Exumas

[Sumner]

Sounds like you are setup .

I concur on the screen size issue. After using OpenCPN on a large screen it is hard to go down to most chartplotter screen sizes. I went with the Standard Horizon since it had a 7 inch screen, had a good price at the time and had charts loaded for U.S., Bahamas and Mexico but will still have OpenCPN running below on a larger screen.

I plan on doing most of my route planing with OpenCPN and sending the waypoints to the Standard Horizon via a serial connection like I've done over the years using the hand-held in the cockpit. It will also be running most all the time below. One thing I did in the Bahamas was plan a route and send it to the hand-held. Then if weather came up I could quickly change the route below to a closer anchorage and sent those waypoints in seconds to the hand-held. I'll still be able to do the same with the larger Standard Horizon in the cockpit on either boat.

Report back your findings after your Keys trip,

Sumner

============================
1300 miles to the Bahamas and back -- 2015

The MacGregor 26-S

The Endeavour 37

Trips to Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

[whgoffrn]

Will do I've still got about 6 weeks to prepare.... currently working on seeing if I can fabricate a large tarp with weight in center and drain valve and tube as a rain catcher to see if it's feasible to fill water up with rain while there....been reading your and Chinooks trip over every night before bed lol awesome reading

[whgoffrn]

I'm not sure if I should just post all of my concerns or questions in this one thread to sum it up.. what preparations one must consider before making an extreme (for a mac) trip like this.... most have said they like to get over and leave before hurricane season and with kids school and summer being my only option I have to consider the real possibility I may indeed have to ride out a hurricane in a Mac....kinda scary thought

I know picking location would be number one
if I can find a marina and hotel room obviously that would be option one
Mooring isn't an option the scope would be too small and rip the boat apart from waves
Last is Anchor or beach it and devise a way to roll it back out to water when hurricane passes ?? I guess having a light boat does have it's advantages with a come a long and something to roll under the relatively flat hull I can imagine it wouldn't be too difficult to get it up on dry land .....back out may be a bigger problem though

Or anchor in the most protected area you can find .... reason I'm asking these things early is I already have a 35lb Mantus which I just realize it somehow got bent ??? Even cracked I'm not sure how it did but the "ring" to help it roll is bent and cracked ....3 weeks ago my 25lb Mantus survived some serious winds of prob 40- 50mph for 3 hours a couple weeks back but 80 or 90 with big waves I see a 45lb in my future since my 35 is damaged anyways ....and if anchoring appears the best way and I don't imagine the cleats would hold that much pressure so i would intend to make a bridle to distribute between both cleats and the boat hook up front so it's distributed evenly on all 3... also a chain from each cleat back to the mast to add more support so the cleats don't rip out and reinforce the boat hook maybe either add more fiberglass and remove the backing plate and have a much bigger one made at machine shop to add more surface area.

Maybe I'm paranoid or just a philosophy that's been taught to me to prepare for the worst but I may actually need to consider the fact that I may have to formulate a plan or 2 for a hurricane

[sailboatmike]

Beaching I would think would be the worst option, beaches and hard stuff do nasty stuff to boats and the storm surge could leave you well and truly high and dry.

I would think the most sheltered place with the wind pushing the boat away from land with as much scope as one can muster. Few boats actually sink in open water, most are sunk after bashing into hard things like rocks, marina jetties etc., thats why you see the big boats head out in bad weather, they have more chance of surviving at sea

Of course the use of two anchors on a bridle is a decent option, plenty of videos on Youtube about setting up anchors on bridles to share the strain

[whgoffrn]

I've read several opinions on the bahamas during summer one train of thought is no way at all won't go during summer for fear of hurricanes others claim there are some good hurricane holes .....from what I understand most come inland even tying to mangroves for hurricanes because of swells being 20 -30 or more depending.....

