Anyone prepping along the Florida and Gulf coast??

Been lucking out as Sarasota and Longboat Key have been squeezing between the worst bands of weather most of the day. We still have some nasty to come, but it should be OK for us until after 10 PM. Biggest steady wind all day was 25, gust 45. Highest tide, maybe 3.5 ft. above normal. Rain was nothing compared to yesterday's 9 inches. Sure hope you guyz up in the Big Bend make out OK.

BTW, great site for everything tropical!

Mike's Weather Page... powered by Sparks Energy!

I checked on the boat this morning and all was OK. I did not take down the canvas nor did I notice anyone else. A little wind but no rain in St. Pete through about noon. Added some lines and just checked on things. I won't go back until Tuesday when the Labor day crush is over and the weather is back to hot and normal. We'll take the boat down to longboat key and then up the Manatee river.

Good luck to you guys on the panhandle.

They are calling for gusts to 60kts here tomorrow morning. I took all of the canvas off the boat apart from the FB bimini and the canvas over the FB electronics. Since she is at the bottom of the garden I will be able to keep and eye on her and hopefully correct anything going off kilter.

Watching on television and feeling for all those in it. Georgia, SC and NC likely to get a lot of flooding and even perhaps the NE.

Was down on the trawler yesterday getting it spider webbed to the floating dock in the Crisfield boat basin. Heading down to Ocean City to secure the charter boat with storm lines today. Looks like we'll see winds Saturday afternoon through Monday gusting to 50 plus. Forecasters have the forward motion of the storm slowing down and strengthening after it's quicker trip through Georgia and the Carolinas. High tides in Ocean city will be the real issue Saturday night through Sunday night. Hopefully it stays the 150 miles off shore they are predicting.

Ted

We were OK most of the night until about 6AM when this last band, the tail end, began rotating into us. Right now, it's knocking the hell out of us and the band is nicely alligned to continue it for a while. Safe Harbor, FL reporting over 20" of rain. Watch out for that tail. When you think it's over, there's a nice surprise.

We watching that - but it looks like JAX is going to sit nicely in the space between that and the storm - so hopefully just wind today.

Got really cranking in Dunedin around 3am...band came right over us and kept op a pretty good amount of wind/rain until about 6ish.
Not sure what the gusts were.

My source for most info is Wunderground, using their Wundermap feature.

Yah, those bands can have a lot of power.

We had a tornado watch for about 6 hours last night and a few times it got down right scary.

And the tide got up quite a bit higher than we anticipated... about 3 ft over normal. Still ok, but made me wonder why I didn't plywood up the doors, just in case.

Got a rip in my new bimini top, but looks like it's an easy repair. Should have take them down, but a real bitch to do so. Next time, I'll figure a way to better secure.

Hope the rest of you come out of this ok.

Like Larry and Eva on Bucky in Longboat, St. Pete Beach was fine. I'm near the west end of a canal close to the Gulf. It is protected.

Across the way and all around are McMansions -- three story duplexes (called "zero lot line" so the builders can charge more) ... in any event there's no real place for wind to build.

I'm surrounded by bigger boats. That's no surprise is it?!?

Tuesday I helped a neighbor. Lowering his awnings was supposed to take an hour. Three or four hours later we were done. So too was I!

No final trip to Walmart, just bunk time.
Then I was an idiot. I had not personally checked the weather radar so when I heard the storm would be here Thursday we figured a quick trip to Walmart in the morning would be fine.

Well, it wasn't. The doggone storm was here with torrential rains.
On Monday I had picked up an automatic bilge pump for Algae.

After bailing out 75 gallons of water from Algae I rested... just long enough for more torrential rains to dump another 50 gallons in the dink. That's when I did the final bail out and wired the new pump.

I was wet and didn't care. The pump worked flawlessly. I like it far better than the regular pump I had to turn on with a switch. I know -- decadence prevails.

Life is very good afloat and that $30 SeaFlow 750gph pump is overkill. But it works and was not expensive. For now it's just in the dinghy hooked to the battery terminals.

Once the rain stops I'll wire it properly with a fuse, three-way switch (maybe) and such. In this application I'm happy at present. I would have had to bail out the dinghy multiple times were it not for the SeaFlo.

Anyway, I digress. Late afternoon Thursday we had a white out for between five and ten minutes. I literally could not see the bow of my boat from the pilothouse I could see the neighbor's boat. His second boat was invisible as were the trees on the other side of the mangroves.

He lost some tree branches in his yard. Across the road (not waterside) the house lost a lot of tiles from their roof. They already have blue tarps up.

I will say I was very glad to be safely tucked into a secure place. Having spent tropical storms at anchor, tied is much easier on my psyche.

Still, it is exhausting. I meant to write last night and simply stayed awake to watch until tide turned. I was too tired to think words.

That's life here on the beach.

I am anxiously waiting for reports from my northern friends. My Carrabelle friend Kim said water was over the fuel dock at C-Quarters. Apalachicola pal's boat is fine though water is filling the marina on the east end. His Morgan is tucked around the corner in that protected area.

J, in St. Pete and glad of it!

Up here in CT it will be some bad weather but nothing like the south. Our Yacht Club has cancelled all weekend cruising plans.

Janice,
Good to know you're safe and sound...

Lobstah said:

Janice,
Good to know you're safe and sound...

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I have to admit I cannot recall the last time I was in a white-out. It was spooky. The trees I could not see are less than 20 feet from Seaweed. Ditto the 50' Hatteras. It's about 20' from me as well. Neither were visible. I could not even see the piling 5' from the bow of Seaweed.

