OK, looks like we Florida-folk have some hurricane prep to do this week. I think my cat is about my most vulnerable possession - light and lots of windage. It's on a trailer, mast down, but I was thinking of either sinking some stakes front and back to tie it down, or take it off the trailer and fill the hulls with water.

What do you guys do?

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H16 back in the day
SC17 right now
Bradenton, FL
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My Hobie 21 SC is at the Sailing Squadron. There are stakes with eyelets into the ground so we can strap our boats down. If this storm is as bad as they are saying and comes our way, I don't know that anything other than luck will save our boats. I'm heading over there tonight to drop the mast. I might take the tramp off to reduce windage. Good luck to everyone in the path.

Tim

I have heard of taking the catamaran off the trailer, and putting some water in the hulls to keep them weighted down.

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Kenneth Purdy
Hobie 16
Nacra 5.2 (2)
Banshee
First Coast, Florida
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I have my cat on the beach mast up, so when we get nor'easter or hurricane threat, I do the following:
Get my boat off the beach and onto the trailer
Step the mast
If I have time, take off the tramp
I park it in as protected area as possible and use two sets of augers and straps across the beam areas. This means you need to be on grass, etc... Not a parking lot.
I once left it hooked to the truck hitch and the wind swung it around and damaged the trailer and bumper. Nothing serious, but enough to stop me from doing that again.
Pray that it misses us.
Best

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Supercat 15
Windrider 17
Several Sunfish and Sunfish clones
Ratboat built from Zuma and Sunfish parts
Shallow water sailor in the Delaware Bay
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Going mast down is the way to go with the wind speed Irma has. I keep one of my cats at Lake Eustis which is inland. My cat is about 50 ft from the lake. I use this type of tie down anchor

My tie down anchors are 18 inches long. I have 5 of them to hold down the trailer. One right below each cross bar. and one at the trailer tongue. I then have my cat tied down to the trailer with four pieces of 1/2 line. The last hurricane I sank four more tie downs. I left the mast up and tied my trapeze lines to the four extra anchors. It held with recorded gust at the lake of 85 mph. I am going to wait and see when they have a better prediction on Irma course before I decide what steps to do this time. Worse case I will drop the mast and remove the tramp. If I lived near the coast I would think about moving it inland.
A couple of years ago we had a storm blow through and it flipped a couple of cats over one of them put a quarter size hole in my port hull. We all store our boats mast up unless we know something bad is coming. The boats that flipped were tied down but they were using the pig tail tie down anchors like these

The sailing club requires all boats to be tied down at our club but, I wish they specified what tie down anchor to use. The pig tail style do not hold.

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Prindle 18 w/ wings, Prindle 16, Prindle 15, current
Hobie 16 in rebuild
2 Hobie 18 past
NACRA 5.2 past

Saint Cloud, Florida
member Lake Eustis Sail Club
http://www.lakeeustissailingclub.org
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https://www.amazon.com/Th…keywords=the+claw+anchor

We use these in firm ground, not the best for sand. I think they are easier to set than screw anchors. I usually anchor one under the front beam at the mast and tie off the line around the mast step. I've seen many use 2 tied off to the trap lines.

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Mac
Midlands South Carolina
AHPC Viper USA 366
A Cat USA 366
Super Cat 17
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The prediction for Tampa has dropped from 90 mph gusts to 60 today. I'm curious what wind speeds start to threaten the house and trees etc. I have time where I could take the hulls and put them in the garage to keep them from having any tree limbs falling on them. If anyone in the south needs to evacuate a boat and Tampa actually is a decent improvement I have space in the side and back of my house for at least another 6-8 boats if anyone needs a place to put them.

We are already maxed out with people in the guest room but people can air mattress in the living room for the night if needed.

If your boat is on a trailer and you're planning to evacuate, then take the boat with you if possible. That would be the best option.

Otherwise, I would definitely remove the tramp at a minimum. Take the mast off and lay it flat on the ground so it doesn't get snapped in half by falling tree limbs. Strip as much gear off the boat as possible and store inside. One of the last hurricanes we had, I actually completely disassembled the boat and stored it in the house. Ground anchors are a good idea. If possible, I would tie heavy rope onto a cinder block and bury the block and use that as a ground anchor. That's how we always secured our boat on the beach. Putting a little water in the hulls for ballast is probably OK too as long as you don't go overboard and stress the hulls.

sm

I think I might go with the water in hulls approach - we're on sand so I think any tie down will work itself free after being yanked around for a while.

