Protect Your Boat This Hurricane Season

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When hurricane season hits, it’s imperative to start thinking of how to prepare for a storm. Sea Tow is offering up tips for boaters before, during, and after a hurricane.

•Check your marine insurance and marina policies carefully for storm information. Boat owners should speak with their insurance agent and marina contact to understand all procedures and requirements during a storm situation.

• Document inventory of all property onboard and be sure to take videos AND photographs. Place legal documents such as policies, licenses, and registration in a secure, dry place away from the vessel.

• Learn the difference between a hurricane watch and hurricane warning and the area’s evacuation rules and instructions.

•Be knowledgeable of the storm surge history and the area’s elevation.

•When a storm is impending, consider where the boat will ride out the storm. Boaters who will relocate their vessel should make a plan ahead of time. Insurance companies may require owners to haul out the boat or store in a specific location. Be sure to check the policy.

•Move boats on trailers close to a house, weigh them down and lash securely to anchor the trailer.

•If the boat must stay in the water, secure it to the dock with longer, thicker lines and use lines that are protected against chafing so that they will hold up to the swinging and swaying that is often caused by storms.

• Frequently monitor radio, TV, NOAA Weather Radio, and/or hurricane hotline telephone numbers for official bulletins of the storm’s progress.

•Once the boat is secured, leave it, and don’t return until there is an official announcement that the storm has passed.

•Inspect the boat carefully before re-entry into the water. Look for any structural damage outside or damage to the lashings or riggings placed prestorm.

•If the boat is affected by the storm, Sea Tow is available to assist with the recovery process. Contact your local captain or call their 24/7 Customer Care Team at 1-800-4-SEATOW to help with the salvage and recovery process. Sea Tow has the experience and knowledge to safely recover your property. Make sure you only work with licensed and insured companies that do this type of work every day.

To learn more about Sea Tow’s catastrophe response capabilities, visit https://seatow.com/marine-services/catastrophe-response/

Summer, my favorite time of year, is here, and it’s hot out there, so this month I would like to alk about coolers! No, this will not be an article about the best cooler on the market. There are a large variety of rotational molded, better known as roto-molded, coolers available, and all offer the capability of keeping ice for multiple days. In this article, I would like to share with you some tips on how to get the most out of the ice in your cooler.

Roto-molded coolers, such as my Icon Cooler 50 (pictured), contain up to 3 inches of polyurethane foam insulation. This is what allows rotomolded coolers to stay cold and keep ice for up to 7 days. So how do we keep the ice from melting?

1. Pre-Ice the Cooler. Generally, coolers are kept in the boat, outside, tied down in the back of the truck or on a shelf in the garage. All of these areas can get pretty hot during the summer. Pre-icing a cooler the night before it is needed brings the core temperature of you cooler down below room temp and will prepare your cooler to have items placed in it. I pre-ice my cooler by adding a 10 pound bag of ice inside the cooler before closing and latching the lid. The following morning, drain any melted ice, replace the ice, and your cooler is cold and ready for food and drinks.

2. Pre-Chill Cooler Contents. According to Rubbermaid.com, “Two six packs of soda or one gallon of liquid will melt approximately 2.5 lbs of ice just to cool from room temperature.” To eliminate ice melt, simply pre-chill your food and drinks in the refrigerator overnight while your cooler is pre-icing. Adding cold items to a cold cooler will aide in making your ice last longer.

3. Don’t Drain the Water. The common misconception is to drain the melted ice water inside your cooler. But the water plays a vital roll in keeping your cooler cold and the remaining ice to last. Each time you open the cooler lid to get an ice-cold soda, warm air enters the cooler. The melted ice water fills the empty space in you cooler, keeping the warmer air out. When the water is drained, there is more space for the warm air to enter between ice cubes, increasing the speed at which the ice melt. The only time to drain the water is when you are replacing or replenishing ice.

4. Keep Your Cooler in the Shade. Of course, keeping your cooler in the shade is common sense, but it may require physically moving your cooler several times throughout the day to ensure it isn’t sitting in direct sunlight. If it has to be in direct sunlight, placing a wet towel on top of your cooler will help keep it protected. Is there a specific fishing topic you would like me to discuss? Feel free to email me your questions at jonthan@ gocastaway.com. Tight lines!

First wahoo for B.J. Rogers caught while fishing on Second Home out of Port St. Lucie. Tackle was a Speedmaster 20 using 30 lb mono, 6-inch wire leader with a strip of fat bonito belly on double 7/0 hook and covered with a blue and green chub.

“We were all relaxing and goofing around on Little Coconut Island across from Sandsprit Park with the kids when we heard our line screaming from the boat. Eric grabbed it because it seemed too big for the kids to reel in, and he pulled it right up on the beach. The kids thought it was so cool and it luckily was a slot at 29 inches, so it became dinner that night.”