[Rhodes22-list] splash and more splashes

[The Rhodes 22 Email List]

That's why I prefer to raise the mast on the hard before launching. It also allows me to sail to my mooring if the wind is favorable. 

Stephen Staum
s/v Carol Lee 2
Needham, MA

Sent from my iPhone

On May 18, 2014, at 5:46 PM, The Rhodes 22 Email List <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org> wrote:

>  Due to a broken leg that is still mending, my son and his very, very good
> friend agree to help me splash Country Rhodes Saturday. We got to the lake,
> backed down the ramp, I was sitting on the tailgate of the truck, directing
> this comedy of errors. As the boat floats off the trailer, I tell my son to
> lower the motor and start it. The motor dies, and after several pulls Jeremy
> looks and sees the fuel line hanging down almost in the water. It broke off
> the fitting as he lowered the motor. Up to the marina buy a universal fuel
> line kit and R&R'ed both ends at the courtesy dock. Fire up motor and cruise
> to my new dock and tie up.
>  To set the stage for what happens next, my son and his friend, both great
> guys, but neither are sailers. I start directing the boys in taking off all
> but the last three bungees on the mast, mount the antenna, wind direction
> thingy and the spreader tubes. My son says "are there screws to hold the
> tubes into the sockets?" I said they should stay in there by themselves, and
> they will, IF you have the moved the mast up into the mast step! The next
> thing I hear is a heart sinking PLOP. Into the drink the tube goes.
>  To set the stage for what happens next, it's been a looong cold winter in
> Ohio this year, the water is still very cold, it's 48 degrees air temp,
> overcast and raining off and on. My son's friend, Tom, brought a swim suit
> that he thought would fit Jeremy better than him. Jeremy suits up and jumps
> into the water that I thought was about 6 feet deep. Buy the time he swims
> down to the bottom which is really 9+ feet deep he is out of breath and
> comes back up. Jeremy thinks the only way to have any search time is to dive
> off the boat for a faster decent. After two more unproductive dives, he asks
> if I have a pole to try to locate the tube to have a location to dive to.
> The boat hook was under the water before it touched the bottom, so out came
> the whisker pole. After ten minutes of poking around, he felt  the tink of
> metal on metal. He pushed the pole into the muck, dove down following the
> pole and came up shivering, smiling, spreader tube in hand!
>   While Jeremy was wasting away the day swimming, Tom and I pinned on the
> backstays  and lengthened all six side stays, to compensate for the rebuild
> of the compression post-cabin floor-stringer. We attached the upper stays
> and set up the mast hoist. With Jeremy cranking, Tom and I steadied the
> mast, it went up a little wobblely, but the wind and rain had increased
> also. When it was all the way up, the upper stays were really loose and I
> noticed the spreader tubes in the heel groves of the seat. Down comes the
> mast, I stick in a spreader tube, push in the plastic plug on the shroud and
> turn to Jeremy and say "see they hold themselves in". He was not amused.
>  The rest of the job went by without a hitch, but due to time constraints,
> I'll have to tune the rig later.
> 
>      Jerry Lowe
>    Country Rhodes
> 
> 
> 
> --
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