Good morning All,

Permission to come aboard?  We - Paul and Nancy Rhodes of Chapin SC and Savannah GA - are the proud new owners of a 1990 Rhodes 22, purchased from a delightful couple in Delaware.  (They are also on this list and I haven't asked permission to use their names, so I'll just leave it as delightful, which they are.)  Nancy and I are looking forward to the fellowship and experience of the Rhodes 22 Owners Group!

First, though I share initials with the famous Philip L Rhodes, I haven't yet found any familial link.  I'll keep looking!  Actually pictures of him remind me of pictures of my paternal grandfather, so there may be a shared gene or two from the distant past, but I'm not making any claims.

As I joked with Stan Spitzer at our one meeting about 5 years ago in Edenton, one benefit for me of purchasing a Rhodes 22 is that it makes me an honest man.  For about 25 years, Nancy and I have owned a pirated Rhodes-designed boat.  The Cheoy Lee Offshore 40 was apparently slightly modified from the Rhodes Reliant and claimed as a new in-house Cheoy Lee design.  Both classes were simultaneously built side by side in Hong Kong, to the displeasure of McCurdy and Rhodes.  The Offshore 40 has been a great boat (credit to Rhodes), but as we move to get more sailing and less maintenance, expense, etc., it feels good to be able to say we really own a Rhodes-designed boat.

I joined the Facebook group the other day, and was delighted to see that someone is tending Stan's old email address at least in order to sell whatever parts and accessories may still be in stock.  I've sent an email there, and I'll also ask here:
Does anyone have a universal mast raising system (the one that can be used without the trailer), a bimini, and/or a Boom Room to sell, in that order of priority?

And, if I end up creating my own mast system, is there any reason that I wouldn't be able to mount the gin pole on the mast step itself?  There is just enough room between my mast and the sides of the mast step to fit an open-ended slab of metal on each side.  If my slabs were cut with an open-ended slot to fit over the mast step  bolt (and with an appropriate curve on the outside), it seems to me that the gin pole and mast could pivot on the same axle.  I'm sure someone has considered and perhaps tried this before; did it work?

May you each have joy,

Paul L Rhodes