Hurricane Ian <updates>

[Judge]

I’m in Cape Coral and we took a direct hit. We are actually out in Albuquerque for the annual Balloon Fiesta so we were not there but my brother rode it out in his highrise. Cape Coral had 3 of the 8 highest wind reports of 140, 122 and 108. The Cape Coral Yacht Club also reported 135.

I don’t know how my place did not get flooded since I am inFlood Zone A butit did have some toof damage. The area looks like awar zone.

What I am really sick about is our marina (Tarpon Point Marina) was heavily damaged. Many boats damaged, sunk or missing. There is a 68 footer sunk and a 56 footer missing. Looks like a war zone.

I was having a lift installed that was scheduled for next month. I just bought a ‘22 275SDin Rochester, NY after searching all over the east coast last month. I picked it up and left it at our PA property until we got back from this trip. Then I was taking it down the end if October when the lift was done.

I don’t know what I’ll do now. It will take months of cleanup and recovery of the boats and waterway and then months to rebuild the marina. I’ll be lucky to get it in the water in a year.

Now I’ll have to winterize it and leave it in PA until I can put it in down there. I am hoping it is just a year. It could be longer. I'm very fortunate compared to many people. Some lost everything.... but this still sucks after everything I went through to find 275SD and everything I had to go through to get it from NY and down to FL.

Some people are blaming the marina because dock cleats pulled out. The docks are fixed and not floating docks so they should never have been moored to dock cleats. They should have used crossing lines and spring lines moored to pilings so the boats rise snd fall with the storm surge….idiots. But even properly moored boats would have had a tough time in those conditions.

These aren’t even some of the worst looking pictures of the damage.

 

[Thermobrett]

I’m in Cape Coral and we took a direct hit. We are actually out in Albuquerque for the annual Balloon Fiesta so we were not there but my brother rode it out in his highrise. Cape Coral had 3 of the 8 highest wind reports of 140, 122 and 108. The Cape Coral Yacht Club also reported 135.

I don’t know how my place did not get flooded since I am inFlood Zone A butit did have some toof damage. The area looks like awar zone.

What I am really sick about is our marina (Tarpon Point Marina) was heavily damaged. Many boats damaged, sunk or missing. There is a 68 footer sunk and a 56 footer missing. Looks like a war zone.

I was having a lift installed that was scheduled for next month. I just bought a ‘22 275SDin Rochester, NY after searching all over the east coast last month. I picked it up and left it at our PA property until we got back from this trip. Then I was taking it down the end if October when the lift was done.

I don’t know what I’ll do now. It will take months of cleanup and recovery of the boats and waterway and then months to rebuild the marina. I’ll be lucky to get it in the water in a year.

Now I’ll have to winterize it and leave it in PA until I can put it in down there. I am hoping it is just a year. It could be longer.

Some people are blaming the marina because dock cleats pulled out. The docks are fixed and not floating docks so they should never have been moored to dock cleats. They should have used crossing lines and spring lines moored to pilings so the boats rise snd fall with the storm surge….idiots. But even properly moored boats would have had a tough time in those conditions.

These aren’t even some of the worst looking pictures of the damage.

View attachment 189017View attachment 189018View attachment 189019View attachment 189020

Poor Bertram (bottom picture)

 

[Thermobrett]

This was the tree 10 houses up the street from me.

 

[HangOutdoors]

I guess I don't understand that rationale...... These larger boats cost substantial amounts of money so I would assume that the owners have the financial means to get them out of there or run them out the coast rather than take a chance in a Marina that is going to be hit by the hurricane? Even the smaller boats could of been trailered? Or is it "I am insured so we hope for the best"? Or is it the norm to just leave them and take the chance?

 

[adrianp89]

I guess I don't understand that rationale...... These larger boats cost substantial amounts of money so I would assume that the owners have the financial means to get them out of there or run them out the coast rather than take a chance in a Marina that is going to be hit by the hurricane? Even the smaller boats could of been trailered? Or is it "I am insured so we hope for the best"? Or is it the norm to just leave them and take the chance?

