Preparing for Hurricane Advice
Guys and Gals some basic advice on preparing for Hurricane Mathew:
- Inspect your lines. Do not rely on lines older than 4 years old they often can be 50% weaker then new ones.
- Examine all areas for possible chafe exposure and place chafe protection on all possible problem areas.
- Make sure that lines are adequate size:Â https://www.mantusmarine.com/mantus-anchor-knowledgebase/rode-sizing/
- Make sure your connections are adequately sized and not rusty https://www.mantusmarine.com/mantus-anchor-knowledgebase/rode-sizing/
- We recommend using more than one anchor!
- We do not recommend tandem anchoring, please refer to this article: http://www.practical-sailor.com/issues/37_68/features/Tandem-Anchoring_12056-1.html. But in Summary we recommend setting two separate rodes, in a V formation, but the  two legs should have different length legs (one leg shorter than the other by 15 to 20 feet) to make sure that anchors do not foul each other as the rig rotates with the winds. This we believe is the best set up if you are using two anchors.
- If you are in the area with soft silty bottom make sure that you use a large Danforth or a Fortress as part of your anchor set up.
- Use anchors two to three sizes larger then recommended for working anchor for your boat if preparing for a Cat 3 – 4 Hurricane.
- Take down your sails and canvas, do not cut corners here….
- Shut down your through holes.
- Check your bilge pumps and make sure your batteries are fully charged.
- Make sure to turn off all non essential energy consuming systems off to give all power to the bilge pumps.
- Pray! 😉