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H16 back in the day
SC17 right now
Bradenton, FL
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tamumpower1

The prediction for Tampa has dropped from 90 mph gusts to 60 today.

I saw that - seems to be at odds with some of the models which show landfall right around Tampa! I think we need a couple more days till we know we're OK. Regardless, we're preparing to stay, and preparing to leave: got a farm full of horses which we can't evacuate overnight so it's a major planning job! Hopefully we can just ride it out here though.





Edited by sjbrit on Sep 05, 2017 - 03:51 PM.

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H16 back in the day
SC17 right now
Bradenton, FL
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aren't the Herrmanns' Royal Lipizzaner's nearby? met them up here in Mich years ago,
Praying & hoping you guys get thru this

Some of the models have the storm going into the Florida panhandle and bringing it up into my neck of the woods up here in Alabama also, so we have been watching closely to see where this monster hurricane is going. I am far enough inland that the actual storm effects should be downgraded by the time it reaches us, but there is always the threat of tornados that spin off from these storms and that's what gets us. Back when Opal hit, our place on Lake Martin was badly damaged, and we had 5 huge oak trees fall hitting the house, smashing a carport, and breaking up concrete walkways, it was a real mess. Hoping and praying everyone is safe and get through this thing okay. It's coming for sure, all we can do is prepare and hope for the best.

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Marty
1984 Hobie 16 Redline Yellow Nationals, "Yellow Fever"
Opelika, Al / Lake Martin
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My thoughts:
Cat 4 or 5 is is a life and death deal - beachcats don't matter all that much in the bigger picture

take the tramp off, maybe take it off the trailer, put the mast on the ground, augers and anchors and that's all i can do - rest is out of my hands.

I don't agree with taking your boat with you to evacuate - you will be in bumper to bumper traffic, if the winds get heavy... having a trailer could be a liability and unless you have a home to go to - where in the hell are you gonna park your trailer?

Well you can park them at my house if you get as far as Memphis. But my wife has a low tolerance for too many boats in yard. I had to bring the Nacra home after the mower incident so now I'm one over the limit including the H-14. But we can put all the boats back there when she's not looking!

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Tim
Collierville (Memphis), TN
Supercat 15--sold :(
Hobie monocat--given
Vanguard 15--traded for...
Nacra 4.5--sold
Nacra 5.7
Hobie 14–sold to make room for...
Supercat 17–sold
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I agree, in the big picture, the fate of a beach cat is small potatos when a life threatening hurricane comes to town. This is part of the reason why we carry insurance, right?

My recommendation to take the boat with you was based on my own personal situation where, if we were to evacuate, we would likely go to stay with family where storing the boat (for long periods of time if need be) would not be a problem. But definitely, if you don't have a guaranteed place to store it, I would not bring it.

sm

Would turning the boat upside down on the ground be less likely to be moved than a right side up boat? I would think so.

I have 3 foot long 3 inch diameter metal posts buried horizontally 18 inches in sand to hold ours down. More surface area the better. Burying an old car wheel (aluminum or steel) would be over kill, but over kill might be in order.

Good luck with this storm to all our Southern sailors.



Edited by ctcataman on Sep 05, 2017 - 11:14 PM.

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John

Nacra 5.0
CT
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Irma is currently stronger than Andrew ever was. I've stayed put through many hurricanes since '83 here in Wilmington, NC. However the plan for a cat 4 or 5 has always been take what you can and leave. Not a lot will survive a direct hit.

This one is no joke. Take care. Good luck guys.

Blessings and Aloha from the islands.

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Prindle 18
96734
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And now for the fine print...

YES, it's way too late to call about boat insurance. And policies are frozen when a named storm approaches. No changes, according to BoatUS.

As far as replacing your awesome 20 year old cat, (which has greater sentimental than market value):

"For any covered loss due to a Named Storm that occurs while the insured boat is located in AL, FL, GA, LA, MS, NC, SC, TX, Bahamas, Caribbean or Mexico, the deductible becomes the greater of the Hull and Equipment deductible, $1000, or 5% of boat's Insured Value. The Named Storm Deductible is not subject to the diminishing deductible feature of this policy."

So you will pay $1000 toward that $2500 coverage- on top of your premium (figure roughly 50% of the boat value).

You are really paying for liability, (as when you boat flies away and crashes into the Carbon fiber ARC22 located down the beach and the mast just misses the living room window of the nearest condo, but impales the new Mercedes parked near it).

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Prindle 18
96734
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