Some Thoughts After Hurricane Jeanne

[flagold]

I bugged out of Hernando Beach when it became apparent the eye would cross over the house (W. Coast N. of Tampa 45 miles) at 1 am in the morning and went N on Hwy 19 to Perry Florida and got some sleep in the bunk of C-Dawg-E. When I awoke, it was projected the storm would hug the coast, so I headed E to I-75 in an attempt to try to get in behind it (along with a bunch of RV'ers), it instead went more N than they thought and I ended up going through the front right quadrant holed up in the boat at the Gainsville I-75 rest stop with some very frightened tourists, truckers, and RV'ers.

Here's some thoughts:

First: I don't ever want to do that again.

Second: not one leak, except for a hole I drilled for an antennae wire where horizontal rain punched out the sealant and flooded the bow while I was asleep on the opposite side. All in all, pretty impressive, even with pressure rain, it didn't leak anywhere.

Third: the rounded cockpit is an abomination. Just get caught with the decision to face into the wind downhill and be able to open the door and get out and have aerodynamics of road travel, or face uphill and not be able to get out with the aerodynamics of death one time and then tell me it isn't. Water collects so fast there it's phenomenal, and sooner or later, you'll get sick of having wet shoes, wet feet, wet legs, wet wet wet, anytime you get out. For just a few bucks, the factory could simply glass that area flat, and solve a lot of problems (and have a collection point at the drainhole where it should be).

Fourth: they should junk the cabin bilge pump and put in a float type, as has already been pointed out many times on this forum.

Fifth: the Norcold refrigerator is GREAT! Especially when I got back here and found no power. I already knew it was great after my circle route caamping trip out west, but it really makes it nice.

6th: The RV's were bobbing around a lot more than the C-Dory, at no time did I feel unsafe, but they sure did. Wind was high enough to snap the big Interstate metal signs off their poles, many billboards were simply 4 poles sticking out of the ground about 4 feet to where they snapped. So being on a low trailer helps in such situations.

7th: Wallas -- great -- a "must have" in my opinion. Between it and the Norcold -- never needed a thing, and wouldn't have had to get out at all if not for a 14 year old dog that has to have green grass to go.

8th: Hours and hours of horizontal rain is much more impressive live than on TV.

Note to self: don't ever do that again.

[B~C]

That sounds like a pretty exciting adventure, going to make that an annual event? At least when things start flooding you'll be ready, unlike the RVing folks........Yup, that bilge pump and it's location are lacking, I ended up installing an additional bilge with a float switch in the back.
When is the next hurricane due in? one a week, is that the schedule?
good to hear that all is well

[flagold]

I'm going to do the same thing with the cabin bilge pump. I ordered a set of those factory floorboards, and depending on what they look like, may just glass a light ply cover over them and make a permanent raised floor and seal it up so the aft bilge pump I installed will be the primary bilge. I do know that after this experience I will do something -- maybe raise it just in line with the drain hole in the cabin -- time will tell. Out west this might never be a factor, but here where we can get significant rain on any summer day, it is.

Of the last 4 hurricanes, 2 passed within 90 miles of the house, and 2 (Francis and Jeanne) passed directly over it. I had just got repairs from Francis damage done 2 days before I had to leave for Jeanne, and now have to do them all over again.

The water in the photo above is brown because of all the runnoff after Francis, it is normally fairly clear.

A tough year that could've been worse -- the bottom end of my development did flood, luckilly I was spared that by a few inches.

[TyBoo]

Fascinating tale. Thanks. Sure glad to hear you weathered it so well. How are things at home? A whole bunch of us would be interested in reading more about the storms back there, from you and anyone who was too close to them.

Wouldn't it be something if sometime soon you ventured out to the west coast for a get together and right after you got here, Ken's volcano blew?

[flagold]

Mike:

Things are good compared with what might be. I have a tree in the lines out in front of the house, some siding off on the Gulf side, some shingles gone, a hole the size of a fist in the side of the house, and a hole the size of a foot long 2x6 (which is probably what hit it) up under the roof overhang. Some water on the carpets where rain pressurized the doors. But nothing compared to what you see on TV from Charley, Ivan, Frances, or this one in the initial impact zones. Those folks have nothing.

For Charley, I had just got in from our west with the C-Dory, it was still rigged up and I simply stepped back in it and headed North. That was a real stress for me since that was the one we were supposed to take the direct hit on, and it veered into Punta Gorda instead. I left thinking I'd come back to matchsticks and the light airplane I own (Husky) would be destroyed at Hernando County Airport. As it was, they flew their airplanes to Orlando, Charlie went right through there, and all the airplanes ferried from Hernando to Orlando got destroyed. It was a lucky thing that airplane wasn't destroyed because I used it to ferry supplies to a buddy and his family that the eyewall went over did significant damage. If you want to see what kind of effort was mounted to keep him going from all his friends: http://golddredger.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=read_count&om=1267&forum=DCForumID2&viewmode=threaded

For Frances, I had time to take the C-Dory to a safe place and ferried the plane up to Georgia the day before it hit, flying up Hwy. 19. Miles and miles of cars creeping along at 20 mph, running out of gas, and being shoved into the ditch. What happens is there is no gas to be found before one of these things hits. You're either carrying your gas, or you won't have any when the tank runs dry because people panic everywhere and stocks are drained whether they're in the path and need to evacuate or not. Since Ivan was on the way, I left the airplane in North Georgia and came back to siding off the front of the house and a bunch of trees down.

For Ivan, I held my breath and caught a break as it passed close offshore, and only received some very high tides.

You know what this last storm did. Again, I am very fortunate compared to those left with nothing. We are helping each other since insurance and FEMA, etc., are simply overwhelmed. There is a limit to what "the system" can do under sustained pressure, long term. Stock market crash, 9-II, 4 major hurricanes, and now you tell me St. Helens will blow . . . I believe it now.

If you want to fly the Husky, I believe I have a short clip of it here: http://www.treasuresites.com/Ditch.mpg and http://www.treasuresites.com/Huskyapp.mpg (stunt shots for video productions)

Happy boating!