Hurricane Irene Prep

Well, it looks like Hurricane Irene is going to hit landfall directly over Morehead City. The marina has  issued an evacuation for all boats and we have called Jarret Bay and arranged to be hauled out on Friday at 10:00 am. We started getting things ready. The new bimini top had been installed so we had to remove it and the front windows. It was a windy day and hard to handle. Then we tied all the stainless steel "bows" or poles so they would be stationary in the wind. Next, we laid all the antennes down and tied them so they would not move.

 The flybridge looks funny with the bimini top off. 

While we were working, our neighbor came out and asked if we felt the earthquake. We told her no and asked what was going on. She said there was a quake around Roanoke, Va that was felt from Washington, DC to SC. We told her since we were on a boat and it was windy, that we wouldn't know if the bouncing was from a quake or wind. Jason called us later to see if we felt it, he didn't but others in his office did. We told him we didn't know if what we felt was a windy day on a boat or a quake. Travis called later and asked about our hurricane plans and I asked him about the quake. He said he was at a client's house and felt something. The boy thought is was a quake but Travis thought a guy mowing the grass had ran into the house. He said he'd have to call and tell the boy that he was correct.

Next we started working on the dinghy. Shay wanted to make it as small as possible. We took off the cover and let the air out. Then we started wrapping lines around it to make it even smaller. After we got it tied up he blew it up some so it wouldn't be so floppy. It sure did look strange sitting on the roof like that. Shay had never seen a dingy prepped for a hurricane like that but everyone that saw it thought it was a good idea.


We took all the bimini top, all the cushions off the benches, and the pillows that were stored in the benches downstairs to the V-berth to stay while we were in "hurricane mode". I hope we don't have any guests because the berth is full of flybridge stuff.

Then we put the chairs from the back deck into the salon. We put a rug on the table and turned it upside down and tied it to the side rails. We took off all the window and door covers and put then into the salon, along with the Direct TV dish and the life-ring.

We left the fenders on the back of the deckrail, after making sure they were well secured. We had let "Rocking B" borrow some fenders and an anchor to use on their boat while they stayed in the water for the storm..

After we did this we felt like we were finished with getting ready until we were actually ready to leave the dock. By this time it was Thursday and the weather looked "iffy" for Friday. The wind was expected to get up and being on the water would be trickier.

Shay called Jarrett Bay and asked if they had anything earlier than our Friday 10:00 am and we lucked out. If we could be there at 5:00 pm we could go out on Thursday. That worked out great for us since we had a lot of work to do while our boat was "on the hard" or on land. We wanted to clean the bottom of the boat (the part that's underwater), then paint it and the props or propellers.

We took all the lines off the dock and stored them on the boat. Then we wound up the lines that were on the pilings and then tie-wrapped them to the pilings. This kept the lines from blowing off the pilings and getting messed up during the hurricane.

Our marina was starting to look like a ghost town by now. All the boats on our dock, between us and land had already left and only a few were left on the other side of us. Most of the other boats in the marina were either gone or leaving the next day.

There are only a few boats left in the marina and they will have to leave soon. 

We had an easy trip up Adam's Creek to Jarret Bay for the haul-out. When it was our time, we moved to the travel lift and got off the boat. No passengers can be on the boat when the lift is moving.

We walked beside the boat and looked around. This was my first time of seeing the boat out of the water and its BIG. There is almost as much under the water as out of the water. We were taken to our spot at Core Creek Marina and put on blocks and stands.

As soon as we were "on the hard" we started washing off the boat. We wanted to get rid of the critters on the bottom. Shay got out a scrub pad and started scrubbing. We worked on it until midnight. He scrubbed and I kept the bottom of the boat wet and tried to shine the flashlight where he needed it. It was a dirty, stinky job. The boat smelled like a dirty aquarium. There were still small crabs crawling around as we were washing them off. We took a shower and were ready for bed. We still have a lot of work to do tomorrow before we can leave.

It feels funny to be a the boat and it not moving. You get used to it, but the boat is always moving. It doesn't matter if you are anchored or tied to a dock.  If the wind is blowing the boat is moving from side to side or up and down depending on how strong the wind is. If the wind is calm, the tide and currents move the boat, sometimes a little and sometimes a lot. So being on the boat and it not moving was very strange.

The next day we finished up "hurricane mode" -- we locked all the storage areas on the flybridge and then taped over all the cracks to keep water out. After we finished, we got packed up and headed back to Mt Airy. We decided we'd stay at home during the hurricane instead of at a hotel near by. We hope the hurricane passes us by. 


All taped up.

 



Dark clouds...the hurricane is getting closer.