Duchess is hauled for Hurricane Season.
Before I send a note off the the marina/yard I thought some of you might see anything else to recommend.
I'm not in the Bahamas right now. The boat is hauled as you can see in the picture. This year I bought six jack stands so I would not have two this year. I gave them the diagrams from this site that show where to put them and how to link the chain into the stands.
However, it appears from the photo that the chain is not in the stand properly. Along with this I am not sure the cover should be under the pad in the middle section (which it appears to be) and could it cause slippage. Yeah, the cover would come off for a Hurricane. Any advise on placement etc would be helpful so I can send specific instructions via email.
Thanks,
Steve
While you and I are posting serious stuff a bunch of our buddies are in Greenport getting rowdy. It is a good thing some of us are attending to serious boat business here!
I lived in New England for 40 some years and every winter we covered our boats and set them on jackstands. Looking at your pic it seems the yard has covered the basics. I wouldn't be concerned that one of the jackstand pads has some of the cover between the pad and the hull.. it might leave a mark on the cover if you plan on using it again next season, but as far as having them move it now I wouldn't make a big deal about it. The chains look to be OK.. just be sure they first are snug and then are dropped into the notch provided for them on the jackstands or, if the jackstands don't have a chain notch have the yard loop the chain around the threaded pad support and have them bolt the bitter end of the chain to the standing part with a short bolt.. if they do this make sure they use washers so the bolts can't work loose. The chain is there because wind blowing around the boat will set up vibrations in the hull that could cause the jackstands to move away from the boat.. and a small amount of movemant will cause a loss of support from that jackstand. Hopefully the yard guys have the pads against the hull under the chines on an area which is as horizontal as possible, rather than having the pads against a sloping part of the hull, but as long as the chains are secure a small degree of slope is OK for the pads. It looks as if you have six jackstands, which should be plenty for the boat, but for safety sake I always placed a jackstand with a V shaped top instead of a flat pad under the bow. This might be overkill (I am known for that), but you are leaving the boat out in the elements and don't know what the weather will be. This should be chained back to the two forwardmost side jackstands. It looks as if the boat is on smooth and solid concrete, and if next year the yard puts the boat somewhere else they should be sure the ground is solid, not likely to soften with the rain. In questionable areas I always used a large piece of 1/2" plywood for the jackstands to sit on.
Some of us (me included) used to put wooden blocks under the keel, but again, that might be some degree of overkill. Our club has had at least one occasion where a boat blew over.. which would be a catastrophy for you as it looks as if the boat is sitting on the edge of the pad which is next to the water. While we didn't ever go to this extreme, some yards I have seen ran lines to the boat which were connected to helical anchors screwed into the ground.
I hope all this helps.. securing a boat for a hurricane is one of those situations where you think you might have overdone preparations.. until the hurricane comes, then no matter what you did, you wish you did more.
Frank B
1983 Bertram 33 FBC "Phoenix"
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Trump lied! Washington DC isn't a swamp.. it is a cesspool!
Steve, my boat is currently in a hurricane proof building in Stuart, she was set by professionals that manage multi million dollar yachts in this facility, my boat sets on 4keel supports and then jack stands much as u have yours placed, I agree with the previous post about some plywood under the jack stands ,the chains etc, but I can't emphasize enough to consider putting wt on the keel, that boat is so limber, u could go there tommorow and crank up the midship jack and raise that section up several inches while the other parts of the boat staid secure, put the weight well balanced on the keel, the jack stands keep her from falling over,I hauled 1000s of boat when I was in that business and followed this technique without a fatality, when I had my boat at Murrells, I would want to move jack stands around to do bottom work, u could literally jack up a corner or midship 1"+ and still not be able to relocate the intended jack stand u wanted to move. Long term storage if not done properly may cause engine misalignment,as I said before, she is pretty limber and forgiving, u don't have a cabin door that doesn't need to be opened/closed so that is not a concern,go to murrell and look at how they block the keels,just a standard we grew up with. Is your cover made of a breathable material,it looks to be a tight fit ,in that climate ,air circulation is important especially if there is a wet hurricane season,that boat was one of the cleanist fresh water boats I had seen ,nice to keep her like that
Thanks guys. They have always used keel blocks for support, hard to see in this picture...but now you have peaked my interest. I'll call them first thing Monday when they open to ensure. The ground is very flat blacktop or concrete, no gravel in that area so I think we are good with the stands. The seawall is toward the bow, not the side...but I'd rather be away from it either way. Thanks for the feedback.
