From 9/7/00</font id=blue>
I will never forget waking up in Spartanburg, South Carolina and watching the horrifying news footage of hundreds of boats piled on top of each other the morning after Hurricane Hugo had bulldozed through Charleston. That time of year is here again when all of us located on the east coast watch the weather channel religiously, concerned about every tropical wave that rolls off the coast of Africa. Those of us that have grown up in the lowcountry have become quite familiar with the steps to take in order to protect our homes when a hurricane approaches, but what steps should we take to prepare our boats for a hurricane? The purpose of this article is to offer just a few tips/ideas on protecting your boat from a hurricane. For organizational purposes I have broken this article down into two parts; trailerable and non-trailerable boats.
Trailerable Boats
If you plan on evacuating you may want to take your boat with you. Since you will more than likely be pulling the trailer further and in heavier traffic than you usually do on the weekends here are a few things to keep in mind:
Prior to hurricane season perform a thorough inspection of the trailer to make sure it is capable of making the haul if needed; remember to check: bearings, brakes, springs, lights, and tires to ensure they are all in tip top shape. Also, I highly recommend taking along a spare tire for the trailer and the proper sized trailer jack and lug wrench.
Check out your tow vehicle. Starting and stopping in heavy traffic with a boat puts a lot of stress on a vehicle and can make brakes fail and engines overheat. Check antifreeze, oil, and transmission fluid levels along with the brakes prior to leaving, and keep an eye on the temperature gauge throughout the trip.
Heavy traffic also puts a lot of stress on the driver; therefore a relief driver familiar with pulling a trailer may be needed.
Finally, remember when in evacuation traffic to leave plenty of room for stopping. In past evacuatio