home

1   2   3    next page ›

W

ith Hurricane Irene approaching, many in Oriental and far away have been preparing their boats for the storm. Some haul their boats out or have a yard pull their vessels. Others apply more lines and secure and secure again the lines at their dock. They wrap the mainsail and foresail tight, take the flying bits off and nervously watch the weather forecasts.

Durwood “Dip” Bryant and Wesley Hatch put stanchions into place at Deatons.

It’s made for a busy week at Deaton’s Yacht Service. Between Tuesday morning and Thursday evening, the crew had pulled 29 boats out of the water and secured them on stanchions. Boats were occupying every possible area of the Deaton’s property, towering over the area where cars usually park, stretching out to the edge of Neuse Drive.

Next step, wrapping chains around pairs of stanchions to keep them in place if — when — high water comes.

Gary Dale, the head mechanic at Deatons says another two boats are to be TravLifted out of the water on Friday and then the boatyard’s two tow boats will also be pulled. One of them, “Captain Ralph” will remain in the TravLift sling so it can be more quickly put in the water if an emergency call comes in.

A sea of stanchions. One hopes the water levels won’t get above them….

Because of the possibility of such a call Gary Dale says, Deatons keeps one space on the lot open. (For instance he says, there could be a boat that gets holed and might possibly sink if the owner can’t man the manual pump all night.)

It’s not an Iwo Jima pose. WIll Wagoner lowers a boat’s antenna pole so the TravLift horizontal bar can pass over and move on to the next boat that has to come out of the water.

Manager Eric Pittman secures one of the forward supports of the twelfth — and last — boat of the day that the Deaton’s crew pulled out of the water on Thursday.

The Southern Cross 31, “Lullaby”, now up on the hard, is Steve Gilmer’s home. Steve drives one of Deaton’s two tow boats.

A view of some of the Deaton’s slips, all of which are empty now in preparation for the hurricane.

Stephen Deaton with a stowaway, a crab that scampered out from a boat’s through hull. (He says an eel emerged from another boat, a day earlier.) Moments after this, the crab was tossed back in to the creek.

The TravLift across the canal at SailCraft boatyard has been busy, too.

More photos of other boat prep, next page…..

1   2   3    next page ›

Posted Friday August 26, 2011 by Melinda Penkava

email this story | back to top