Could be a lot of things. For one prepping your house and securing a plan for keeping your family is first. Prepping the house can be a two day deal. Putting up shutters/plywood kicks your ass. Finding the time could be a hurdle. Getting someone to move your boat is a whole other ordeal. You don’t know which way the storm is going so it’s basically a gamble.

 

[Judge]

I guess I don't understand that rationale...... These larger boats cost substantial amounts of money so I would assume that the owners have the financial means to get them out of there or run them out the coast rather than take a chance in a Marina that is going to be hit by the hurricane? Even the smaller boats could of been trailered? Or is it "I am insured so we hope for the best"? Or is it the norm to just leave them and take the chance?

Adrian is correct... there are several factors when it comes to hurricanes.

- Protecting your home and family are at the top of the list.

- When it comes to moving a large boat / yacht the storm track early on is extremely variable so you could end up moving a boat into harms way. I thought we might be ok because it looked like Tampa would get it. It ended up taking a right turn and slammed into us. If you moved a boat to the Keys, they got it. If you tried to move it to Miami, they got tornadoes from the storm that tossed air planes. Plus there are thousands of boats and only so many captains.

- These large boats don't have trailers so if you can get them out of the water, they have to sit on jack stands. When winds are 140MPH, they are going to push the boat right over. If you do have a trailer, you would need a way to secure into the ground or to a structure because the winds could flip it right over.

- Many people leave Florida in the summer months so if they didn't prep their boats before they left, finding someone to do it for them is tough when everyone is scrambling to prepare for the storm. The ones who don't plan for the "what if" scenario before they leave for the summer are the idiots.


If my boat would have been on the lift, it would have been ratchet strapped to the lift. That would have prevented it from being blown off the lift and if the water rose to the hull, it would hold it in place. If waters rose high enough to get over the gunnel, then there would be water damage but hopefully the hull would have been in tact.

I'm waiting for some type of communication from the marina. If they say it could be a year or more to resume normal operations, I may ended up selling my 275SD with 0.5 an hour on it and then getting another one after things start returning to normal. Based on reports and pictures I am seeing it, the cleanup and repairs will be a massive undertaking.

 

[zipper]

A picture of my parents townhouse in Englewood. It is just North of Punta Gorda and was in the North eye wall as it came ashore. Luckily they missed the storm surge. However the railings for their lanai were ripped off/dislodged as well as some facia and soffit. They were up here for Summer and go down in a couple weeks. Makes me wonder who's job it was to secure those railings.

 

[Julian]

Lots of trees down in Raleigh last night. Going out now with the chain saw to help my neighbor clear the one in his driveway. We lost power for only 2 hours!

 

[Brad_Ct]

Bummer, I had this concern. How old is the cover?

2 1/2 years

 

[zipper]

 

[Ronnie]

I feel for anyone, especially members here, who suffered substantial or total property damage coming out of this. Similar to losing you home and possessions to a wild fire. Starting over is a bitch. Just saw a story about a CA family who lost their home to a wild fire four years ago. They just got their first relief payment after four years of living in an rv. At least they had an rv, many are still homeless. Flood insurance in the east seems like earthquake insurance in the west, it’s available but unaffordable for most so few people buy it.

i am rambling. If anyone here suffered substantial loss coming out of this and they have started a go fund me for help I suggest they start a post on it here. I’m not big on handouts but think all of could use a helping hand sometimes.

 

[BlkGS]

Could be a lot of things. For one prepping your house and securing a plan for keeping your family is first. Prepping the house can be a two day deal. Putting up shutters/plywood kicks your ass. Finding the time could be a hurdle. Getting someone to move your boat is a whole other ordeal. You don’t know which way the storm is going so it’s basically a gamble.

If you can afford a boat of that size, there's no excuse for not having hurricane windows. Granted, a lot of.people still put shutters over hurricane windows, especially for a cat 5ish storm like Ian, but still.

Getting someone to move the boat is of.course, a nightmarish idea.

 

[Judge]

If you can afford a boat of that size, there's no excuse for not having hurricane windows. Granted, a lot of.people still put shutters over hurricane windows, especially for a cat 5ish storm like Ian, but still.

Getting someone to move the boat is of.course, a nightmarish idea.

