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Hurricane Preparation

41K views 142 replies 62 participants last post by  Group9 
#1 ·
Hurricane Preparation

Given the impending storms, I feel it would be appropriate to outline some hurricane preparation suggestions/steps for cruisers and boat owners. For those of you that will be weathering your first storm, it will be an experience. I would strongly suggest not weathering the strom on your boat. For the most part, once it is close, you are stuck on your boat for better or worse. That may not sound really bad until it is howling overhead and you cannot even hardly stand up, much less get off the boat. Take note that it is my STRONG understanding that most people who have ever weathered a hurricane on their boat would NEVER do it again. I am one of them.

Remember that many municipalities shut the bridges down at 35 mph, so be counscious of the timing to get prepared and get off the island or wherever you are at.

Preparations check list for cruisers:

1) Fill up with fuel, including gas for the dink. After the storm, there will likely not be fuel for days or weeks and no electricity either. A generator is very nice to have.

2) Fill up with water. Get extra water!!! Get Ice too. You cannot imagine how precious ice is until you can't get it anymore.

3) Fill up your propane tanks.

4) Get lots of extra bug spray and at least one can of raid. The mesquitoes and no-seeums will be unimaginable afterwards. THere also seems to be an abundance of fire ants floating around in the storm surge, amongst other things.

5) Lots of food. Supermarkets will be closed for a many days/weeks.

6) Get out cash. You will not be able to use your Credit cards as there is no power.

7) Get any meds you need.

8) Extra batteries for a flashlight and even an extra flashlight will be very helpful.

9) A battery operated weather radio.

10) A Handheld VHF.

(Boat prep)​

11) Drop everything that can catch the wind. THis includes the jib RF, main, all your canvas, cockpit cushions, and any items on deck. Get them away from the coast if possible. Anything that stays on deck, like the RF, should be lashed VERY tightly. You will be setting on your rail until the eye passes, then the other rail.

12) You are going to have to come up with a plan for the dink. If it gets free, it will be gone. If you can deflate it and put it in the lazarette, go for it. If not, either lash it securely to a tree (against the tree) or securely on deck. The deck may be the better place so you will likely still have it after the storm and it lessenss the chances of strom surge taking it away, but it also creates more windage. That decision is yours.

13) Double or triple lines if you are in a marina. I call it spidering, but I am sure there is some nautical term for it. Basically the more lines, the better. You also, (assuming you are getting a storm surge and not having all the water sucked out), need to put the lines high to account for the surge.

14) Lots and lots of fenders, where appropriate.

15) Chafe protection. Anything that might chew through a line, will chew through a line. If you need something quick, you can try using pieces of hose. You can use old towels. In a pinch, maybe tape... but don't go sparingly on the chafe protection.

16) Assuming you are not planning on riding out the strom on your boat, get off your valuables. This includes ID's, jewelry, documentation, pictures, and anything else you do not want to lose.

17) If riding it out outside of a marina, my suggestion is to find an area where you can spider lots of lines to trees. Mangroves seem to work fairly well for this. You can try really setting in a strom anchor in the direction of expected most wind. You may even consider a "bahamian moor" type arrangement where a secondary anchor take the force when the wind clocks around. It will likely be as bad or worse right after the eye, depending on where you are at.

18) If riding it out in an open bay, all I can say is good luck. Setting the anchors as mentioned before may (MAY) be your best bet. I have not ridden a storm out like this but have seen MANY boats that do. The issue will be the other boats around you that will break lose and either come into you or catch your anchor and drag you with them. A better solution may be finding a canal where you can spider in the docks or trees if the owners there will let you. But in the end, any other boats or large floating debris that can come into you will most likely be your downfall.

19) Anything on the dock will be gone or under water. Clean out your dock box if you have one unless it is items that can be under water for a very long time. ANything else on the dock should be securey lashed away from the dock. THe surge will persist for a while after the storm. You don't want to be tripping through dock debris any more than you have to.

20) Be very cautious of floating docks. Look and see how high they can float before they come off the pilings or are shattered on the pilings. The floating docks were completely destroyed in Gabrielle and anything that was on them or near them was taken with them. Think about that when deciding where to tie up your boat.

21) Consider video taping or taking pics of your items for insurance purposes.

