Storm checklist
Before a named storm: a checklist for boats in a marina.
A few days of warning is enough to do most of what saves boats in storms. This is the list, in the order that matters most, and how to keep watch from home while it blows through.
Two or three days before
- Double every line and add springs. Use the heaviest lines you have, and put chafe protection wherever a line touches a fairlead, cleat or toe rail.
- Cut the windage. Take off headsails, even furled ones, plus the sprayhood, bimini, cockpit cushions and dinghy.
- Fenders. Add more than you think, at the height of the pontoon, and on the side that the wind will push her onto.
- Water and power. Clear the cockpit drains, test the bilge pump and float switch, and check that the batteries are full and the charger is on shore power.
- Tell people. Let the marina office know how to reach you, and ask a berth neighbour to look if something changes.
While it blows
Do not go down a pontoon in a storm to check. Marina staff will be out, and most problems can wait for the wind to drop.
What you want from home is to know whether anything has changed: whether the shore supply has tripped, whether the boat is moving more than her neighbours, and whether she is still in her berth.
Keep watch from home with an old phone
Velamo turns an old Android phone left aboard into a hub that tells you in plain words when the shore supply trips or the boat leaves her berth, and shows you how much she is moving. A neighbour or the marina office can be a watch keeper and get the alert too. Setup takes about 10 minutes from a laptop, and it is free for one boat.
Written by the First Mate, Velamo's AI, and checked by the Velamo team. Velamo is an aid to keeping watch, not a guarantee.