Have an F16 on order. Long time catsailor. Question for the F16 group, with the lighter weights of these cats, if your leaving the boat over night on the beach, will you stake them down? lower the mast for the night?
If you stake then down, what do you use for this?
I remember seeing Greg Goodal 12 or so yrs ago come to a regatta with a 4.9 and Tiapan, and he lowered the mast at night. Thanks for the feedback.

I didn't tie mine down one night a few years ago. The wind was light and getting ligher, but about 3am a line of thunderstorms came through and flipped about 4 boats, mine being one of them. One was a Hobie 16, mast up but tied down on a trailer. The whole thing went over on the side.

A few broken masts were the results, so now if I think there is even a small chance there will be any -night wind- at all, I tie it down, using the trap handles and some extra line, strung to a park bench, tree, picknick table, cat trailers, or what ever is available. Oh, and be sure to tighten the mast rotator line before you go or it will flop around quite a bit.

Some guys bring the big dog screws or 2x4's and bury them in the sand to tie off to. Dropping the mast is always an option, but a real -pita- with the spin pole and halyard setup, but if it were really going to be windy and there were no trees around to tie off to, then yeah, drop it.

I had my boat flip last year in Racine despite being tied down with a 4 ft auger on the dolphin striker.. Use the trap line method. Any chance of wind, stake it down.

two augers, one at each trap line. Make CERTAIN the mast rotation is centered and snug.

Dog screw will not be enough even in solid ground, better use something like that (sorry I have no clue how you call this in english):


However in sand, it will not hold. You have to take an old tire fill it with concrete, tie a line around, dig it in the sand and knote it arount the mast step/beam (not the doplhin striker alone). I use one of those blue IKEA bags filled with sand and digged it in (line around the bag, not the handles). It is about 50 liters of sand.
It is good idea to prevent the boat from rotating as well (e.g. a line from the rear beam to the trailer).

I was thinking about storing the boat mast down. But I think the risk that somebody drive in the mast (on the parked trailor) at night is higher.

Cheers

Klaus

One other thing the guys at CRAW taught me is if you have the boat rigged overnight and you expect high winds, tie your spinnaker into the spin bag at the hoop. If you don't and it eventually works out of the spin bag, you will be in for a lot of trouble.

Tom, how high were the winds that came through Racine a couple of years ago? Gusts over 50?

I was tied down with two sand augers like Smith shows, had the rotation good and snug and there was no problem. I tie my trapeze lines directly to the augers. I feel that minimizes swaying of the mast. I don't tie anything across the hulls.

Several tents were collapsed and I thought my tent was going into lake Michigan but the boat was fine.

I can't sleep unless the boat is tied down. a friend has had his HT flip countless times due to it not being tied down. Ideally there are two anchors in the ground at the shrouds and use a line to tie to the them. Or use the trap lines tied to them. Not tying the boat down is just a really bad idea no matter what you think the wind will or won't be.

The proper terminology for this item is "Redneck Home Insurance Policy"

These are called "earth anchor".

Grainger has these available online.

Here in FL you can generally find these in different sizes at ACE Hardware.

I agree with previous posters about "anchoring" the boat...makes me sleep better.

I have an 3 "anchors" depending on soil makeup.

• Dog Screws for very hard soil.
• Earth Anchor for soft(er) soil
• 2 x 4 to bury in sand

Yeah, it supposedly hit 55.

I think my issue was only one stake at the striker and being in the fourth row of boats, far away from the breakwall. The F18 that was further back from me flipped with two stakes (maybe three), but their mast is much more hardy.

Previously mentioned .... secure the mast rotation so that the mast doesn't oscillate in the wind.