What are various techniques for tying down your boat when you store it at a beach or club or marina on a permanent or seasonal basis?

And what are techniques for tying down your boat on an emergency basis when you are at a regatta or camping and a sudden storm comes through?

Related questions are:
*How do you deal with different surfaces -- like concrete/asphalt, normal soil, rocky soil, and sand?
*Is it better to tie down with the boat on the trailer, on beach wheels, or flat on the ground?
*In relation to the expected direction of high winds, do you want bows facing toward the wind or sterns facing the wind or the side facing the wind?
*If your boat is on beach wheels, do you want them under the boat at the end away from the wind direction? Or do you want to put them on top of the boat at the end closest to the wind direction to help hold the boat down?
*How do you deal with your mast? If your boat is turned bow toward the wind, do you leave the mast loose to feather at will; and, if stern to the wind, do you secure the mast so it won't go sideways to the wind?

I know sand anchors sound like a good idea that people could carry in their boat box to regattas or even on their boat if they are going camping on an island. But what kinds are good and where do you get them? I found a type of sand anchor that is used for beach umbrellas, but it is only a foot long. A guy who sails a lot at a very windy lake in the western United States said the sailors all have spiral sand anchors that are 3 feet long, but where do you find these?

This is becoming a bigger issue as boats get lighter. We have a lot of A-Class boats sailing out of here and sometimes leaving their boats here for periods of time. As y'all probably know, an A-Class weighs 165 pounds all up. When they are going to leave their boats on the water side of our place, they usually drop their masts, because they are concerned about their boats taking flight when a cold front comes through and winds are 25-30+ knots blowing directly in on our beach.

I asked one of the A sailors if it would work to tie the boats down to weights, like concrete blocks, and he said, "No, it would still go flying and at the same time flinging the blocks around and damaging the boat."

Between the Tradewinds Regatta and the A-Class Regatta the following weekend, four A-Class boats were in our yard with masts up. Sure enough, a cold front came through during the week. They were all sitting stern to the wind on their square, four-wheel dollies, which lets the wind get underneath the whole boat. They were bouncing around pretty good, and one briefly tried to stand up on its nose, and I was picturing one of them ending up in my office. I moved the dollies forward, to let the sterns down on the ground so the wind would not be able to get underneath the boats as easily, but they were still dancing.

Fortunately, Goran Marstrom came to my rescue. He was staying here for Tradewinds and the following A-Class regatta. (Marstrom is the guy who has the factory in Sweden that makes the Tornados of choice, and he also makes A-Class cats.) He and Bob Webbon, another A-Class sailor, gave me a lesson in physics. They put all the A-Cats back on their dollies and they took the trapeze wires from each and added lines to them and tied the the lines down to our chickee hut on one side and to trees and other things on the other. I didn't understand the concept, but Webbon said, "It's about levers and fulcrums." I was dubious, but it worked like a charm. The boats did not budge after that, no matter how strong the winds got. How incredibly simple! (IF you have something to tie to.)

As Goran and Bob showed you, there is a big difference between securing a Hobie 18 and an A Class.
The A Class need to be stored on their dollies or trailers. Not only because their hulls are thinner but also because a scratched up A Class is slower (and so tacky).
The lever effect they refered to is due to the light weight. A Hobie 18 with 50 lbs of force against the mast due to wind is nothing, but a 50 lb force against an A Class mast can flip it. Even if facing the wind, an A Class wing mast could generate enough lift, in the horizontal direction, to flip it. This is usually the cause of the "dancing" you mentioned. It is not usually related to wind on the platform. This is similar to "buffeting" in a plane. By tying off the trap lines, they stopped the horizontal motions, occillations, of the mast.

Anchors
I carry two types with me, the spiral screw (dog anchor) and the plate-type trailer anchor, (redneck insurance policy).
The plate-type work best when you can get them in the ground. Mine have a plate about four inches in diameter. This is usually OK, but can pull out of soft sand. I would like to get a pair of the ones with the eight inch plate. I use the spiral anchors when the ground is too hard for the plate anchors but the cheap ones can break easily.

