Subject: Stowing full enclosure panels on R-21EC
When I was getting my R-21EC ready for trading in to Ranger Tugs and for it to be lifted from the water onto its EZ loader trailer ready to be transported down to the Ranger Tugs Kent factory I had to remove all the full enclosure's side panels.
For what ever reason I had decided to roll each one of them up to the enclosure's roof line in oder clean the boat up some. At a later point I now had to remove the side panels and stow them in the V-berth.
Hmmmm, I thought... why not simply unzip them in their rolled up state as that would minimize stowage space. So I did and was amazed at how easily this was done and they took up precious little space in the V-berth. I placed post-its labelling each one so that it was clear where each panel needed to be installed at a later time. Why on earth had I not thought of this before as this same task was necessary any time the boat was to be trailered as leaving the panels up would cause considerable damage traveling down the freeway at 60 mph.
I suppose this same issue arises for any of the other RT models with full enclosures as well.
The only downside to this maybe that if the panels were to be left in their rolled up state for too long they maybe difficult to hang down vertically when wanting to re-install them. However, I think this should not be a problem as the bottom edges of each panel are typically attached with small looped bungees or clips to the outside of the gunwale.
Anyhow, I thought I'd pass along my finding here for others that may find this tip useful. 🙂
When I was getting my R-21EC ready for trading in to Ranger Tugs and for it to be lifted from the water onto its EZ loader trailer ready to be transported down to the Ranger Tugs Kent factory I had to remove all the full enclosure's side panels.
For what ever reason I had decided to roll each one of them up to the enclosure's roof line in oder clean the boat up some. At a later point I now had to remove the side panels and stow them in the V-berth.
Hmmmm, I thought... why not simply unzip them in their rolled up state as that would minimize stowage space. So I did and was amazed at how easily this was done and they took up precious little space in the V-berth. I placed post-its labelling each one so that it was clear where each panel needed to be installed at a later time. Why on earth had I not thought of this before as this same task was necessary any time the boat was to be trailered as leaving the panels up would cause considerable damage traveling down the freeway at 60 mph.
I suppose this same issue arises for any of the other RT models with full enclosures as well.
The only downside to this maybe that if the panels were to be left in their rolled up state for too long they maybe difficult to hang down vertically when wanting to re-install them. However, I think this should not be a problem as the bottom edges of each panel are typically attached with small looped bungees or clips to the outside of the gunwale.
Anyhow, I thought I'd pass along my finding here for others that may find this tip useful. 🙂