My new-to-me boat has a dodger, which I've never had before. With TS Hermine now forecast to head right up the coast, I need to be thinking about storm preparations.
At what point, as far as wind-speed goes, should I start thinking of taking the dodger down? Do I completely remove the canvas, or just fold it down and secure it with the canvas attached (if that's even possible)?
On my previous 25 ft. boat I prepared for hurricanes Irene and Sandy by completely removing all canvas (headsail, mainsail, bimini). I even removed the boom! That will be much more difficult with this boat, and was frankly overkill since other boats left canvas up and suffered no damage (except for ones that left biminis deployed instead of folded inside their boots). I plan to wrap lines around the canvas (halyard around the furled genoa, dockline around the mainsail cover, etc). But really don't know yet what to do about the dodger.
At what point, as far as wind-speed goes, should I start thinking of taking the dodger down? Do I completely remove the canvas, or just fold it down and secure it with the canvas attached (if that's even possible)?
On my previous 25 ft. boat I prepared for hurricanes Irene and Sandy by completely removing all canvas (headsail, mainsail, bimini). I even removed the boom! That will be much more difficult with this boat, and was frankly overkill since other boats left canvas up and suffered no damage (except for ones that left biminis deployed instead of folded inside their boots). I plan to wrap lines around the canvas (halyard around the furled genoa, dockline around the mainsail cover, etc). But really don't know yet what to do about the dodger.