Hurricane preparation starts long before a storm is coming. Everyone will be waiting until the last minute to get stuff, so plan ahead and don't get caught with the crowd... AND GET OUT CASH!! Also, it will take a lot longer to strip the boat than you think. Much of this preparation can be done long before the storm is bearing down on you. About 12 hours before the storm, you may be getting lots of rain bands and squally weather... not a good time to be working on your boat. Make sure you are done before then.

I hope these items help. They are many of the steps we take/took in storm preparation. Again, I strongly urge everyone to get off their boat and to not ride out the storm there. It will be miserable. Feel free to add any comments or anything I missed. I am sure there are items.

All the best. Fair winds and good luck.

- CD
 
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#2 ·
Good job CD...staying aboard is a problem also because of the risk of tornadoes. I would also say lash down the tiller/wheel. Shut off fuel supply and close seacocks (except for scupper drains).

Then go home and read your insurance policy thoroughly for the first time and call your buddy the insurance agent to make sure he got the check you sent him :)
 
#4 ·
All good advice, especially about not remaining aboard.

The only thing I'd add is that, if at all possible, have your boat hauled out. Many insurance policies will now pay some or all of the haul-out costs, since the claim files show that boats on the hard make far fewer and less costly claims. Conversely, boats in slips have the highest claim/damage rate.

Even if you haul, you still have to strip the boat, though. Experienced marinas won't haul a boat out until it has been stripped.

One of the biggest problems diligent owners face is damage caused by absentee owners who fail to prep their boats. Unfortunately there's not much you can do about that (except, maybe, set them adrift? - just kidding) That's another reason hauling looks better and better, especially if it's at a marina that enforces the must-be-stripped-before-hauled rule.
 
#5 ·
Hauling vs Mooring

Thanks CD... good advise. This is our first season with the new boat and we're a bit nervous. We are going through the trouble of getting a permit and installing a mooring but it may not happen before a storm heads our way thanks to red tape.

One thing i'm wondering about is hauling Vs. mooring. Assuming it's a big storm, which is the better choice? I would be worried that there would be too much surface area on the hard and that would increase the risk of the boat being topple over. Of course, we do have insurance. Thoughts on this?
 
#6 ·
Yes, John, if you can haul it is a good practice. Many insurance policies will also pay to have a captain move the boat, or some portion there of. Boat US does, as I recall.

Joel, regarding that mooring, I can only give you my opinion: You cannot imagine the force on that boat once it starts blowing hard. I would guess most morrings will drag unless it is some kind of 20 foot deep into the ground concrete piling. I would haul. Not to mention, all the other boats dragging around you may sink your boat while still attached to the mooring.

One comment about hauling: Chech and see how far above sea level you are on the hard. Storm surge can and will easily get in the double digits. I saw many people dropping anchors even on the hard. Would it work????? I don't know. Many also strapped down their boats securely to the ground. THe positive of this is it may keep it from being blown off the stands. THe negative is that in the strom surge, you may snap the lines or do more damage. I am not an expert in this area. I have never hauled.

Thank you all for the complements.

- CD
 
#21 ·
True, but I guess that depends on the land and my confidence in my own seamanship.

I didn't mean "tough it out on a lee shore", but more along the lines of "get out of the zone if you have 48 hours warning". A roll of the dice, of course, but were I in the mangrove swamps of Belize, going to sea might preserve both life and boat better than the land option...:confused:
 
#11 ·
Thanks for the info, CD and the rest of you! I'm getting a little leary of TS Dean, especially when he hits the gulf as a Cat 4 hurricane. Ironically, my vacation is for next week and the week after... We have all the stuff to prep the boat- TONS of line and fenders (in addition to plans to remove the solar panels, bimini, outdoor electronics, Jim Buoy, dink, main and genny), but it looks like I need a serious trip to Sams Club to stockpile on water and batteries (pretty well stocked on canned food.) We always keep a handheld VHF at home charged- CH16 provides hours of drama to entertain us on the back porch. The only thing we're trying to figure out is how we can secure our garage door in case of high winds. Tampa already got hit by TS Barry this year, so we're hoping that was it. So much for our plans to go to Jamaica next week...

