Hurricane Prep

sunedog

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My buddy is in the dock business. We're in central SC and currently in the cross hairs for Hurricane Florence. He shared the following information you may find useful:


We would take a number of factors in to account when deciding what to do with a boat prior to a hurricane. The safest place for your boat may be the trailer, especially if it could be stored in a building/garage or away from trees potentially falling on it. If this isn't an option and the lift or tied to the dock is decided to be the best location here are my recommendations:

- If you are leaving the boat in the water, extra lines, and much heavier than normal use are required.

- Make sure the boat is tied to something substantial, your normal dock cleats may not be enough. If there are pilings tie to them.

- When securing your boat keep in mind the water levels can change rapidly during a severe weather event.

- If at all possible spring the boat between the dock and another structure, second dock, tree or anything substantial. Anything you can do to hold the boat between two objects to prevent it from beating against the dock is highly recommended.

- Make sure your battery stays charged to keep Bilge pump operational if applicable.

- If you are storing your boat on a lift raise the lift to a height well above any potential wave action. I would not however raise the lift all the way to the top. Having your boat at max elevation could cause the lift pilings to fail in a very heavy wind.

-Install ratchet straps to all four corners of the lift to prevent the cradle from swinging in the wind.

-Tie the boat to the cradle using the trailer eyes if possible.

- Turn power off to the equipment and the dock itself.

- In either case of DRY storage it is EXTREMELY important to make sure your boat can properly shed water. Make sure that the covers will not hold water. You may even decide that leaving the cover off is a better situation to keep it from being damaged and potentially holding water. I highly recommend pulling the drain plug in all cases in case there is a bilge pump failure. The number one cause of lift damage is a boat that is holding water and pushes the capacity over the limit.
 
Good tips. Hopefully everyone is ok up there when it hits. I'm planning on going to the beach after work as we're supposed to get 8-10 waves down here as it passes north.
 
God bless and good luck to all those in the path of this hurricane. Please heed the warnings and stay safe!
 
We are also in the path of Florence but we are pretty far inland. We are still going to get heavy rains and wind but of course nothing like the coast. We debated on taking the boat out and putting it on the trailer but where we park it ......it is surrounded by tall big trees. So I could imagine taking the boat out to protect it and a tree falls on it. So we decided to leave it in the slip. We put the Bimini in it's boot and laid it down. We added 2 docklines from the eyelets on the outer toons directly to the pilings (So 7 total) and added another bumper on each side. (4 on each side) So hopefully this preparation will be enough...............Supposed to go on a cruise out of Charleston on Sunday. Carnival said that everything is a go as of now and will get the final update/notification on Saturday morning......... C'MON FLORENCE!!!
 
Supposed to go on a cruise out of Charleston on Sunday. Carnival said that everything is a go as of now and will get the final update/notification on Saturday morning.

FYI: I work for the power company in SC so we are keenly focused on the storm. Our internal information says max winds projected for Charleston are 26 MPH sustained / 37 MPH gusts and they are projected to occur around 8 AM Saturday. This is a WHOLE lot better than 24 hours ago. While anything is possible, the storm is not likely to get dramatically worse at this point. Hope you get to take your cruise.
 
FYI: I work for the power company in SC so we are keenly focused on the storm. Our internal information says max winds projected for Charleston are 26 MPH sustained / 37 MPH gusts and they are projected to occur around 8 AM Saturday. This is a WHOLE lot better than 24 hours ago. While anything is possible, the storm is not likely to get dramatically worse at this point. Hope you get to take your cruise.
Thanks! If they cancel no biggie.We'll go another time...
 
Central NC (Raleigh area) -- We got a ton of rain last night. The heaviest and longest I've ever seen it rain. My marina said the lake is normally at 216ft (above sea level) and they've been told it's going to at least 236ft (I think the highest it's ever been is 233ft). They reduce flow out of the lake to try and help the towns downstream who really got nailed. The lake was built as a flood control lake. The lake is approx 15 miles x 1 mile. Think about how much extra water that is, 20ft of water for 15 miles x 1 mile. I think it may even go higher.

add: the marina thinks they'll be closed for at least 3 weeks since they too will be flooded and it'll take at least 3 weeks for them to get the lake down. That's if no more rain storms.
 
On Lake Norman if they drop it down 1", the next lake (Mountain Island Lake) goes up 1'. They lowered the lakes before the storm.
 
I was watching the Weather Channel and the reporter was in front of the docks. The lifts were raised and banging into the piers. I was thinking that the owners did not read your tips.
 
We have a place in Oak Island NC. We were down there for all most two weeks. We left the Monday before the storm came in. Friends that live there opted to stay and not evacuate. The predictions were not good and all the locals kept saying "They have a bad feeling about this one". Thankfully and by some miracle the island got through it with minimal damage. Not so much for many of the surrounding areas. Hoping things get back to normal as soon as possible for those affected.
 
