Hurricane ready? Anchors revisited

[MarioG]

As we begin another nail biter hurricane season, I have been thinking of other ways of protecting our boats. I for one am not comfortable leaving my boat in it's slip in a large (upper cat 1 or min cat 2) hurricane. Especially in an exposed marina like ours. My plan is simple, move! Of course timing is everything and not every storm has a predictable path. Worse case scenario would be a storm that would hug the coast south to north before turning out to sea (hopefully). In this case I may move our boat up the Miami River as far as I can go and secure well. Major storms aside, I would think that moving our boat into a protected anchorage with some heavy duty ground tackle would probably be the wisest choice. Moving the boat to a moorage in this case would save the boat from getting banged up in her slip be it from the slip structure it's self or from neighboring boats.

Sams Marine has some large anchors for sale that might fit the bill.
http://www.samsmarine.com/anchors.htm

I assume get the largest anchor with a long shot of heavy chain and somehow attach it to the boat securely.

whats your plan?

 

[brian4190]

mario, i would recomend you bring your boat up the miami river if at all possible. my grandfather who kept his boats in miami from the 1930's untill he died in 1985 always ran them up the river for hurricane protection and never lost a boat over that time. anchoring is a poor second choice. even with heavy anchors and lines the chance of it dragging or chaffing through is very possible. I am in the same "boat" as you are. I will be looking to move my boat to a more protected spot. my parents live on the north fork of the st. lucie river in stuart and although it is a 5 hour trip i plan to bring it up there. I will never forget the aftermath of andrew seeing a 100 foot ship that was in the middle of the road, boats in marinas impaled on the pileings,sunk, or piled up like cordwood on the shore.

 

[Paul45c]

If you find a place with a bottom great for holding (muck with that jello-like suction would be my first choice), I wouldn't hesitate to anchor your boat out with 2 or 3 anchors. Just make sure they're well dug and give yourself as much room as you can. Be prepared to go diving to extract them later, though!