Dinghy in davits during hurricane

[rthompsona]

We have a 30' Endeavorcat with original davits. We are on the west shore of Florida. Hurricane Mathew is now expected to hit Florida, but so far it looks like we will not get full force.

My question is:
Am I better off keeping the dinghy in the davits during the storm, or would it be better to take it off, deflate it, and lash it to the deck?

I am assuming that I should pull the outboard and remove the cover.

The davits have a nice indent, so if it was lashed in, I think it would be relatively secure. However, it would be right side up with no cover so it may fill faster that the drain port can drain it.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Robert Thompson

[MarkJ]

I think the west coast of Florida should be ok anyway.

If you werre on the East coast:

If at anchor remove the engine, fill the dinghy with water.
Or deflate, lash to deck.

If in a marina, remove engine, lash to deck.

With this hurricane, if you get 100 knots plus gusts a dinghy in davits may flap about a bit much.

[Shrew]

I would remove the outboard. If it's in the water, I would fill it with water. If out of the water, I would deflate it and lash it to the deck.

The morning after hurricane Irene one of the guys on a mooring came out to find his dinghy floating upside down. It was still on the painter tied to the stern cleat of the boat with the motor on it.

[UNCIVILIZED]

Originally Posted by rthompsona

We have a 30' Endeavorcat with original davits. We are on the west shore of Florida. Hurricane Mathew is now expected to hit Florida, but so far it looks like we will not get full force.

My question is:
Am I better off keeping the dinghy in the davits during the storm, or would it be better to take it off, deflate it, and lash it to the deck?

I am assuming that I should pull the outboard and remove the cover.

The davits have a nice indent, so if it was lashed in, I think it would be relatively secure. However, it would be right side up with no cover so it may fill faster that the drain port can drain it.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Robert Thompson

I really can't believe that I'm fielding this question, & the fact that it was posed. But...

Force generated by wind = area in sqft x wind speed (in kts) squared x 0.00432
So that in 60kts of wind, 15.5lbs of force are generated for each square foot of surface area. Obviously this doesn't take into account the coefficent of drag of a particular item. But it shoulc make it pretty apparent that in stronger winds, it's easy for huge forces to be generated.

So even extra rigging wires, halyards, & lines exert a lot of force on whatever they're connected to when the wind's up. IE; remove everything above decks which isn't nailed down, & remove most of that which is (fastened down, but is easily removeable with simple tools).

You'd do well to read this, http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ml#post2225714
In it there are lots of handy suggestions for Hurricane prep in it, along with links to more references on the subject. Including a stack of articles published by Boat US, most of which are drawn from their insurance division, & or people who hav elived through various hurricanes

[a64pilot]

I plan for any real significant weather, is to get the thing off the boat, even on deck I bet its a lot of windage, maybe more than hanging in davits, if the boat blocks the wind when it's in the davits, and being near the bow having the windage up there may make the boat sail on anchor even worse than normal .
I had considered filling it with sand / water to sink it as much as possible and then I assume put it on its own rode if I can't find a place ashore to put it.
The dinghy plan will I assume vary depending on where I'm at, but I do want it off of the boat.

On edit, if I had a Cat, especially a smaller cat at anchor, do you plan on ballasting it down? Not to beat on Cats, but they are a different animal it seems with different considerations.
I know you did not specify at anchor, I just figure that would be worst case and a case a lot of cruisers may find themselves at.

[marlinmike]

Is this a RIB, how big is the outboard?

[oldsalt_1942]

Stow it. Even if you remove the drain plug it's easy for something to plug it. The dinghy will fill up with water, and at 8 lbs/gallon, when full, the dinghy will rip the davits out of the transom. I know! It happened on a boat I was running and it was simply during a normal Florida rainstorm.

[rthompsona]

Thanks to all who replied.
A4 Pilot, you expressed some of my thoughts better that I could. Ideally, I would take it ashore, but we are now fulltime liveaboards, so I do not have any where to take it.
I am in a Marina, but our bow is pointed north to land. I plan to reverse the the position so the the bow is to the open in the seawall.
I am concerned that lashing it to the bow it will be likely to sail on me, If the davits are in the lee, I thought is might be better

[rthompsona]

MarlinMike,
The outboard is a 9.9. It is an electric start, so iI need to take of the battery as well. The dinghy itself is an AB ultralite 10. It is a RIB with an aluminum hull.

[Delancey]

Originally Posted by rthompsona

I am in a Marina, but our bow is pointed north to land. I plan to reverse the the position so the the bow is to the open in the seawall.

Based on the current projected path the winds you will experience will start out from the northeast and then back as the storm passes and end up coming from the northwest. Suggest you leave the boat pointed north.

[adlib2]

Originally Posted by rthompsona

We have a 30' Endeavorcat with original davits. We are on the west shore of Florida. Hurricane Mathew is now expected to hit Florida, but so far it looks like we will not get full force.

My question is:
Am I better off keeping the dinghy in the davits during the storm, or would it be better to take it off, deflate it, and lash it to the deck?

I am assuming that I should pull the outboard and remove the cover.

The davits have a nice indent, so if it was lashed in, I think it would be relatively secure. However, it would be right side up with no cover so it may fill faster that the drain port can drain it.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Robert Thompson

Experience one Hurricane and you will not need to ask that question no matter what side of Florida you're on. I'm located way up the St. Johns River between Jacksonville & St Augustine because history shows it has the lowest incidence of hurricanes.
Prior to coming here I'd been through 6 hurricanes , at sea, at anchor, in a marina and on the hard. In the path of a hurricane I remove everything, sails, Bimini/dodger, rail mounted grill, wind generator, solar panels. And then the VHF antenna & anchor light would be torn off the top of the mast cos I didn't remove them..

[Shrew]

Originally Posted by rthompsona

Thanks to all who replied.
A4 Pilot, you expressed some of my thoughts better that I could. Ideally, I would take it ashore, but we are now fulltime liveaboards, so I do not have any where to take it.
I am in a Marina, but our bow is pointed north to land. I plan to reverse the the position so the the bow is to the open in the seawall.
I am concerned that lashing it to the bow it will be likely to sail on me, If the davits are in the lee, I thought is might be better

Including this information in the initial post would have been helpful for everyone. Obviously you wouldn't be getting suggestions to swamp the dinghy if we knew you were in a marina.

Help people help you. We're not mind readers.

[Dave22q]

My storm plan is outboard on the rail. Dinghy in the water, not deflated,drain plug out, davits slightly slack. Not much wind on the dinghy as boat either shades or backwinds it. If I thought the storm was bad enough to require removing motor cover I would stow the motor below instead. To me a dinghy on deck, deflated or not, is about the worst thing you can do. The general idea is to reduce windage wherever possible.

[barnakiel]

Also my take. Plain dinghy can be flooded down but an inflatable one is better off deflated, folded and tied down on deck, or better yet removed to land.

Windage.

b.

[a64pilot]

Try leaving the dinghy in the water attached to davits in any kind of wave action, I believe you will not consider that once you do.
I don't think I want to ride one out in a Marina, I used to think that until I got to looking around at all those boats nobody ever visits, but even in a Marina I believe I would want the dinghy off, if sink it as much as it will sink is the only option, then I'll sink it.
I don't want to even leave the outboard on the rail, it and the grill and everything else I can remove, will be removed.