Chris :)
US 30' Wu-Wei
http://www.diysailor.com
 
#13 ·
Chris,

We pulled the cars all the way up against the garage doors the second time (on the inside... close it and push the cars up agasint it with OSB against the bumper and 2x4... cars on the inside of that makes sense). We did that the third time too and used a sheet of osb and 2x4 for extra support. Go get some OSB right now while it is cheap and available. Just stack it in your garage. Also get a bunch of shingles that match. You can return them later. Button caps and tar paper is a good idea too. Again, you can return them later but they will be unavilable afterwards.

The garage doors are the weakest part of your house and WILL buckle. Next weakest is the lanai. Next are the windows. I don't know how old your house is but ours was built to 135mph (IIRC) standard as we were on the coast/icw.

Here is a pic of how to make garage door and window reinforcements. THe 2x4 should be screwed to the osb. It would be better to double them with strips of plywood between them (like you build a header), but that may take too much time. Anyways, here you go:

 
#12 ·
One thing about chafe protection... use something that isn't waterproof. Hose is not very good in a storm or hurricane, since it will allow the nylon docklines to fail due to internal heat and friction.... using something like denim or canvas is a much better solution for really severe storms, since they let the water through to cool and lubricate the lines.
 
#14 · (Edited)
Dock lines

13) Double or triple lines if you are in a marina. I call it spidering, but I am sure there is some nautical term for it. Basically the more lines, the better.
Great Post CD, thanks for the reminder.

A added suggestion.............................

If keeping the boat at the dock is your only choice...consider when adding dock lines, use 3-4 different diameter dock lines. The smallest line should be the shortest, (not tight just shorter than the rest) and it will stretch the most and absorb a lot of the shock, then the next size a bit longer, and so on. This worked well for us during Isabel in 2003. I cant take credit for the idea, my boat neighbor at the time suggested it, a 70 year old salt :cool:

Regards
 
#15 ·
Thanks CD and others for all the info.:) I am sure Southern New England will be hit this year by a hurricane because I bought my first boat:eek: There is a hurricane out there with my name on it, and I know this from past history. In the mid 90's we had a winter that snow almost all the time, record snow fall of 120 inches. The following year I bought a snow blower, we had 6 inches of snow.:mad: So this year we will be hit.:(

Dennis
 
#22 ·
One thing about chafe protection... use something that isn't waterproof. Hose is not very good in a storm or hurricane, since it will allow the nylon docklines to fail due to internal heat and friction.... using something like denim or canvas is a much better solution for really severe storms, since they let the water through to cool and lubricate the lines.
That's interesting.
 
#25 ·
I just remembered something else we did: Go buy a small air conditioner... one just big enough for a single room. Your generator (house) should be able to run that. You will want at least one place you can sleep in with comfort.

Again, I wrote this mostly for a boaters, but many of you have homes too.

- CD

AND DO NOT PUT A GENERATOR IN YOUR GARAGE OR HOUSE WHILE RUNNING IT, EVEN WITH THE DOORS OPEN. THAT TOOK LIVES IN S FL AFTER CHARLIE. Even with your garage open, it will pump CO into the house. You will go to sleep and never wake up.
 
#26 ·
CD,

THANK YOU! You have just taken the stress out of the whole securing the garage door thing. Why could I not think of that?!? I also like the idea of stocking up on shingles, tarpaper, tar and nails. It makes sense.

Funny you mention the window AC unit- we have one in the garage that we used to use for the boat. Just never got around to getting rid of it... Now, it has a potential use. Thanks a bunch!

Chris :)
US 30' Wu-Wei
http://www.diysailor.com
 
#28 ·
This isn't pertinent just to U.S. Gulf Coast/Florida readers (not to mention the people living on the islands, of course, which get pasted far more often than the U.S.). It is good information for people in Nova Scotia, which took Hurricane Juan a while back and lost boats even in Halifax's relatively sheltered harbour, or for people in Toronto, who took the storm that was once Isabelle and had more than a few lines chafe through then.

It was a while back, but Hurricane Hazel in 1954 killed over 80 people in my city with 90 knot winds. It strengthened, if only briefly, over Lake Ontario itself. I bring this up to dispell any Northern smugness about hurricane prep: the right storm at the right time can blast a much larger chunk of North America than just the southeast U.S.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Hazel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Juan
 
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