Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Storm damage up at the lake

Well, I stayed up at the lake Monday night to avoid traffic, and after a windy, stormy night, I woke up to the all kinds of fun. No one was hurt, it's just stuff. My Dad's Glastron that he has had since new in 1986 seems to have made it mostly intact. I pulled my boat off the lift the afternoon before as did our neighbor. Oh well, the world keeps turning. Time to get back to work.





My Dad had recently repowered the Glastron. Boat had a Mercury XR2 on it, and it was a legit 60mph rig. It will do about 55 or so with the 4 stroke. I long ago lost count of how many Walleyes and Northerns we've pulled into this boat.




The neighbor's lift. It was pulled up by the storm, walked across their other lift, and deposited top down beside and behind the other lift. I'm glad I was inside during the storm.

Man that's tough to see. Beautiful boats

If you don't mind - Where? (Understand if you don't care to specify.)

Kabekona Lake. Not far from Leech.

Experienced something similar over on Potato Lake near Park Rapids a number of years ago. Were staying at a resort. The rope holding the front of my boat tore part of the dock away, the rear held. Lots of lifts looked like those pictured. One boat upside-down on shore.

Ouch. My pontoon lift was moved 100 yards on Big Pine when that tornado hit Wadena

Not to kick you when you're down, but the cover has to come off the lift when the boat does. Fun with numbers, a rough calculation for wind force:

0.00256 x the square of the wind speed x Area

For a 60 mph wind and a 10'x20' cover that works out to 1,843 pounds of force. Of course angles and drag coefficients affect everything, but the numbers add up quick and boat lifts get flipped.

Yup, and the new cover wasn't cheap.

Any hail or just wind? I have a camper parked just south of Walker?

Kick away. I had concerns about the blowout on the new cover not being adequate, but had never had lifts move with boats on or off for 20+ years. I went to the well one too many times, and am paying the price.

Wind and rain. Trees down. Downdraft was the word folks around the lake kept using.

That the one that leveled the school?

Well, your handling it better than I would. I would be a "little tense." lol

Of course, I just bought another boat early summer (after a 10 year gap) and a lift later on. Lack of rain has our lakes so low that I didn't even bother putting the lift in at the cabin and you have to search for an access that has deep enough water to launch/load in.