With hurricane season officially beginning Friday, forecasters are predicting a “near normal” year of storm activity, which means there’s a good chance that tropical storms will strike the U.S. coastline.
However, BoatUS is promoting a tactic for preparing for incoming storms — using tie downs with boats stored ashore — that has proven to significantly lessen the impact of storm damage.
“We’ve known for a long time that the most effective storm preparation tactic a boat owner can do is to remove the boat from the water and store her ashore in a location above the anticipated storm surge,” BoatUS director of damage avoidance Bob Adriance said. “But over the last few years, we’ve now learned that if you add tie-downs on both sides of a boat that are secured to deck cleats and either embedded in the concrete pad or deeply screwed into the earth with helical anchors, you can almost eliminate storm damage from all but the most severe storms.”