Steve,
The way they have it looks good ,just make sure the chain is in the notches, like Marlin and IR said the heavy wind can make a boat dance around, especially on cement pads. Also the subject of ventilation you could add a small wind turbine to keep the air moving so you don't end up with mold. Like Marlin said your boat is the cleanest freshwater Bertram I ever surveyed. Also make sure the drain plug is out, I've seen boats actually fill with water and drive a stand thru the bottom because of the weight of the trapped water. Looking good right now. I do not have to worry about hurricanes anymore the boat is sold and headed to St Thomas next week and I am headed for Boston in 2 weeks for knee work, I'll be gone at least a year.
Pete Fallon
Thanks Pete. I've got a stern drain plug pulled. I can pull the plug in the center out as well if you think both should be out.
The Sunbrella breaths a little...I was going to have them put a couple boxes of damp rid in there as well.
I'll call them about the chain and the keel blocks too.
Steve
Blocking at our Boat Yard starts with the travel lift fitted with scales for weight. We keep a 4 ft level on the machine to be sure the boat is set level(port to stb.) and 1/2 a bubble bow to stern to allow drainage. We then place our keel blocks in position and a 31 will get three piers of 8 x 8's and six stands three on each side. Keel blocking is aligned with bulkheads. We are very concerned to make sure we weight the keel and stands equally to keep the boat shape and protect the bottom. Our travel lift weight gauges allow us to regulate the placement and distribution of overall weight. The drain plug is placed in the galley sink as it has been for 25 years so we all know where to look for it. Our ground in solid with stone and some slope in different areas. We do use plywood under each stand and wood on top of all stands with the plastic tops. Keep the stands vertical and check them on a regular basis during the storage season. No one in the boating business wants to deal with boat blocking issues in Dec,January, February. We use Shrinkwrap on most of the boats with venting and mildew treatment in the cabin areas after we are done servicing the boat for the winter storage season. We haul 80+ boats to 65' and have never had any problems with blocking by following our procedures.
Some boat require special treatment, (remember the old Ocean Yachts). Basically stands every 8-9 ' apart.
I'd check out the placement of the stands with the cover installed under the stand top. The hurricane winds will bounce it around if not set securely and concrete is not a friend of fiberglass.
Even in the a/c building ,we open all hatches, drawers , engine boxes refer door,etc, I concurred with the holtz marine approach, I followed a similar protocol for all boats whether they be inside or outside, instead of a full cover, we always built a frame to keep the winter cover away from paint/gel coat/windshield which allowed for air circulation. I have my wahoo, boat insured for 350$ k based on peters survey and valuation, the carrier requires a hurricane plan on file that they need to accept, the place in Stuart falls into this plan, all the boats outside are tied down to anchors in the ground either embedded in concrete or attached to a helical piling screwed into the ground, have have several friends that lost boats that were in storage in the Bahamas during the hurricane season, FYI
On the subject of standing and blocking, here is a first had knowledge case. I had a an acquaintance that had his 40' something trawler up North a few years ago, that winter was a very heavy snow fall season. Needless to say the yard did not block the vessel correctly and the snow weight and shifting gravel and soil under the jack stands and blocks drove the edge of the keel block completely through the bottom of his boat, the blocking was not placed on a bulkhead but on an area that was near the starboard fuel tank, away from the diagram supplied by the builder, that the owner showed the yard before they blocked it. He used the boat as a summer home. He found out about the damage a week before he planned to move up North for the summer, he hired a surveyor who was not really that experienced in boat yard operations and was cheaper than my rate, after 8 months he ended up loosing his case, even though the yard admitted fault, the yards lawyers picked him and the surveyor apart during the trial. I saw the core samples from the damaged area, a definite compression fracture with pieces of the wood blocking into the outer layers of glass. Anyway he paid the price in the long run, loss of an entire season, a damaged boat and workman ship that was questionable after the repair. He told me later that he should have hired me, even though I was in Florida, for a $150 plane fare and a few hours pay he would have not been out for the entire season.
I always check the yards placement of blocks and stands when they did my boat. After being out of the water for 7 years my boat showed no signs of hogging or compression damage around the jack stand pads or keel area. I thought that the Indiantown Marina's requirement for 4 stands per side, 4 keel blocks and tie down straps into helical earth anchors was excessive but I never had any bad results and I have never seen a damaged boat out there. Even with a couple of straight line wind storms and a couple of mini tornados. I've seen yards in New England that had major boat damage because of lack of proper standing and blocking. 8 sail boats toppled over in a row, also they tried to save time and didn't put the masts, one broken stay started the domino effect and a 1.2M damage claim.
Pete Fallon
