We towed Splash, a Cutwater 30 from Newport OR to Anacortes WA, for the rendezvous. I did my best to make sure we were safe and legal. I had all permits in hand. The tow vehicle was a 2012 Ram 3500 SRW.
20 miles into our trip, we were pulled over by a Lincoln County deputy. After 45 minutes, all he could find was a mirror violation. I also think he is wrong about the violation and will fight it, even if it means flying back from TX. I believe we were in compliance with the rules of the permit. Most of the trip up was uneventful, white knuckle at first, relaxing farther down the road. It takes us 3-4 hours just to get to I5, lots of stoplights and small towns to get through.
Our biggest issues were finding places for restroom breaks. (No rest areas in small towns.) Luckily, I had already converted our head to fresh water and it was usable. The book "Next Exit" was invaluable (except through these small towns). Fuel stops marked as RV friendly seemed to work.
We made a small error heading into Anacortes, as we had programmed Anacortes Marine, not Marina into the GPS.
The red perimeter flags, as well as one Wide Load flag shredded pretty severely. Who knew you could fix flags with 4200? Corner flags were also beating the paint on the truck a little. I will work on that. I understand you can put a license plate over a wide load banner, so next time it will ride on the truck, not the boat. (Just checked that, it would cover the transmission cooler.)The one on the back of the dinghy did fine.
Launched and retrieved on the sling. Pretty easy.
Rendezvous was good, but another story that others will do better than I would.
The trip back was OK, but I had forgotten to empty the water lift muffler. Done at a rest area, the bilge pumps squirting down the road. I also have no idea how the keel drain plug works. My 12 inch wrench didn't budge it. Also, what is the roll pin for, on the plug?
My wireless back-up camera didn't work. The 130 foot advertised range was insufficient. I may play with that some more later. It mounted to the solar panel with double stick tape and it had a great view over the dinghy. Great in theory, not so good in practice.
We were nervous coming back into Lincoln County, as we were told that we would be ticketed, no matter how careful we were, as evidenced when we left. There are some narrow areas and it didn't help when a car swerved pretty far into our lane from the opposite direction.
We got into Newport without incident, then found someone in our storage space. I circled looking for a new spot, when I clipped a trailer. Our boat probably has no damage, except to pride. It is mostly plastic from the trailer that will rub off. The other guy lost about six inches of trim. The moral of the story, never let your guard down. We thought we were home and free.
8.2 MPG on a 2012 Ram 3500 Mega cab. Brakes worked great. Mirrors good enough for easy lane changes.
Other questions will come on different posts.
20 miles into our trip, we were pulled over by a Lincoln County deputy. After 45 minutes, all he could find was a mirror violation. I also think he is wrong about the violation and will fight it, even if it means flying back from TX. I believe we were in compliance with the rules of the permit. Most of the trip up was uneventful, white knuckle at first, relaxing farther down the road. It takes us 3-4 hours just to get to I5, lots of stoplights and small towns to get through.
Our biggest issues were finding places for restroom breaks. (No rest areas in small towns.) Luckily, I had already converted our head to fresh water and it was usable. The book "Next Exit" was invaluable (except through these small towns). Fuel stops marked as RV friendly seemed to work.
We made a small error heading into Anacortes, as we had programmed Anacortes Marine, not Marina into the GPS.
The red perimeter flags, as well as one Wide Load flag shredded pretty severely. Who knew you could fix flags with 4200? Corner flags were also beating the paint on the truck a little. I will work on that. I understand you can put a license plate over a wide load banner, so next time it will ride on the truck, not the boat. (Just checked that, it would cover the transmission cooler.)The one on the back of the dinghy did fine.
Launched and retrieved on the sling. Pretty easy.
Rendezvous was good, but another story that others will do better than I would.
The trip back was OK, but I had forgotten to empty the water lift muffler. Done at a rest area, the bilge pumps squirting down the road. I also have no idea how the keel drain plug works. My 12 inch wrench didn't budge it. Also, what is the roll pin for, on the plug?
My wireless back-up camera didn't work. The 130 foot advertised range was insufficient. I may play with that some more later. It mounted to the solar panel with double stick tape and it had a great view over the dinghy. Great in theory, not so good in practice.
We were nervous coming back into Lincoln County, as we were told that we would be ticketed, no matter how careful we were, as evidenced when we left. There are some narrow areas and it didn't help when a car swerved pretty far into our lane from the opposite direction.
We got into Newport without incident, then found someone in our storage space. I circled looking for a new spot, when I clipped a trailer. Our boat probably has no damage, except to pride. It is mostly plastic from the trailer that will rub off. The other guy lost about six inches of trim. The moral of the story, never let your guard down. We thought we were home and free.
8.2 MPG on a 2012 Ram 3500 Mega cab. Brakes worked great. Mirrors good enough for easy lane changes.
Other questions will come on different posts.