BoatBanter.com - Hurricane Irma - After Action Report

On Tue, 19 Sep 2017 21:13:34 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 9/19/2017 7:59 PM, wrote:

You could have gone for "free standing". They have canned engineering
for that. I did it with my pool cage instead of trying to tie into the
older (lower code) cage.
I guarantee there were cables in the corners.
This is a post 2001 code cage, the difference being the cross bucks in
the roof. The cables were in the code in 85 when I put in the original
cage. The difference is the attachment method. In 85 they used an eye
bolt through the frame and another eye bolt through that one used as
the tensioner. In 2001 they use an angle bracket with a dozen #8
screws into the member. BTW that is what failed on the ones I looked
at. I think the eye bolt may have been stronger.

I agree that the screens aren't cheap to replace but it's better than
starting all over again with a collapsed frame, all twisted and bent.
I assume ours was of the "free standing" type because there was no older
screen enclosure to tie into. I've long forgotten the details of how it
was built although I watched most of the work being done. I also can
understand that losing two or three screen panels significantly reduces
the load on the remaining ones because the wind has a place to escape,
rather than imposing all it's force on the remaining panels. We lost
panels on that one but not the frame. The other house we had had an
older and much larger pool and screen enclosure. We had sold that house
before Wilma hit but much of the frame collapsed during that hurricane.
It had actually survived Charlie and Francis with only two or three
panel loses.

Blowing out a panel or 3 comes with it's own dangers because now you
are dealing with uplift as the cage gets pressurized. 2 of the 5
panels I lost were on the roof, far away from where the wind was
blowing.
Hope you are keeping up with your anchor maintenance ;-)
The whole damned cage might fly away.
I still say that as long as the cables and concrete anchors hold, that
thing is not going anywhere. Again, think biplane.
The other issue is a tree. Mine survived a tree hit but it came down
softly. My neighbor was not so lucky
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/Irma/Ann%20...een%20cage.jpg