Assuming you have a securing tie down, how the boat is tied can make a big difference.
Most of us just have one line up and around the mast step. This can allow alot of horizontal movement and damage.
There should also be a tie down at the reacrossbar too.
Even on a heavy boat, the mast should be tied off to prevent rotation and take out any slack in the shrouds.

Mary,
I got a dog screw at Home Depot, but I couldnt get it in the ground at your place at Tradewinds. I took the wheels out from under my HT and tied my trap wires down like Goran did. I think that a tight rotator mast, bows into the wind and no wheels/dolly would present the best profile to the wind.

I've seen tie downs cemented into the ground at Roton Point, YC, CT. They have a large cat fleet and a bunch of them are parked right off the water on a bluff.

Bill

Mary,

I've used a screw anchor similiar to the trailer house tie-downs with the exception of the shin busting bracket at the top. The ones I've used have an eye formed with the shank of the screw. The shank is about 3' to 4' long with a 6" diameter screw section for driving into the ground. A pipe wrench or rod inserted into the eye of the shank helps to screw it into the ground. This works better in sandy areas like a beach because of the torque needed to screw something that size into the ground. Four of these held my Stiletto down during the last hurricane here (even though the eye of the storm was 50 miles east) without it moving.

My first one I made about 18 years ago because I couldn't find one to buy. Now a local vendor (like Home Depot) handles both types and different lengths. For my past Hobies I used just one between the hulls tied off to the dolphin striker or mast step with good results. A snug tiedown would keep it from moving in all but the worst wind.

Clayton

I agree with the lot here, as I have a set of two (relatively short - about 2 ft) tie downs (aka - redneck insurance policies). When properly "screwed" in (down to where the eye is slightly above grade, they can hold up to several hundred pounds of force. I also have a ratchet strap that goes across the whole boat. They are easy to screw/unscrew (a solid broom handle and about 5 minutes per screw), and I doubt that anything short of a huge (and insured) wind would upset the boat. Obviously, I would keep the boat on the ground and secure the wheels somewhere.

It's interesting they comment on the wind loads on the mast causing the boat dancing. I've been in the position of trying to lower an I-20 mast in a fresh breeze (18+ mph), and actually had to force the thing down (wind was astern). I could see how it could put a hurtin' on the boats. Also consider that wind on the surface of the water is slower (by a good bit) than wind 30'-35' off the water (surface friction, etc.)...

Sam, you must have been an Eagle Scout. I'm amazed that anyone is prepared enough to carry one type of anchor, much less two.

Anyway, I am still wondering what to use for rocky areas. I'm thinking maybe tent stakes. For regattas we used to rent a tent, and the guys putting it up had these really heavy-duty stakes they pounded in with a sledgehammer. (They are basically just really big spikes.) If they can hold down a tent the size of a three-car garage in strong winds, I guess they would hold a boat.

Our beach is owned by the state parks department and they are very pro-cat sailor. They let us put in 2 poured concrete footings per beach slip. As long as the boats are tied in, they don't go too far.

Normally I throw my boat on a trailer overnight if it is rocky. A friend of mine one time used two large rock climbing cams for an anchor point.

http://www.rei.com/online/store/Pro...&catalogId=40000008000&langId=-1

Hi Mary

Responsible people watch the weather and try to anticipate problems. I've done that 3 am boat-moving thing before...

ALWAYS store the boat bows to wind/water if possible.

In sand, house trailer tiedowns work very well if installed correctly. These are available at Home Depot or Lowe's. They are about 2.5-3' long with a helix at one end and a bracket at the other. The bracket is sharp and I tie something bright to mine to avoid walking on it.

Correct installation is key. You should dig a hole first, about a foot or so deep. and then screw down the tiedown until the bracket is just barely above ground level. Fill in the hole, tamp it down, and the bracket bit should be all that shows. It makes a great difference in holdability if you don't bury the whole tiedown.

Of course the main problem is your neighbors who inevitably don't bother to tie down sufficiently. I've had damage from neighboring boats when my boat didn't move a bit.

