Very often the boats that don’t survive were not prepped.
I swear I believe that many boat owners must be cheering for the
Hurricane, mouth watering at the thought of the Insurence check.
Or they are just plain lazy, or not very smart, but sometimes just absent and won’t or can’t pay someone to do the prep
work, there are people of course that you can pay to do that.
To answer your question, you have a plan. That plan may consist of already having a reservation if you will for a spot
on the hard, I believe some pay in advance for that
privilege.
I’ve not done that, so far may plan has been to find what I consider to be a survivable Marina, one I was in in
Panama City I knew wasn’t so my plan then was I had a spot picked out to
anchor out, and I believe some boats that did survived Michael, none in the Marina survived, and you don’t get much worse than Michael.
Anyway where I am at in
Jacksonville which is I hope a survivable Marina, based on
history it is. Anyway most have prepped well, a few have done nothing at all, even leaving lawn furniture on
deck. It seems the boats with
for sale signs on them have been marginally prepped by Brokers, something that I didn’t know was done, only one or two prepped by owners, and even then you don’t see new
dock lines.
Anyway I hope what happens is that the storm gives us a pass, and those that did nothing will walk around with an air of superiority congratulating themselves for not
buying into the hype.
I’ve seen it before a few times.
It’s interesting to see how different boat types prep differently, I have yet to see a a Cat pull the main, never seen it even once, must be a real bear to do.
Most power boats don’t tie in well, I think maybe that as a
rule they don’t understand the power of
wind as well as a Sailor?
You see things that are all over the place too, one couple on a sister ship to mine, stripped everything, even the
Solar panel etc., but their lines are in my mind both way undersized and not nearly enough of them.
Then some say “I’ve done all I can” and get in the car and leave, where I’m convinced that if it gets bad that there is a lot you can do to save a boat from adding / replacing chafed lines, to adjusting loose ones etc.
It’s definitely a crap shoot, however I believe to a large extent you can control the odds.