[Rhodes22-list] New Rhodes Boat Owner

[Mary Lou Troy]

A little late but I thought I'd chime in:

At 10:47 PM 7/31/2004 -0100, you wrote:
>Stan talked me into a single axel trailer because I will be trailering on
>flat land over about 25 miles.

We have a single axle but only trail Philadelphia to the Chesapeake and 
return once each per year - perfectly adequate. We've always been able to 
get proper tongue weight by winching the boat forward as she comes out (get 
her up against the bowstop, pull up the ramp little (1 ft. or so), winch 
again as the strap slackens, repeat until the boat is forward enough and 
solidly on the bunks.)

>He is trying to talk me out of an auto tiller. What do you all think?

I'd wait and see if you need it. If you are going to be single handing a 
lot it might be useful but I's wait and see.

>Seriously, I am planning on buying only this one boat in my lifetime and I
>want to be able to sail it when I am older and much less strong than I am
>now. So I wanted the package with the electric motor lift, etc.

I use the manual lift just fine though I do have to stand on the seats and 
wear my gloves. If you would rather have push button control, I'd go with 
the electric lift AFTER I'd talked to someone who already had one.


>I wanted the self-tending jib.
>Stan says I don't want it. What's your opinion.

Listen to Stan.

Other suggestions:
We love the bimini even though it is in the way sometimes. It's great in 
the sun and helps in the rain. It is a problem when sailing in higher winds 
but its usefulness at other times outweighs the inconvenience of having to 
fold it up in the wind.

If you are going to overnight on the boat, the pop-top enclosure is great.

Ditto what others say about the cockpit cushions. The ones that come with 
the boat are far superior to most of the aftermarket stuff.

Like several others we prefer the layout of the boat with the semi-enclosed 
head and porta-potti. If finding pumpouts is going to be an issue, think 
about a porta-potti.

We have a single cabintop hatch and appreciate the extra ventilation though 
its covered up if you have the pop-top enclosure. We have the opening ports 
on the forward edge of the cabin and like those too. The pop-top enclosure 
covers the cabintop hatch but not the forward ones.

Congrats on your boat.

Mary Lou
1991 Rhodes 22  Fretless
Swan Creek, MD / Ft. Washington, PA