If i chose to prepare for the plan of anchoring through it in a worst case scenario I was thinking 1 big WAYYY overside anchor with a custom made 3 part chain bridle to avoid chafe and distribute the weight evenly between the two cleats up front and where trailer winch hooks to boat reinforcing all 3
I know you can't believe everything you see on "tv" but lately I've caught myself watching sailing uma videos and the guy on there rode out hurricane andrew using one big oversized Mantus anchor and never budged ...granted in a much heavier boat and 105lb Mantus anchor but he also reinforced the cleats by tying them to the mast.
If you get a chance watch his video great footage of weathering through a hurricane in a sailboat but it did leave me wondering about how our boats would do in such conditions ..... he anchored in 20 feet of water in a well protector anchoring location and still dealt with some fairly decent waves ...but I'm not sure moving closer inland would be better because now those waves would be breakers and also not many well protected areas with high elevation that I see in exumas nor 20 feet of water ... Still lots of time to ponder the many options

[whgoffrn]

Granted either of these 2 options are a last case scenario ...finding a dock or getting it hauled out and riding it out in a hotel is my first options but trying to figure out my back up plan

[Sumner]

I'd see about getting the 35# anchor back to them for study. I can't imagine that it is normal for that anchor to bend and/or crack with the loads of a Mac on it and can't see why you would need one bigger.

I think you need to resolve yourself to the fact that if you were unfortunate enough to be there during a hurricane that was tracking close to you that you need to get you and the kids ashore on an island that has some population and that you might lose the Mac. No way would I try and ride out a storm like that unless it was tracking quite a ways away from where I am. I was there during the first tropical storm and the winds on one day got quite high. Around 50 for a while and true sustained 50 knot winds are high. I was at ....


http://1fatgmc.com/boat/mac-1/2015%20Ba ... ge-17.html

.... Little Farmer's Cay when the storm went past and was pretty sheltered. Boats just to the north at Black Point were exposed to the SW winds and got blown all over the place but I don't think there was any major damage to anyone. Still this was just a tropical storm with winds under 75 and not a hurricane.



I passed the boat on the beach above just south of Black Point that had been put there by a previous year's storm. You for sure don't want to put the boat on the shore with storm surge as has been mentioned.

Another boat...



http://1fatgmc.com/boat/mac-1/2015%20Ba ... ge-24.html

... that was washed ashore. It happens.

I've seen diagrams of putting 3 anchors down on equal degrees of the compass for hurricane protection. If you had 3 with you that might be the best you could do, but I still would not try and ride the storm out on the boat.

There are places over there that are know to be so called good hurricane holes. The question is good to what degree and can you get to one of them. It takes time to move from place to place especially if the weather is not cooperating. There was a 35-40 foot boat in the yard this past winter that was in what is considered a good hurricane hole at George Town (Exumas) and it was severely damaged and towed from there to the boat yard for repairs. No idea what that probably cost?

There are thousands of boats over there every hurricane season so your odds are good. I'd be going over as soon as school is out so that you are as early as you could be during hurricane season as there are far fewer storms during that period. Worst case you get to shore and possibly lose the boat. If the whole time you are over there hurricanes are on your mind it probably isn't going to be a very fun trip. Go as early as you can and you probably have nothing to worry about and have a good time,

Sumner

============================
1300 miles to the Bahamas and back -- 2015

The MacGregor 26-S

The Endeavour 37

Trips to Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

[whgoffrn]

http://www.duckworksbbs.com/gear/beachroller/index.htm

So purposely beaching it with something like this would be a bad idea ?
I think my first plan is see if I can find a way to get the boat out of the water preferably at a marina but I'm looking for other options .... inflatable beach rollers like in the link abobe and a come along dragged wayyyyy up a sandy beach not practical over there?

[Sumner]

Beaching I would think would be the worst option, beaches and hard stuff do nasty stuff to boats and the storm surge could leave you well and truly high and dry....

There are a lot of rocks over there, it isn't like southern FL where the shoreline is flat. Lots of sandy beaches but they usually only go for a short ways and then it is a rocky shore line. I don't think you could ever get the boat out far enough if the hurricane tracked close to avoid storm surge and what it can do to boats. Not saying they aren't there but I never saw a marina over there with a lift and with boats out of the water on stands and if they do exist I'm sure storm surge could come ashore and take those boats off the stands if the wind hadn't already done that.

