Hey da Stars! Take 'em down. Winds forecast 25-44mph Sat. thru Sun. evening for Northshore area. Cover or better yet remove electronics. Lots of rain; 3-4ft rise in tides. Going south of you to move fishing boats further inland on Thurs. Be safe!
As a corollary, what about solar panels for a named storm? Does anyone take those down?
I have a canvas roof over my cockpit. Went through Irma with no problem.
The stitching is giving out so it is time to replace it. I shall do so after hurricane season and this time, add side canvas and back canvas, perhaps sunbrella so I can hang clothes out to dry.
The canvas covering the windows can be mounted outside or inside the boat.
Seems we have a lady board member who firmly believes, she is the queen of the surrounding condo complex and because she also owns a boat slip and everything she says is from heaven.
So far, I told her to go to hell once and she almost swallowed her tongue. LOL
When you get new canvas made specify Tenara thread. It is warranted for the life of the canvas. I used to live I Tucson and the regular poly thread would last about 2.5 years with the sun there. I started using Tenara and never had any go bad. It costs more but will pay for itself when you don’t need to restitch or replace canvas due to thread wearing out.
Those of you with full canvas enclosures, do you remove them ahead of a tropical storm/minimal hurricane or leave them up?
Some fabricators will not want to use Tenara thread because it is slipperier than poly thread. The better fabricators will already be using it. I have my machine setup for Tenara so it isn’t an issue. Tenara costs about $130 per spool versus poly at $15 per spool but a spool of Tenara should do an entire boat if not two boats so it really does not make sense to use the cheap thread and have to restitch it even one time.
Comodave,
What is the set up for Tenara on the machine?
Thanks.
Those of you with full canvas enclosures, do you remove them ahead of a tropical storm/minimal hurricane or leave them up?
Here on the east coast of Florida, if we're threatened by a hurricane we remove EVERYTHING that is moveable, including the entire bimini enclosure, the dinghy, electronics, boat hooks, etc, and store them inside or take them home to the garage. We also lower the mast and secure it in the boom crutch. Then double up all lines, remove the electric lines and store them, and take the exterior covers off the windows. There's nothing left to blow around.
Why take a chance? We do this no matter the forecast wind speeds - if it's a hurricane, it's a hurricane!
If I know we are going to get hit by a hurricane.
I remove all canvas covers, and anything loose.
Leave the docks and other boats.
Go to 50' of water without other boats around.
Set three anchors with 300' of 1/2" chain, and chain bridals.
Baton down all hatches, doors, and port holes.
Install storm shields on all glass.
Setup a storm watch, and get ready to ride it out.
I left the enclosure up during the winter on our previous boat in the PNW. We had freezing rain then temperature in the teens. We had a wind storm and 5 clear plastic panels cracked.
How old were the panels?
Ours stay up 24/7 in winter, haven't ever had a panel crack from weather -- that I know of.
This last year we had a small crack in one of our side forward panels -- .040" Regalite -- but that was after being up 24/7 for about 9 years (except for that one hurricane where a direct hit was predicted and when we took it all down briefly). And I'm not sure weather had anything to do with that crack...
-Chris