in/out stat's

[O C Diver]

Originally Posted by BandB

To my knowledge most of the others just put the boat on dry land but they do not have the tie down set ups Jarrett Bay has. I don't know anyone between us and Wilmington with it.

River Forest Yatching Centers

One is west of Stuart and the other is west of Moore Haven.

Ted

[BandB]

Originally Posted by O C Diver

River Forest Yatching Centers

One is west of Stuart and the other is west of Moore Haven.

Ted

Their service is popular, but to my knowledge is built on location, not on the type tie down systems Jarrett Bay has. Limited to 82 tons but that works for most here. I don't personally know how they stand relative to Okeechobee flooding but seems they're in good protected shape.

Their wet storage is also protected so with them it's as much a matter of location as it is in our out.

[O C Diver]

Originally Posted by BandB

Their service is popular, but to my knowledge is built on location, not on the type tie down systems Jarrett Bay has. Limited to 82 tons but that works for most here. I don't personally know how they stand relative to Okeechobee flooding but seems they're in good protected shape.

I would imagine the Stuart location would be pretty ideal. I would guess it's 10'+ above the river and about a mile above the St. Lucie lock and spillway. Not familiar with Jarrett bay's tie down system, but if properly blocked and tied down on the River Forest concrete yard, a boat isn't likely going anywhere until the wind breaks the boat apart.

Ted

[Ski in NC]

I think it comes down to "fetch" and elevation. I have seen yards with a clean exposure to wind in some direction and when storm winds line up with that direction, boats get beat badly and can get knocked off the stands. Same with docks. Get some surge and wind with a clean shot in some direction with fetch and things are going to get BEAT.

But there are yards and docks that are protected from wind and you can cook on the Weber in the middle of the storm!!

Elevation of the yard matters as demonstrated in Sandy. Surge floated boats off stands or scoured soil from around boatstands. Want the yard at least a few feet above worst case surge elevation.

Rain runoff can scour around stands too, seen that. Look at topography of yard, don't want to be in a valley.

[Group9]

Originally Posted by BandB

You do if you're floating and your pilings are tall enough.

Our dock is a mile from the gulf and we got 23 feet. So with floating docks, how high do my pilings need to be for that? The marina we keep our boat at now got 37 feet, not counting surge. What, 45-50 feet there, you think?

[BandB]

Originally Posted by Group9

Our dock is a mile from the gulf and we got 23 feet. So with floating docks, how high do my pilings need to be for that? The marina we keep our boat at now got 37 feet, not counting surge. What, 45-50 feet there, you think?

It is all dependent on the area. I'd say 2' greater than the greatest surge they've ever had or at least their 100 year mark. It may be 8', it may be 20'. We're in an area of very little surge over it's history. NOAA has some surge maps. Also, FEMA has established flood zones and those have historical floods.

[Group9]

Originally Posted by BandB

It is all dependent on the area. I'd say 2' greater than the greatest surge they've ever had or at least their 100 year mark. It may be 8', it may be 20'. We're in an area of very little surge over it's history. NOAA has some surge maps. Also, FEMA has established flood zones and those have historical floods.

I guess its hard to actually picture it if you haven't seen it, and the aftermath.

[BandB]

Originally Posted by Group9

I guess its hard to actually picture it if you haven't seen it, and the aftermath.

It can be. I can picture as I've seen post-Harvey, Irma, Matthew in person and others second hand. However, to go with those pictures I've accessed a lot of date for the area I live plus looked carefully at the marinas. For us, gathering the information is important both for boats and our home. I think in some ways the fact we were knew to South Florida in 2012 so we did investigate. Living on the water we did want to know our risk of flooding.

Then after a hurricane, we looked. We examined the marinas from Palm Beach to Key West to understand what happened and why in each area. It isn't luck when one marina is fine and the one beside it destroyed. We also went to South Texas and while there looked at boats on land and in the water.

I would encourage everyone to know their area very well and know their options. You face decisions when a storm approaches and that's not the time to start gathering information. Do we stay or leave? What is the evacuation zone and are there laws on evacuation? What has happened in the past? To what standards is your home built? What about the marina where your boat is stored? How high are the pilings and how much surge from past storms? How is it attached to the shore and how strongly? What about previous storms? What is the risk of flying objects? What about other boats at the marina, does the marina insist they're properly tied? What about other boats? (one West Palm marina had damage from boats anchored and across the shore and a Miami marina had damage from anchored boats).

Then understand you just make your best decision. You can do everything right and still lose. Hopcar is an unfortunate example of that. The right decision for someone 100 miles up or down the shore might not be for you. The right decision for a 40' boat and a 50' boat may be different. River Forest is an option up to a certain size but a lot of boats in South Florida they aren't.

You also learn things from every storm if you look carefully. Look around and see what went wrong. I saw only a couple of things after Irma that made no sense at first look. They were in areas of tornado type activity so things like a boat ripped away from the dock as the pilings pulled loose in an area that overall had no damage. In that same general area when we drove around the streets we would just occasionally come across one home in an otherwise undamaged block with it's roof or side ripped off or other serious damage.

Hurricanes are a part of our life so we've done what we can to know their history and possible impact on us.

I think it could be worthwhile to post some experiences on this site of those who have a history in various hurricane areas. Anecdotal.