One thing I like about the yard the Endeavour is in down in FL is that it is inland but still I consider that the boat could be loss or heavily damaged in the yard. The 2004 hurricane ....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Charley

.... that hit FL's west coast went right over the yard and some boats were damaged. We didn't have the boat there at the time. Still I now watch every hurricane that forms in the Atlantic or Gulf and don't have full coverage on the Endeavour as is is just too expensive. So I also have my neck stuck out.

The best planning for a hurricane is don't get in or near one if there is any other option, but you already knew that

Sumner

============================
1300 miles to the Bahamas and back -- 2015

The MacGregor 26-S

The Endeavour 37

Trips to Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

[whgoffrn]

Luckily mantus has a lifetime warranty and agreed to send me a new roll bar for free...... and also June and July are the beginnings but still a fairly big obstacle to worry about......sumner what do you think about the center of shroud cay?? Go in at high tide and either tie to mangroves or hammer anchors in???
It seems shallow so I can't imagine the waves being much ...the wind I'm not so concerned about as I could take the mast down and secure it somewhere in the treeline (hoping no trees fell on it... unhook all stays and take EVERYTHING OFF to decrease all wind resistance.....im mostly worried about waves and how it would handle waves.....with a big enough anchor anything can be held in place .... I think I can rig up a way to take the load off the cleats by chaining to the mast plate .....and i can reinforce the trailer hook on the front of the boat make a bridle to distribute evenly and use my anchor shock absorber to lessen the jolt / shock but I still see the problem of the hull design being flat at the back and overall a light boat that it doesn't have the weight nor hull design to slice through the repeated wind waves so it would be an extremely rough 8 hours and I beleive would best be holed up in very shallow water???? So it makes me wonder if shroud cay is an option?

[Sumner]

.. So it makes me wonder if shroud cay is an option?

http://1fatgmc.com/boat/mac-1/2015%20Ba ... ge-21.html


My feeling is that Shroud could be a death trap. First it would be very hard to get the Mac in there if not impossible. If a hurricane was close the surge would just sweep over the whole place as it is very low. There is no settlement there, so you would be entirely alone.

A hurricane is not going to hit tomorrow like a squall would. If you are watching the weather you have a weeks warning most likely. Then I would be using the motor on that X to move as far away from the anticipated path as possible. Next I'd anchor the boat as described above far from shore and then get you and the kids into a settlement where the people know what to do when a hurricane hits.

You could move a long ways in even 4-5 days, at least 300-400 miles if you have good sea conditions. I don't think there is any anchor gear that one could come up with that would ensure safety staying on the boat if you were near the path of a hurricane. My opinion,

Sumner

============================
1300 miles to the Bahamas and back -- 2015

The MacGregor 26-S

The Endeavour 37

Trips to Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

[Chinook]

I recall visiting Shroud Cay and going through the "inland waterway" in our dinghy. It was a fun place to explore. Can't comment one way or another on the possibilities of Shroud as a hurricane hole. If you get caught and forced to hole up on the water, best bet is to head for a place surrounded by mangroves. They provide some shelter from wind, and offer lots of opportunities for running multiple lines to the mangrove limbs. Such places are well known by locals. I can't think of any such places, off hand in the Exumas. We did see a few up in the Abacos.

[whgoffrn]

I've read a lot of people do that....tie to mangroves ....i guess as with everything there's many differing opinions I've read some say that's their plan others have said when the hurricane passes and moves and the wind clocks a different angle and the wind is on the beam at 80 it puts a lot of stress on the boat not having that ability to pivot and face the wind.... I guess I still have a long time to weigh my options and write down names and numbers for every marina and dock from bimini to staniel and i guess cell phone with data definately will be one thing I invest in to get as early as detection as possible on predicted storm paths with predicted dates of impact