equipment & options lists of any recycled boats that GBI offers you.  Talk to Stan about your sailing & boating skills & what you think you'd like to do with the boat - both right away & perhaps in a couple of years.  Stan has an encyclopedic knowledge of possible options & variations for the R-22.  (Perhaps the only person on the planet with this knowledge!)  He's a great listener & won't try to high pressure you into buying something you don't really need.  However, he's also really knowledgeable about what does & doesn't work well aboard an R-22.  If he gently suggests some particular option would be a good thing for you to buy or not buy, then you should listen because the man knows what he's talking about.  Take a look at the photo web site & FAQ web site as these will show you many potential configurations & options as well as discuss their pros & cons.  If you still have questions after all that, then ask the list, & we'll confuse you further with all of our opinions

Good luck, Alice!  I hope you find your perfect boat.

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium