Boat Survived Hurricane Charley?
 

Boat Survived Hurricane Charley?

Any mooring tips that they could share used during Hurricane Charley?

My pontoon boat did fine in 100MPH+ winds.
I have a small cove next to my lift and I tied all 4 corners to trees and
pilings with long lines, pointed into the wind. I only had water in one life
jacket locker. The console and fence was plastered with leaves and other plant
material.

Gene Kearns wrote:

On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 01:40:57 GMT, "Networkin" wrote:

Boat Survived Hurricane Charley?

Any mooring tips that they could share used during Hurricane Charley?


No, not really. We weathered the storm quite well. The house
suffered only storm clean-up damage... tree limbs, leaves.. that sort
of thing.

The boat survived unscathed, save the loss of a fender.

Highest recorded local gust? 78 MPH....

Ist row houses had 6 inches of water (above the sand) and the storm
hit at low tide. Sea foam was blown into the 3 row......

Analysis? We ducked another bullet.....

We did, too. Some of the NOAA tracking predictors had the storm coming
up the western shore of the bay, but it shifted eastward. We had some
rain, no serious wind. High tide was pretty high Saturday night, but it
was going to be the month's highest tide anyone, I think.



--
"There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in
Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me -
you can't get fooled again." -George W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn., Sept.
17, 2002

Harry,
Don't you hate not being the center of attention? I hate to tell you this,
but the hurricane missed most of us.


"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Gene Kearns wrote:

On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 01:40:57 GMT, "Networkin" wrote:

Boat Survived Hurricane Charley?

Any mooring tips that they could share used during Hurricane Charley?


No, not really. We weathered the storm quite well. The house
suffered only storm clean-up damage... tree limbs, leaves.. that sort
of thing.

The boat survived unscathed, save the loss of a fender.

Highest recorded local gust? 78 MPH....

Ist row houses had 6 inches of water (above the sand) and the storm
hit at low tide. Sea foam was blown into the 3 row......

Analysis? We ducked another bullet.....

We did, too. Some of the NOAA tracking predictors had the storm coming
up the western shore of the bay, but it shifted eastward. We had some
rain, no serious wind. High tide was pretty high Saturday night, but it
was going to be the month's highest tide anyone, I think.



--
"There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in
Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me -
you can't get fooled again." -George W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn., Sept.
17, 2002

On Sun, 15 Aug 2004 22:13:39 -0400, Harry Krause
wrote:


We did, too. Some of the NOAA tracking predictors had the storm coming
up the western shore of the bay, but it shifted eastward. We had some
rain, no serious wind. High tide was pretty high Saturday night, but it
was going to be the month's highest tide anyone, I think.

Did you take any precautions against yout double-wide from blowing
away?

Buy a boat lift. Raise it to near maximum height, tie the boat to the
pylons, and then tie the lift cradle to the pylons. Every person I know who
secured their boat this way still have their boats intact.




"Networkin" wrote in message
m...
Boat Survived Hurricane Charley?

Any mooring tips that they could share used during Hurricane Charley?

Good to hear that worked out for you.
Did you use any lines midship? I wouldn't think that 4 lines would have
been enough.


"Greg" wrote in message
...
My pontoon boat did fine in 100MPH+ winds.
I have a small cove next to my lift and I tied all 4 corners to trees and
pilings with long lines, pointed into the wind. I only had water in one
life
jacket locker. The console and fence was plastered with leaves and other
plant
material.

Buy a boat lift. Raise it to near maximum height, tie the boat to the
pylons, and then tie the lift cradle to the pylons. Every person I know who
secured their boat this way still have their boats intact.

That's great until the storm surge goes over the top of the lift and the boat
goes through the roof.
BTDT
Friday the rails of my boat were about even with the boat lift roof ... then
the tree fell on it. Fortunately my boat was tied about 25' away in open water.

Did you use any lines midship? I wouldn't think that 4 lines would have
been enough.

There really isn't anything solid midship on a pontoon to tie something to. I
tied off to the lift rings on the pontoons with 5/8 nylon. I had my anchor out
off the bow hook but that wasn't going to hold much if the lines failed.

Thanks I can see your point. Hey maybe some big C-Clamps may work in a
pinch just a thought.
I have a 26ft aft cabin and it didn't come w/ cleats either midship, But I
installed them after my first weekend out, I was rocking back and forth in
the slip all weekend long. I had no place to secure spring lines except the
bow / stern. It was a kind lesson to me if the weather goes bad.




"Greg" wrote in message
...
Did you use any lines midship? I wouldn't think that 4 lines would have
been enough.

There really isn't anything solid midship on a pontoon to tie something
to. I
tied off to the lift rings on the pontoons with 5/8 nylon. I had my anchor
out
off the bow hook but that wasn't going to hold much if the lines failed.

"Greg" wrote in message
...
Buy a boat lift. Raise it to near maximum height, tie the boat to the
pylons, and then tie the lift cradle to the pylons. Every person I know
who
secured their boat this way still have their boats intact.

That's great until the storm surge goes over the top of the lift and the
boat
goes through the roof.
BTDT
Friday the rails of my boat were about even with the boat lift roof ...
then
the tree fell on it. Fortunately my boat was tied about 25' away in open
water.

My boat was lifted at least 10 feet from mean high tide, and I live at the
end of a canal. It would have taken a helluva storm surge to lift it off
the pilings...but I had ropes tied to the pilings just in case.

"Networkin" wrote in message om...
Boat Survived Hurricane Charley?

Any mooring tips that they could share used during Hurricane Charley?

================================================== ==

We put the small boat on the trailer, strapped it down, and parked the
trailer in the driveway. No damage fortunately. We took the big boat
as far east of the predicted storm track as we could get, and then
tied up in a secure, sheltered spot. No problems or damage there
either. There was a lot of eastbound traffic on the Okeechobee
Waterway on Thursday afternoon, and not everyone made it past the
first lock before they closed. Returning on Saturday was interesting
because the bridges are operated by Florida DOT instead of the Army
Corps of Engineers. Several bridges were unmanned until emergency
power was started up, and sufficient operating personnel were located.

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Cleesturtle wrote:

On Sun, 15 Aug 2004 22:13:39 -0400, Harry Krause
wrote:


We did, too. Some of the NOAA tracking predictors had the storm coming
up the western shore of the bay, but it shifted eastward. We had some
rain, no serious wind. High tide was pretty high Saturday night, but it
was going to be the month's highest tide anyone, I think.

Did you take any precautions against yout double-wide from blowing
away?



Well, we were going to attach your fat wife, sister, and two daughters
to the corner tie-downs, but your gals apparently were engaged
elsewhere, practicing turning tricks at the upcoming GOP convention for
25 cents a pop.

Into the bozo bin you go. Bye-bye.

--

Remind me again about the storm surge predictions on the Bay from that rain
storm. Did ya' get a chance to catch those terrible 3-5 footers on the Bay
during the storm or were you hiding in your bathtub under a mattress until
Sunday morning?

jim--,

Have you noticed Harry limits his use of his infamous "bozo bin" to those he
does not know any personal info about the person making the post. The
reason is without being able to use the personal info to make personal
insults, he just doesn't know what to say.

If the "Professional Writers Union" finds out about his limited skills, they
may revoke his "Professional Writers License".


"jim--" wrote in message
...

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Cleesturtle wrote:

On Sun, 15 Aug 2004 22:13:39 -0400, Harry Krause
wrote:


We did, too. Some of the NOAA tracking predictors had the storm coming
up the western shore of the bay, but it shifted eastward. We had some
rain, no serious wind. High tide was pretty high Saturday night, but it
was going to be the month's highest tide anyone, I think.

Did you take any precautions against yout double-wide from blowing
away?



Well, we were going to attach your fat wife, sister, and two daughters
to the corner tie-downs, but your gals apparently were engaged
elsewhere, practicing turning tricks at the upcoming GOP convention for
25 cents a pop.

Into the bozo bin you go. Bye-bye.

--

Remind me again about the storm surge predictions on the Bay from that
rain
storm. Did ya' get a chance to catch those terrible 3-5 footers on the
Bay
during the storm or were you hiding in your bathtub under a mattress until
Sunday morning?

There was a lot of eastbound traffic on the Okeechobee
Waterway on Thursday afternoon, and not everyone made it past the
first lock before they closed.

Did you see the guy in the sail boat who was trapped outside the Sanibel
bridge? He didn't have an engine so he wasn't willing to try getting around
Boca Grand pass and down the inside to the river. Last I heard his boat was
smashed on the bridge and he was missing. If he had gone south and holed up in
New Pass or even the cove in Big Carlos he probably would have been fine. Worst
case is he would be up on the beach. Better than dead.
We had a little west wind at the end but most of the storm was straight out of
the south. We spent a lot of it on the front porch, hiding behind the south
wall and watching our neighbor's stuff fly by.
A 3' piece of aluminum soffit whizzing by at 90 or so is an awesome sight, a
piece buried edge on, a couple inches into a palm tree trunk is more so.

On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 06:39:22 -0400, Harry Krause
wrote:

Cleesturtle wrote:

On Sun, 15 Aug 2004 22:13:39 -0400, Harry Krause
wrote:


We did, too. Some of the NOAA tracking predictors had the storm coming
up the western shore of the bay, but it shifted eastward. We had some
rain, no serious wind. High tide was pretty high Saturday night, but it
was going to be the month's highest tide anyone, I think.

Did you take any precautions against yout double-wide from blowing
away?



Well, we were going to attach your fat wife, sister, and two daughters
to the corner tie-downs, but your gals apparently were engaged
elsewhere, practicing turning tricks at the upcoming GOP convention for
25 cents a pop.

Heh heh...looks like I got to him!

Into the bozo bin you go. Bye-bye.

Oh yeah right. Whats the matter clown, can handle the Turtle?

I thought not...boatless loser.

"Networkin" wrote in message
m...
Boat Survived Hurricane Charley?

Any mooring tips that they could share used during Hurricane Charley?



We here in St. Petersburg dodged a bullet with Charley, and my boat is in a
slip rather than on a mooring, but I'll put in my 2 cents. A few years ago
we had a near pass from a hurricane and many boats at my marina were damaged
from the storm surge and wind/waves. All the failures were not the dock
lines breaking, but cleats getting pulled loose from the boat or dock, I
assume due to shock loads. Then the boats beat them selves to death against
pilings and dock (and other boats). I think people often overdo the dock
lines. I was at a local marine store when we still expected Charley to hit
us and a fellow was wanting 1/2 inch line. The store had sold out of both
1/2 inch and 5/8 inch line. We got to talking and he had a 22 foot boat. My
boat is 26 foot, but relatively light at 3000 pounds. I use 3/8 inch line.
Actually 7/16 inch might be better. For a storm I double up the lines,
leaving the second line slacker than the first so that when the first line
stretches quite a bit the second line comes into play. The line being able
to stretch is very important. Putting on heavier line than appropriate for
the size of boat is the wrong thing to do I think. Also 3 strand nylon
provides better stretch than braided dacron although it does get stiff and
harder to handle.

A side note is that this time I put on a third much longer lines at bow and
stern and fastened to the pilings because I expected that the regular dock
line loops might be pulled up over the pilings by the forecasted 14 foot
surge, which we didn't get thankfully. I don't know that it would have
helped, but couldn't hurt.

I'll be interested to hear what others have to say about this.


Chuck

On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 20:13:41 GMT, "chuck h"
wrote:
A side note is that this time I put on a third much longer lines at bow and
stern and fastened to the pilings because I expected that the regular dock
line loops might be pulled up over the pilings by the forecasted 14 foot
surge, which we didn't get thankfully. I don't know that it would have
helped, but couldn't hurt.

I'll be interested to hear what others have to say about this.

==================================================

If your pilings are high enough that the deck and rub rail can't ride
over the top in the storm surge, you're in fairly good shape. Next
step is to use long and strong spring lines to position the boat fore
and aft. With solid fore and aft positioning you can hang horizontal
fenders in the right places to absorb the side force against pilings.
I'd recommend doubling up on fenders in case one lets go or moves out
of position.

If you're docked against short pilings you MUST find away to spring
the boat away from the dock using anchors to the side, or spiderweb
lines to an opposing seawall or dock. The damage caused by riding
over the top of a piling is really ugly and difficult to repair
properly. A lot of boats have been totaled that way.