Boat Lift reinforcement for Hurricane

[SteveM]

I came across this company at the Stuart boat show and got a quote from them for their Swing Stoppers and Storm Straps.
They attach bracing to the four poles which then bolt onto your lift's cross beams. This prevents it from swinging in the wind.
The storm straps are basically custom ratchet straps which are also connected to the poles. This prevents the boat from lifting off.

He says he has over 200 installs and very good success through multiple hurricanes.

The convenience is to be able to quickly prepare for a storm. Most times you cannot get space in the local yards when the big one is coming.

I'm posting this to see if any of you out there with Engineering minds see flaws in this concept.
If not, I may give it a try.

http://www.swingstoppers.com/

[Tommy]

Steve, the design to stop the swing motion makes sense, as most of us lift owners "jury rig" our lifts to mitigate swinging as a hurricane approaches. The main question about strapping down a boat is how will it fare if the storm surge exceeds the boats elevation? I leave my bilge plug out in expectation of excessive rain, which means the boat will "up-flood" if the storm level exceeds it. If the plug stays in, the boat may "float" the lift pilings up out of the bottom, or overwhelm the boat with down flooding. Overall, I think the stabilizing system would be an asset in hurricane prone areas like the Bahamas, FL and here in NC. A friend here raised his lift as high as it would go but did not strap down. The extensive storm surge from the hurricane floated the boat off his lift and into the marsh across the waterway. After the storm passed a salvage crew tilted up the twin outboards and drug it a hundred yards across the marsh to deep water with minimal damage to the Pursuit. Obviously would have been a different story with an inboard boat.

[SteveM]

Tommy, I agree. The surge is the biggest problem. Here's a storm surge map link from NOAA. Palm Beach County has done well in the past and this map shows we are not as prone to surge as some other areas. I hope they are right. http://noaa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSer ... ad&entry=1

Price on that thing is not that bad. $1K for installation. $2.2K for the metal work and the custom straps.

[Tony Meola]

Tommy

A word of caution, which we learned up here in NJ during Sandy, the limber hole for the bilge plug can get clogged with crap floating in the water. That actually happened to two boats in the yard I dry store for the winter in. They were both outboards. One was strapped to a trailer and it floated Trailer and all down river, but somehow hit nothing. The other floated over into the marsh across the river.

So removing the bilge plug is no guarantee. The only answer is make sure the batteries are up and the pumps work. If the plug clogs hopefully the boat will float and the pumps will keep up.

[Kevin]

Steve,
I think there is a delicate balance with type of lift being elevator vs four post hanging from cables. I would expect mechanical support via metal or a lot of lines to be mandatory for a four post. Boat has to be high enough with either type of lift. Bolt all the metal you can to it to prevent swing but if water goes above boot stripe a couple scenarios can play out. No bilge plug and boat sinks on lift when water rises. Plug in and boat could pull pilings up.
Lots of wood piling nav aids are gone here. Some clearly broken but many floated with no visible trace of it even being there. Checked many of them since I run at night a lot and don't want to hit underwater remnance of them.
If your lift will get your boat to an adequate altitude I say go for it. I'm with you, boat yards get crazy before storms and many of them turn into boat graveyards.

[Rawleigh]

If the lift is high enough, I have just used loops of stainless cable around the beams of the cradle to hook 3" strap load binders into to hold the boat to the cradle. The cable loops remain on the beams permanently, when you need the load binders hook the cable loop[ with a boathook, position it where you want it on the beam and dangle the hook on the strap down to snag it. 4 two foot lengths of cable and two cable clamps per loop. Simple and cheap. You can use load binders to stop the sway as well if necessary, but I like to let the cradle rise up on the lift cables so that the boat has clearance to float a certain amount if the tide is too high. When my boat lifts were installed I made sure the pilings were 6 feet above the dock so I could raise the boat plenty high.

[Tony Meola]

Guys

What is high enough. During Sandy, I would have had to have my boat at least 6 feet higher than the dock. That would put my bridge basically even with the gutter on the roof of the house. Base Flood by me is 7 feet.

[Rawleigh]

I depends on you situation and the storm! My Bertram is not on a lift and during storms I tie it out between the end of mt dock and a small dock that sticks out from shore.

[Tony Meola]

Rawleigh

I don't use a lift and I am more afraid of the boat going over the top of the pilings. I am in a pretty good Hurricane hole but it was that tide. If I could add 4 foot to the piling someway in a storm I would be fine.

[Rawleigh]

Tony: Maybe bolt on some 4x4 extensions??

[Tony Meola]

Rawleigh

I have thought about that. But I think I would need to go to 6x6. I have the NE wind hitting her right on the bow quarter. I think I could snap a 4x4.