I'm glad, very glad, I was not at anchor for that!

Janice,

Wow, you worked your tail off! Glad you're ok. Here in St. Pete we really didn't have it so bad..... (maybe)

Janice - glad all is well. Wow.

hmason said:

Up here in CT it will be some bad weather but nothing like the south. Our Yacht Club has cancelled all weekend cruising plans.

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Hold your breath....the jury is still out when and where and how strong it is leaving the Jersey coast on Tues...could be a Cat 2 and hit the middle of Long Island for all that can happen with these storms.

"Up here in CT it will be some bad weather but nothing like the south."

However we are down on rainfall so a nice fresh water washdown would be nice.

Not nice for the vacationers and businesses that live off the crowds tho......

Not taking any chances. Lines are doubled, extra fenders are out, generator exercised.

psneeld said:

Hold your breath....the jury is still out when and where and how strong it is leaving the Jersey coast on Tues...could be a Cat 2 and hit the middle of Long Island for all that can happen with these storms.

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Perhaps.
I'll see what monday brings and decide if I need to do anything.
Right now our local weather liars are saying the high pressure will fend off a hit.

Glad you are safe and sound Janice! Sounds like you had quite the experience.

jleonard said:

Perhaps.
I'll see what monday brings and decide if I need to do anything.
Right now our local weather liars are saying the high pressure will fend off a hit.

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Sorry Jay...don't mean to jinx you....So for right now...looks to develop back into a hurricane off Jersey.

It could do anything at that point and forbid...strengthen too much.

What was best was no damage to my boat or friends...

And too I will admit the happiness of knowing that once I plugged in the inverter I could go back off the grid without a problem. Everything except the air-conditioner can be powered via solar and my wind genny.

Still I cannot forget that there are 100k houses in St. Pete (according to the news broadcast) without power tonight. That's a lot of misery.

Having been in Andrew (south Florida) and then moving to Pensacola just in time for Ivan, then Katrina...w ell being power sufficient is critical. After Ivan we probably could have saved the carpet in Kidlet's house if we'd had electricity to dry out the rugs. No power was dreadful.

On the other hand Kidlet's house had propane for cooking. We became friends with neighbors. You'd be surprised how nice folks are when they find out you can make them their morning pot of coffee!

For those of you lucky enough to dock your boat behind your house, have you thought of powering your house with your boat genny?

A lady I know was able to power a refrigerator, lights and fans after Andrew with her boat's generator. I thought that was pretty clever.

Of course another option is to move onto the boat if your house is without power. But then you lose a refrigerator full of food.

Are you all familiar with the Third Day Barbeque? The third day after a hurricane all the meat in your freezer has defrosted. Everyone has a Barbeque that day.

"For those of you lucky enough to dock your boat behind your house, have you thought of powering your house with your boat genny?"

Those that have run the loop have seen an island summer estate that was run from the boat gen set , as the norm in the 20's and 30's.

The problem with a std house is a transfer switch is still needed so the street power lines are not electrified , which could kill a power company repair guy, or fry your noisemaker when street juice is restored.

Safest would be a power cord with desired items plugged in , instead of doing the house.

HopCar said:

Are you all familiar with the Third Day Barbeque? The third day after a hurricane all the meat in your freezer has defrosted. Everyone has a Barbeque that day.

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Yep! Participated in a few of those.....happens in NC after ice storms too!

HopCar said:

For those of you lucky enough to dock your boat behind your house, have you thought of powering your house with your boat genny?

A lady I know was able to power a refrigerator, lights and fans after Andrew with her boat's generator. I thought that was pretty clever.

Of course another option is to move onto the boat if your house is without power. But then you lose a refrigerator full of food.

Are you all familiar with the Third Day Barbeque? The third day after a hurricane all the meat in your freezer has defrosted. Everyone has a Barbeque that day.

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That was our plan. Run a line from an exterior boat receptacle to the garage fridge freezer and put the house stuff in there (kitchen fridge-freezer is built in). Then, because the A/C would be out, go sleep on the boat.

FF said:

"For those of you lucky enough to dock your boat behind your house, have you thought of powering your house with your boat genny?"

Those that have run the loop have seen an island summer estate that was run from the boat gen set , as the norm in the 20's and 30's.

The problem with a std house is a transfer switch is still needed so the street power lines are not electrified , which could kill a power company repair guy, or fry your noisemaker when street juice is restored.

Safest would be a power cord with desired items plugged in , instead of doing the house.

Click to expand...

Never though of that, but it's an option, and ya, would require a transfer switch which is not hard to install. I've been lucky, never without power for more than a few minutes... ever, so I can argue to just take my chances. However, I have a Honda 2000 that will power a few refrigerators and lights and cover the basics.

But AC would be awful nice if it's hot (and usually is during hurricanes).

Overall, solar would be really nice, and be independent.. no grid or gas requirements.

psneeld said:

Sorry Jay...don't mean to jinx you....So for right now...looks to develop back into a hurricane off Jersey.

It could do anything at that point and forbid...strengthen too much.

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We'll add some lines and fenders but won't bother stripping canvas.

jleonard said:

We'll add some lines and fenders but won't bother stripping canvas.

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I've noted several saying they didn't or wouldn't strip the canvas and it makes me wonder how long does it take you to do so? Just wouldn't think it was as big a task as it apparently is for some.