Yikes! It's Ike!

[Dale Duffy]

I hear you there, I see the scuffs on the treated post (at the top)...wow--

That one building sure took it well also...!!

[John Onofrey]

Wow! I'm happy for you that the boat survived in good shape Mike. I figured Kemah was going to be about the best place to have a boat during this storm. Any other idea's as to what factors contributed to the boats safe keeping?

[Michael R. Boyett]

The fact that this marina is a floating marina is absolutely the main factor that saved the boats. There are only a few floating docks in the area due to the expense to construct them. The alternative method is fixed docks, i.e. they are hard bolted to fixed pilings. On a fixed dock, when a storm surge occurs the boats all float up to the extent that their docking lines will allow then if the water keeps coming up then one of two things happens, either the boat lines break and the boats float off and bang around or the ropes hold in which case the boat simply sinks at the dock because it's being held down. With this marina designed to withstand a 15' surge then it just floated up and back down with only the stress of the wind on the boat lines. The other marinas that so many photos have been shown were undoubtedly fixed marinas. Also, the Boardwalk restaurants, amusement rides, parking garage, hotels, etc surround this marina and maybe offered a little protection. But that can be argued since so much debris from those areas caused most of the damage to the marina facilities.

[John Onofrey]

That makes a lot of sense, good info Mike. Thanks.

[Kenton H. Shepard, CMI]

Originally Posted by mboyett

The fact that this marina is a floating marina is absolutely the main factor that saved the boats. There are only a few floating docks in the area due to the expense to construct them. The alternative method is fixed docks, i.e. they are hard bolted to fixed pilings. On a fixed dock, when a storm surge occurs the boats all float up to the extent that their docking lines will allow then if the water keeps coming up then one of two things happens, either the boat lines break and the boats float off and bang around or the ropes hold in which case the boat simply sinks at the dock because it's being held down...

Mike, how do the fixed docks accomodate high and low and low tides, some of which can be extreme under normal circumstances (at least in CA where I lived)?

[Michael R. Boyett]

Tides in the Gulf tend to run in the range of 3' to 4' so most boat owners are able to provide enough slack in their lines to accomodate that range. There are other methods such as mooring snubbers which are rubber devices that keep tension on dock lines but will stretch when needed to let more line out. Also, how the dock lines are arranged is important, i.e. the use of spring lines helps. That's when you tie a line to the dock and instead of running it directly to the boat at the closest point you run the line to the front or rear as needed. Theory being that the longer the line is then it will pivot up and down accomodating a rising tide somewhat better than a directly tied line.

Snubber