If there were rocks, I suppose I'd bury a concrete anchor for a permanent solution or else put the boat back on the trailer... or drill holes in the rocks. If camping for only couple days I'd put the boat on the trailer. That said, even the trailer won't necessarily hold the boat down if it blows hard enough, and I'd trust the tiedowns in any permanent/longterm storage. The height difference with trailer makes for windage that will take the boat over when a tied down on the ground boat stays put.

Wave action will screw up ANYTHING you set, and a boat tied to washed up concrete will bash against the concrete and hole.

sea ya
tami

Hi Mary...

At the beach, I usually tie my (heavy) H16 on one side to the wooden stairs (of the boardwalk/deck) from our cottage. On the other side I usually pound in a 3 foot, 2X2" treated wood garden stake (top angled away from boat) into the sand to tie it down. The waves rarely get up to the stair area except during serious storms.
If a moderate to severe storm is coming, I'll take off the mast, flip the boat over, and pile lots of sand on the underside of the tramp, then tie it as above.
Anything more serious and I'll trailer the boat off the beach and tie it to the pylons under the cottage. If we then had to evacuate the island, I'd probably leave it there and hope for the best..

Mark Owens
1976 H16 sail# 19857

I will share a quick, funny story from quite a few years back. Kind of reminds of a good story for a Buffett song.

It was the beginning of the sailing season (May) and I was helping a good friend of mine put his H16 in his beach slip. We ended up drinking with and helping about 20 other people too. By about 9pm that night we were all a little loopy. I asked my friend "Hey, maybe you better tighten your boat down, looks like a storm". His immortal words were "Ahhh... if it blows that hard, the wind can have it."

Sure enough at about 2am a big wind storm blew through. The next morning some of the boats had moved around, but nothing was out fo the ordinary. As I walked dow the beach I saw something wierd... My friends boat had jumped a 5' fence and flipped, mast straight down into the mud, broken in half without touching another boat.

So I call him and said "Hey, just thought I would tell you... the god of wind took your boat."

when i leave her alone at the beach at night i use those dog screws, in her case b*tch screws, into the sand and on the trailer.

Well, I'll add my .02 here-
When I was sailing Prindles in Texas long ago we had a regatta in S. Texas on a big lake. One of the guys "furled" his jib around the forestay and tied it (loosely??) and had his boat tied down on a wooden dock. That night a big storm came through and it blew stink all night long. Apparently his jib had unfurled at some time during the night- it was shredded. But the really weird thing was the boat had apparently "rocked" all night long on the wooden dock and had ground completely through the FG on the bottom of both hulls!
When I was living in North Carolina a friend and I had taken our boats down to the Yacht Club we belonged to on the Coast to set them up for a regatta the coming weekend. It was hurricane season so I put my 18 square together on it's collapsible trailer but left the mast down. He put the mast up on his Hobie 18. Both boats were securely tied to the trailers but I of course used the dog run screws to tie my trailer down. We both had our trailers in the far corner of the yard from the water (yard was fenced in).
Well, of course a hurricane came in with flooding that week. My friend and I hurried down as soon as we could to check on our boats. His Hobie 18 had "sailed" (on the TRAILER ) out the front gate of the club about 20 yards and was unscathed. My boat, however, was not so lucky. It was still right where I left it, but bow down (hulls full of water up to the drain holes- good thing I left them out!). Problem was ALL the boats that had been neatly parked on their trailers but NOT tied down closer to the water had drifted back into the corner of the yard. My boat had a Laser atop it and another boat had holed and gouged the seaward hull. And at Mary's for the F 18HT, F 16HP Nats one of the boats that was very carefully secured was put out of commission by another "flying" cat during a big nightime windstorm.
So, just because you are careful and do the "right things" beware the boats/objects around your boat that are not so secure!

Kirt

I have to say - this is an interesting thread and points out how unprepared I am for a blasting weather pattern at regattas I travel too....then again...that 6.0 is mighty heavy! seriously though, I'll be investing in a couple of dog tie out screws soon.

The attached PIC has been up before but there's value in seeing it again.

Jake,

Dog screws are useless in sand. You need the 3 foot screws that they use to tie trailers down. Available at any trailer store and sometimes can be found at Home Depot.

Mike Hill
H20 #791

That brings a whole new definition to "Dart".