Newer homes are all constructed to hurricane specs so they have hurricane-class windows. But there was a lot of "old" Florida homes built when these specs didn't exist. They were sometimes handed down through generations. People may have had a lot of money or they may not have and still had a boat. If you're near the water, a lot of people have boats... even if they don't have a lot of money.

I'm a little pissed at our marina at the moment...... They sent out a letter a week ago telling people to get with their insurance companies, assess the damage and make plans to remove their boats. The letter said if boats were damaging marina property or causing damage to the environment, the marina reserved the right to move the boats. But..... the letter had no timeline for any of this.

The in less than a week from the letter and only about 10-days since the hurricane people found boats with only minor damage were being towed to a salvage yard.... without even contacting owners. People have been calling the marina and leaving messages and not getting any call backs. This is total BS. Given the scope of the storm, it is going to take time to insurance adjusters out to looks at boat damage and approve towing... plus finding companies that can do it. It may takes days or weeks until a tow / salvage company can move a boat given every marina and probably 80% of the boats have some amount of damage. On top of that some people have to get back down there... whether they evacuated or left for the summer.

Apparently the marina has stopped and will contact owners to discuss next steps. But they should have laid out a clear and reasonable timetable for people to contact insurance and remove their boats. I get they want to clear it out, assess damage and then begin rebuilding. I want that to happen as much as anyone so I can get my boat in the water. But I would be seriously pissed if they towed my boat without contacting me and asking me if I had a plan.... especially if it had minimal damage.

 

[BlkGS]

I can understand being pissed, but also I'm.sure the marina wants to start cleanup and repairs to their facilities as well. Every day they cant operate costs them money, which they're spending already tontry to recover.

It's a tough situation for sure.

We have a lot.of boats here, and a lot of old Florida homes. But IMO if you can afford a 30 foot or larger boat, you should have hurricane windows.

I say that as someone who needs to get hurricane windows in their own house.

 

[VitaminSea]

Regarding hurricane windows, it appears they are impact windows and do not protect against water intrusion from driving rain. Here is a reference

https://www.windowguysflorida.com/blog/why-you-need-to-waterproof-your-hurricane-impact-windows/

For perspective, I went out to Daytona Beach Shores/Ponce Inlet this past weekend. I was astonished to see that every single hotel/condo that was water front had water remediation trucks/trailers parked infront of their structure.

My in-laws condominium (large 20 story building) recently had their windows replaced and many residents and common areas experienced water intrusion from the driving rain.

I couldn’t believe the devastation bearing in mind that when Ian hit there I don’t even believe it was classified as a hurricane.

Some buildings lost sections of their roof, numerous properties had their sea walls breached. My marina had its store front windows blown out.

The beach had at least 3-4ft of sand eroded away, so now unless it’s low tide, the water is basically at the sea wall. The walkway on the jetty was partially washed away and many of the railing were mangled as well


My heart goes out to those in SW Florida.

 

[BlkGS]

That's some crazy damage.

Re hurricane windows... properly installed windows should be weatherproof. Maybe not like, standing water at the seams proof, but rain shouldn't leak through them, even driven by wind.

 

[Ohio]

Yeah, I just don't see how water would get past them.

 

[Brad_Ct]

We have friends that just built a house on Marco Island, they had the option of high impact sliding doors or shutters that roll down to cover them. I was very surprised by this and looked up the requirements because I thought high impact glass was code. From what I read, you can install either high impact glass or coverings but this is only required if you are within 1 mile from the coast.

 

[PortTobacco II]

should I take my mooring cover off and just let the boat get wet ? Im in central Florida where we are expecting only tropical storm winds.... Thanks

It has been several months since I signed on to the forum. I live in Punta Gorda Florida and made it thru Ian ok.
My 20/20 hindsight answer to the question of leaving the cover on the boat during a hurricane.....I would remove it. Both my bow and cockpit covers were destroyed by Ian. Ripped to shreds. I have since replaced them ($700-$800 ). I left my boat on the lift and used ratchet straps to secure it to the lift. I also tied the lift to the pilings to reduce swing/sway.
Three out of the 4 ratchet straps broke. Next time I plan on buying heavy duty yellow (car carrier) ratchet straps.