[GaryDoug]

I decided to not take a chance, and get the boat on the trailer today. I had to rent a U-Haul pickup truck because I have no vehicle that can pull the trailer and boat. The rental was an experience in itself. But I found that loading the boat on the trailer by myself went smoother than I thought it would. I had watched the previous owner do it and followed in suit. Point the boat at the center of the submerged trailer and drive it on. Then connect and tighten the winch cable, step off the bow onto the winch and into the truck bed. Worked fine the first try. Now I can focus on all the other hurricane preps. We may have dodged a bullet on the Florida West Coast with this one.

[bibleg2015]

Good luck on the west coast of FL. We are in Stuart, right in the path. Pulling the boat off the lift tomorrow morning. It is gonna be a rough couple of days for us in FL.


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[GaryDoug]

Good luck to you too. Seems to be a 50-50 chance it will go back out into the stream for a while after Miami. Might be only cat 3 by then.

I used to work the USCG Loran Station at Hobe Sound in the 70's. That's long gone and the park service now uses the property.

[bibleg2015]

GaryDoug, how did you fair during the storm? Stuart was hit with Cat 1 winds, lost power yesterday at 2:00 pm. Don't know when it will be restored, they say 3 days. Generator is running now. Hope you are ok, take good care!!


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[GaryDoug]

We did ok. Only about a cat 1 when it arrived here. We went to sleep in my sisters house near Tampa 18 miles inland after she abandoned us and evacuated herself to Atlanta in a panic at 5 AM the morning before. I woke up at about 2 AM this morning to an unusual silence that never went away. Evidently the storm had collapsed while we were in the eye and was no more for us near Tampa, but it still generated a lot of wind for the east coast even after that. Boat, 65-year old house, and dock came through with virtually no damage, perhaps partly due to the 12 sheets of plywood and 100 screws holding them to the windows and doors. I had cut them to fit years ago and had them stored with the screws and clips for the last several years. I had the boat on the trailer parked behind the house tied between two huge oaks. This morning I drove back and took a look: no power and about a solid foot deep in pine branches and needles. My pride and joy boat shed and lift that I designed and built was virtually unscratched, I probably overbuilt it. We will move back in tomorrow with no power and will use a couple of generators until it's fixed. Fortunately the boat has 50 gallons of fuel that I can drain for the generators. Oh, and by the way, the tight-fit full boat cover was unscathed. I think it was made in China.

My experience with the power companies fixing storm damage is that they usually do a faster job than they estimate. I bet they will do the same excellent job for you.

[Scottie1961]

Glad to hear our Florida friends made it through the storm! I've seen several electric utility crews leaving Oklahoma headed for Florida to help with power restoration so maybe it will be faster than estimated. I think we still have crews in the Houston area too. Take care and hope power comes back quickly.

[GaryDoug]

Power is still off with many lines down all over my property line. But I have a nice big generator for now.

[TN_Diablo]

Originally Posted by GaryDoug

My pride and joy boat shed and lift that I designed and built was virtually unscratched, I probably overbuilt it.

Probably just properly built. Contractors skimp and cut so many corners that properly built is a thing of the past unless you DIY.

Glad you suffered no serious damage. Now if one of the two oaks had come down your boat might be a pancake.

I grew up in Southern Florida on the East Coast in one of those old time Florida concrete block houses with concrete tile roof and I still remember as a kid hearing my dad talk to the old timers about all those new stick built houses in the new subdivisions that would never survive the next big hurricane. Andrew proved them right and I suspect Irma has given another reminder. I feel for all those people but it was inevitable.

[GaryDoug]

Thanks TN and Scottie. We finally got power back on tonight thanks to a bunch of guys from out-of-state power companies (NC mostly I think, and one crew from Oklahoma!). Yesterday while waiting in the heat, I had this light-bulb-over-the-head idea. My house was built in 1950 by my father and still had the antique 4-circuit fuse box, which has been a major problem over the years. I realized, with no power present, this was a golden opportunity to replace it with a modern breaker panel. I raced to Lowes, bought a Square-D breaker panel, ripped my old one out, and installed the new one. Glad I was able to use the situation to make this a win-win for me. Now I don't have to worry about overloading the old fuse panel. What a relief.

By the way, the two huge oaks have been here since before the great 'cane of 1921 when our county was smashed to pieces by a cat 4 storm and the trees survived perfectly.