[Rhodes22-list] Get the Junk Out

[Bill Effros]

Joe,

The R-22 has so much storage space there's a tendency to try to fill it all simply because you've got it.  Ever since I got my boat 6 years ago I've been taking stuff off it that I brought aboard the first year.  I hope to get all the junk out by year 10.

The criterion is simple: anything that was never used in the previous year is removed.   (Except safety equipment and required items.)

All this extra stuff weighs a surprising amount.

Now that a lot of it is gone, my boat rides much higher in the water.  I pay a lot of attention to trim, moving stuff around to keep the boat sailing straight without adjustment.

My boat is bow heavy on the mooring, with the bottom of the stern almost visible.  I have a light motor, weighing barely 60 lbs.  I don't carry enough extra gas to motor to Panama.  I have 5 light-weight anchors that I move around to adjust trim.  I don't have an all chain rode.   I have 2 batteries, which is one more than I really need.  I frequently empty my holding tank.  I don't sail with a full water tank.  I don't provision an extra keg "just in case..."

When people come on board they provide the extra trim in the cockpit, so I sail neither bow nor stern heavy.  I never see water in the cockpit.  I sail upright.  I can infinitely adjust the IMF and my 175 genny so everything stays under control.  (My sail shapes are neither "beautiful" nor classic--but they sure are efficient--and I sail when everyone else is motoring.)  No one gets wet unless they want to.  Because the space under the cockpit seats is largely empty I can unobtrusively change trim while underway, moving things from side to side or fore and aft.

Watch the water on board to adjust the trim.  Pour a little in the cockpit.  Which way does it go?  Pour a little on the front deck.  Which way does it go?

I never see water in the cockpit unless I put it there.  I have no need for a cockpit drain plug.

Bill Effros




----- Original Message ----- 
From: Ware, Joseph W. 
To: List Rhodes (E-mail) 
Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2003 11:40 AM
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Cockpit Under Water


I was out this past week with 7 people on board.  4 adults and three kids.
We had tons of wind, and had the genny furled from 100% down to 10% and
still brought water over the rail, as well as across the bow.  My question
is, with this many people in the boat, we had water in the cockpit all day.
Is this normal, and is there any way to change the balance forward to
eliminate the stern from sitting so low?

Joe
s/v Whisper

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