Hi all,



Some of you might remember my posting form a couple of weeks ago.

I was complaining that there was no wind during our first cat-race.

This weekend there was to much wind 11BFT+ which caused damage to 11 out of the 13 cats in our harbor.

Can anyone give me a proper guideline for tying the boat to the ground.

We used car tires which we did dig in the ground to tie the cat to, This was not enough.

The A cat from one of my friends did fly 12 meters high.



Luckily my boat was unharmed

Did you have the mast down?



I use concrete blocks buried in wet sand, attached to a galvanized chain. I tie the dolphin striker to the chain. We never get above 50 mph, though. Not sure what it would take to hold her when winds are close to hurricane force.

Down here, when a Hurrricane comes thru,..we



1. mast down



2. tramp rolled up



3. fill hulls with water



....believe it or not,..pushing the cat in the bush or tall grass lets the hulls 'hide' from the wind..



Bruce



St. Croix

Rather tahn tying the d-striker and middle of the rear beam to tires dug into the ground we bury tires next to the sides of the boat near the stays and tie the boat down by the stays. Works better. Although at those winds the mast needs to come down.



Wouter

We have over 100 cats at our club all tied front and rear beams and the only trouble is the occasionally sideways movement (can be bad if two move together). I think your tied stays would be a secure ways to go. No force 11 for us this year, but a couple of 35-40 storms that tested the system.

At my club we have about the same amount of boats; depending on the weather 90 - 110 cats. 95 % of us tie the boats of to the main beam and rearbeam as described. With some regularity we have the sideways movement problem. The tying of to the stays solved thsi problem for the people using this system. Cat are already more resistant to fore aft movement due to their long hulls. I think more will convert to this system over the years.



Wouter

I burried a 4 foot long piece of steel, 3feet down, and that ripped out. Friend's boats that where held down with Dog Leash Tiedowns have never let go in more than 5 years.



Go to the pet store and get some of the Dog Leash Anchors, which look like a giant cork screw. These also work great to supplement whatever tie downs you have. Make sure the screw is burried deep into the sand, so that none of it is exposed.



With just one of these tied to the dolphin strker, boats seem fine with mast-up up to about 50mph, gusts to 60. You better drop mast for anything greater than that.



If you want to be really safe, tie one to the dolphin, and place one between each pair of boats, and run a trap wire from each side of the boats to those anchors. Not going anywhere!



As I found out, a shroud will act like a very nice hacksaw for anything that it lands on (like someone else's hull). A boat with mast down will do a hell of a lot less damage to itself and others.

No offense Malc but I strongly disagree with your recommendation for those dog ties. Dog ties don't work it big wind. For mud or grass I use a 3ft trailer tie down available at any trailer supply store. I just tie it to the dolphin striker but creep is possible with this system. In sand an old tire or a large cinder block buried is recommended.



In hurracane type winds take the mast down and put the boat back in the dunes so that it is somewhat protected from the direct blast of wind.



Always tie your boat down. If not for yourself for the guy next to you that you will fall on!!!



Mike Hill

H20 #791

OK, dog ties have worked for us, but trailer tie downs are probably better choice. My attempt to bury a 4 ft wide tubular trailer hitch, that weighed 30lbs or so, failed while the dog ties worked.



That is the value of these forums!!



They are still useful for tie down while visiting other beaches, as a safety precaution at night. And, they are quick to setup.



I fully agree with dragging a boat into the brush. I did that a couple of years ago when a sudden 90 mph storm came through, and even with mast up, my boat did not topple. Other boats blew away as though they where sheets of newspaper, and all of the glass in my car got blown out from the thunder.

Hi Wouter,



The A cat I mentioned in my first announcement was tired down with 4 tires and had no tramp.

Still it flew 12 meters high , according to the manager of the harbor he saw the boat flying with the mast down app 2 meters from the surface when it hit a basketball net.

His mast is broken his rear beam is ripped and one hull has serious damage.



At some point his wind meter ran out of scale.

Even some 40ft boats did fell over on shore while they were stored for the winter.



I saved my boat by tying it to the ground on the front site facing the wind and putting

Some blocks on under the back to keep some pressure on the tramp.

We did not have time to put the mast safely down.



See also the attachment.

where is this?



I'm willing to make the trip up there to make some offers to some insurance officers :P

We are located in the middle of Europe in The Netherlands to be precice.

I do not think it’s useful to come here.



Best regards,

Hmmm. The A cat's weight has its advantages, but in that kind of wind, I'll take my heavyweight N6.0.

I Agree, but we did need 4 app. 90 kilo_heavy_persons to keep the boat into place while tying down.



Have you seen the second attachment ?



It was hard to stand up I even lost my glasses several times.



Unfortunately for us it means the end of the season the water temp falls down real quick and there is almost nobody on the lake in case of a emergency.



We hope to start by the end of March again.



Have fun you all and enjoy the rest of your season.



I will keep on asking questions during the winter because there is a lot about my 6.0 that I still do not know.