Hurricane Irma

bladegrinder

bladegrinder

Well-Known Member
Anybody else here from Florida a little concerned about this giant, killer hurricane headed our way?
I'm not yet but I think by Sunday I'm going to be a bit anxious.
 
Steve, it does look like ya'll are going to get hit pretty good - but just think about those folks over on the east coast. I'm sorry ya'll are going to get so wet, but I was worried about it coming this way. I've never rode out a 185 mph hurricane, 155 mph is my strongest. I was about 30 miles from the eye wall of that one.

Ken H>
 
We're about prepped as anybody can be at the Wilson hacienda. The storm is still a long way off, so the guesstimate tracks are just that- guesses. But if the tracks hold like they are now I think we'll be fine. I'm counting on being without power for several days and possibly a lot of high water. What makes this one so bad is that if it holds the track they predict it's going to take its sweet time riding up the Gulf Stream and it's going to rain like a cow peeing on a flat rock for about a week. The water table here is already up to the grass. I had ducks swimming in my yard- where the grass is- last week. So there's nowhere for all the new water to go.
 
I got gas yesterday at 6:30 am, by noon almost all the gas stations were out of gas. there's not a bottle of water to be found anywhere.
last year I converted my 8000 watt generator to run on natural gas so it can run forever, just connect it to my meter and change the oil every few days.
the traffic is unbelievable with everyone evacuating from south Fl. a lot of people in panic mode.
I'm staying put...lock and load baby!
 
Hey John, how did you convert your gas generator to NG? I've got a 8KW generator I'd LOVE to convert to LP, and the process should be the same. When I purchased the generator several years ago I couldn't find an LP gas portable generator, only the big "whole house" generators.

Yep, water is going to be the big for ya'll on the Fla west coast. I spent a couple of months anchored in the Tampa bay area back in 1999 and it's a nice area.

Ken H>
 
I have been following this one from the beginning. These damn "I" storms, Ivan was bad enough! I have lived here in Fl. for about 43 yrs. and have rode out my share. I will watching diligently for that right turn. If it were to be coming up our throats as a Cat 5. I think I would load up and go. A Cat 4 was bad enough and don't really want to do that again!! At one point in the storm I peeked out the back door of my garage and we had stuff blowing N on one end of the house and S on the other end. Then all hell began to break loose. The garage door was about to go and had to brace that up. The wife came running in and said a tree had fallen on my son's truck, and back in a few minutes to let me know another tree had fallen on my truck and my daughters car! That happened in less than two minutes! By the time I got the garage door braced up, trees began snapping like twigs. When it was all over I had a real mess in the yards but we were all OK and things can be replaced.

I respect the power of these things. but you never know what is the right thing to do it is a judgement call! Now days I have other factors to consider. My wife is not in good health and she was diagnosed last year with COPD and has to use Oxygen. So I have to have power for her oxygen generator or she has to go on bottle oxygen. She doesn't travel well and so all this goes into making a decision to run or not! I tried to find someone to help with the purchase of a small window AC unit but no luck, and the only other generator was one as big as I already have and it would have ran me about $850.00 and we don't really have that in the budget. So I am doing a lot or praying and if push comes to shove I guess I will see if the generator will handle everything. I told her if nothing else we will sit in the dark and be cool and she will have oxygen!! LOL Sometimes you gotta laugh as its not as depressing as crying!!:D

To all in Fl. and other areas that will be involved with Irma you are in my prayers and I will see you on the other side of this thing!!!
 
Ken, I did this a couple years ago. I bought it from a company called US carburation. I bought an older kit from them on ebay. it's called a motor snorkel, I don't know how their new kit performs but the one I got works great. it's basically an on demand regulator to the carb, it will only flow gas when it senses vacuum from the carb.
I work for the natural gas supplier in my area and the mains are always flowing. we don't shut anything down for several reasons, hospitals and grocery stores all depend on there nat. gas generators. a few years ago Publix supermarket lost millions in food because a lot of them didn't have generators, now every one has one...and there big.
if lines get up rooted by trees or the like we may isolate small sections of main, but in worst case scenarios like Katrina in New Orleans big breaks would just blow, if there shut off the lines would fill with water and mud. if there away from structures or anything that could burn down it's actually safer if it's ignited, that would keep it from producing an explosive atmosphere in the area of the leak. there's only so much you can do when the worst pat of the storm is passing thru.
 
Forgot to add, the generator can run on gasoline as usual, just shut the gas off at meter or ball valve. to run natural or propane, just shut off the gasoline petcock, start it up and adjust the regulator until the generator is running smoothly on natural gas or propane. after this, I'm looking to do this to my other generator, yea I actually have three, two at home and one at my property in the woods.
 
I'll eventually get a generator. When the power goes out here it becomes an extended camping trip. Luckily the kids are young teenagers and hearty. The heat and humidity do get stifling but not life threatening so we manage. For something to do the entertainment becomes cooking everything in the fridge and then the freezer as they thaw.
 
I converted mine because the last time a hurricane went by I lost power for four days, after the third day the wife started crying and kind of losing it. on the fourth day it came back on for two hours...then it went out for three more days, with temps. in the 90s, it wasn't pretty. and to make matters worse if the gas stations had fuel, a lot didn't have electric to run the pumps. I was driving all over creation looking for gas.
 
Thanks for the info on LP conversion. I saw that US carburetion site with the snorkel. Looks like an easy conversion, easier than the propanecarbs.com kit which I found on Amazon for $125.

Yep, I know about being out of power after a hurricane - back in '80's we were out for about 2 wks, and after Katrina it was over a month before they got power back to boat. That time I moved off the boat for a couple of months to a furnished apartment, there was no dock to get power to that time. A bit of a hassle rowing a dinky from boat to parking area to get to work each morning.