Met a couple of women on our cruise to Bermuda that were from the Raleigh area. Flooding was so bad where they lived they we're told that roads were impassable. So they stayed onboard for another week. Carnival made it easy for them.......They only had to pay the taxes/port charges......
 
Met a couple of women on our cruise to Bermuda that were from the Raleigh area. Flooding was so bad where they lived they we're told that roads were impassable. So they stayed onboard for another week. Carnival made it easy for them.......They only had to pay the taxes/port charges......

I know Carnival.... they’ll offer them $25 drinks every five minutes and make their money!

Bummer on the flooding though
 
I know Carnival.... they’ll offer them $25 drinks every five minutes and make their money!

Bummer on the flooding though
Alcohol Drink packages are crazy now...... Unless you're a big drinker. $56.95 a day pp unlimited. $341. for a 6 day cruise. Hmmmmmm.
 
What type of ratchet strap would you recommend to attach the 4 corners of the lift? Endless loop or some kind of hook?

Any specific break weight?
 
Bumping this thread to the top in case it may help anyone:

My buddy is in the dock business. We're in central SC and currently in the cross hairs for Hurricane Florence. He shared the following information you may find useful:


We would take a number of factors in to account when deciding what to do with a boat prior to a hurricane. The safest place for your boat may be the trailer, especially if it could be stored in a building/garage or away from trees potentially falling on it. If this isn't an option and the lift or tied to the dock is decided to be the best location here are my recommendations:

- If you are leaving the boat in the water, extra lines, and much heavier than normal use are required.

- Make sure the boat is tied to something substantial, your normal dock cleats may not be enough. If there are pilings tie to them.

- When securing your boat keep in mind the water levels can change rapidly during a severe weather event.

- If at all possible spring the boat between the dock and another structure, second dock, tree or anything substantial. Anything you can do to hold the boat between two objects to prevent it from beating against the dock is highly recommended.

- Make sure your battery stays charged to keep Bilge pump operational if applicable.

- If you are storing your boat on a lift raise the lift to a height well above any potential wave action. I would not however raise the lift all the way to the top. Having your boat at max elevation could cause the lift pilings to fail in a very heavy wind.

-Install ratchet straps to all four corners of the lift to prevent the cradle from swinging in the wind.

-Tie the boat to the cradle using the trailer eyes if possible.

- Turn power off to the equipment and the dock itself.

- In either case of DRY storage it is EXTREMELY important to make sure your boat can properly shed water. Make sure that the covers will not hold water. You may even decide that leaving the cover off is a better situation to keep it from being damaged and potentially holding water. I highly recommend pulling the drain plug in all cases in case there is a bilge pump failure. The number one cause of lift damage is a boat that is holding water and pushes the capacity over the limit.
 
My buddy is in the dock business. We're in central SC and currently in the cross hairs for Hurricane Florence. He shared the following information you may find useful:


We would take a number of factors in to account when deciding what to do with a boat prior to a hurricane. The safest place for your boat may be the trailer, especially if it could be stored in a building/garage or away from trees potentially falling on it. If this isn't an option and the lift or tied to the dock is decided to be the best location here are my recommendations:

- If you are leaving the boat in the water, extra lines, and much heavier than normal use are required.

- Make sure the boat is tied to something substantial, your normal dock cleats may not be enough. If there are pilings tie to them.

- When securing your boat keep in mind the water levels can change rapidly during a severe weather event.

- If at all possible spring the boat between the dock and another structure, second dock, tree or anything substantial. Anything you can do to hold the boat between two objects to prevent it from beating against the dock is highly recommended.

- Make sure your battery stays charged to keep Bilge pump operational if applicable.

- If you are storing your boat on a lift raise the lift to a height well above any potential wave action. I would not however raise the lift all the way to the top. Having your boat at max elevation could cause the lift pilings to fail in a very heavy wind.

-Install ratchet straps to all four corners of the lift to prevent the cradle from swinging in the wind.

-Tie the boat to the cradle using the trailer eyes if possible.

- Turn power off to the equipment and the dock itself.

- In either case of DRY storage it is EXTREMELY important to make sure your boat can properly shed water. Make sure that the covers will not hold water. You may even decide that leaving the cover off is a better situation to keep it from being damaged and potentially holding water. I highly recommend pulling the drain plug in all cases in case there is a bilge pump failure. The number one cause of lift damage is a boat that is holding water and pushes the capacity over the limit.


I guess it's time to bump this thread up since TS Isaias is heading towards SC and then NC. Good luck to anyone in the storm's path.
 
We lucked out down here. Hopefully those north stay safe as well
 
Need rain so bad in S. NH...looks like a complete miss..was hoping for something :-( I know careful what you wish for
 
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