[Rhodes22-list] first road trip with R22

[Jesse Shumaker]

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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