Ken H>
 
I got to check in too the LP thing. Last time there was fuel but around here we had no power. I ended driving almost to DeFuniak Springs about 62 miles from my house. At least I AC in the truck and it was nice to get away from camping out for a while!! Now some of the stations have generators so they can power the pumps, as well as the banks, and grocery stores, pharmacies. I think they learned a valuable lesson after Ivan.
 
KenH said:
Thanks for the info on LP conversion. I saw that US carburetion site with the snorkel. Looks like an easy conversion, easier than the propanecarbs.com kit which I found on Amazon for $125.

Yep, I know about being out of power after a hurricane - back in '80's we were out for about 2 wks, and after Katrina it was over a month before they got power back to boat. That time I moved off the boat for a couple of months to a furnished apartment, there was no dock to get power to that time. A bit of a hassle rowing a dinky from boat to parking area to get to work each morning.

Ken H>
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Ken, why'd you give up boat life?
 
Well, after 27 years of liveaboard it was time to try something else.... and I'm LOVING IT!!! I've got room for tools I never had room for on boat. Seriously, boat life was a GREAT time in my life, but it didn't define me, just a phase of life.

up until 15 yrs ago the idea of swallowing the anchor was terrifying, being stuck at one place? SCARY!!! I LOVE to move place to place, meeting new people, learning new cultures, new foods, etc. About 2011 (shortly after selling boat and buying this place) I was sitting on back porch looking out over the back forty and thinking "this is what you'll be seeing for the rest of your life"...... then it struck me, that thought gave me a feeling of contentment, not fear. Then, I knew I'd found another home. My wife (met her in 2005) fusses because I don't really wish to travel all that much now, just content to be home and play with my toys.
 
Cliff, wasn't Ivan the one that blew out the bay bridge and got us the new big bridge across the bay? I well remember that one, I was anchored above Mobile along with a couple other boats - one poor guy was his first time - scared he was. Sold his boat not too long after that.

From about 2000 to 2005 we sure had a LOT of tropical storms and hurricanes thru this part of the gulf coast. Got old leaving dock to anchor out.
 
Yep, that is the one that took out the bridge. It made a believer out of me. You could not have convinced me that the force of water could move those heavy bridge spans until I saw the aftermath! A few days after the storm my son and I went to Pensacola, on a gas hunt. Normally a 30 - 45 min. trip took us over 2 1/2 hrs. in bumper to bumper traffic! While I was sitting on one of the many small bridges on the Escambia fill something caught my eye. The water/debris line in the small trees beyond the bridge. I told my son to look at the tree. To the rail it is close to 4' high and the water line is another 5' above that. From the bridge to the water is normally about 7'. You add all that up 7+4+5= 16. Holy cow there was a 16' surge at this point and highway 90 sits about a mile from Gulf Power's substation as the crow flies!!
I have seen places here locally that have been flooded that haven't flooded in about 40 yrs. The city built a lift station in behind the Dodge place a couple of years ago. I said when I seen what they had done they don't know what I know. After it flooded twice they came back and rebuilt the lift station, at a higher elevation. However I can tell them they are still not high enough!! I have seen that under 3 -5' of water after one hurricane. And the water stayed for over a month. A fellow up the road used a row boat to get to house off of the creek on pilings for over a month! People have built in these areas and one day....................Wow!!!
 
Hurricanes have ALWAYS scared me - especially the water from storm surge, and tornadoes that always go along with those type of storms. Here I'm at 100 ft elevation, and I'm sitting at the high point in the area so flooding isn't so much of a concern. Wind - yea, that can be scary, especially when it gets over 120mph..... hmmm, even 100 mph is scary! Strongest I had was reported to be 140 mph or so where I was tied up to the dock in Bahamas. Just try walking in that wind! No way. I don't really think it was that strong where we were at protected by hills, but it was still pretty impressive. We were about 25 mile from the eye which was reported to have 155 mph winds in wall.
 
My wife had kinfolk in Pensacola, and they ran from a hurricane coming into the area. Went all the way to Dothan Al. and a tornado spawned by the hurricane hit the motel they were staying in and leveled it. There saving grace was they had gone to eat before turning in for the night. So when the tornado hit the motel, they were not there!!

OK I have been thinking about this but I had my thoughts messed up! So I am editing this post. The hurricane I was thinking of was hurricane Elana. It was forecast originally to go ashore near Pensacola, Fl. It turned at last minute and was suppose to go into the Big Bend area. At the last minute it turns around and goes back into the Gulf and ended up making landfall close to Mobile, Al. and Mississippi line. Sorry when you get old you get too many of these monsters in your head and you start telling someone and you forget which storm was which!
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So now you understand why I don't always trust their predictions! They are starting to push the track back West on this one!!!
 
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KenH said:
Well, after 27 years of liveaboard it was time to try something else.... and I'm LOVING IT!!! I've got room for tools I never had room for on boat. Seriously, boat life was a GREAT time in my life, but it didn't define me, just a phase of life.

up until 15 yrs ago the idea of swallowing the anchor was terrifying, being stuck at one place? SCARY!!! I LOVE to move place to place, meeting new people, learning new cultures, new foods, etc. About 2011 (shortly after selling boat and buying this place) I was sitting on back porch looking out over the back forty and thinking "this is what you'll be seeing for the rest of your life"...... then it struck me, that thought gave me a feeling of contentment, not fear. Then, I knew I'd found another home. My wife (met her in 2005) fusses because I don't really wish to travel all that much now, just content to be home and play with my toys.
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There is certainly no comparison when it comes to having room. I'm thrilled with the shop I have now, which dulls the ache of not having my sailboat anymore. I'm a wandering soul, but my wife is definitely not.
 
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