New Smyrna Beach business shares boat prep for bad weather

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. — As Central Florida keeps a close eye on the tropics, a business in Volusia County is preparing for any strong winds or rain that could affect them from Imelda.

Staff at Sand Dollar Boat Rentals in New Smyrna Beach has put everything away and locked it tight to prevent damage to their boats in case a storm rolls in.

Employee Brittany Cisco put the tops down on dozens of pontoon boats at the marina before clocking out Sunday.

“We want to make sure, in case there is an extra gust of wind, that it doesn’t blow it up and catch in the wind and either bend it out of shape or put anything in the water,” said Cisco.

This is her first hurricane season working at Sand Dollar Boat Rentals.

“It’s been interesting just helping everybody, getting back with the weather,” said Cisco. “So, we’ll see if it gets worse if people do rent.”

She has a list of tasks to ensure that each boat is prepared in case of bad weather: storing life jackets, tying boats to the docks, parking them together, and locking the boat doors.

“Most of the time we don’t have too much to worry about as far as that goes cause we stay always prepared because you know Florida, the rain everyday changes so much,” said Cisco.

If staff know a storm is coming, they will remove the boats from the water and store them in a warehouse.

“We kind of try to wait until the last minute because you never know what the storm is going to do,” said manager James Brannigan.

Brannigan says they had some dock damage and flooding years back — describing previous hurricane seasons as “chaos” — but adds it is not a big deal.

“We deal with it. We’re Floridians,” said Brannigan. “We know it’s going on. It’s going to happen. We fix the docks; put the boats back on the water. It’s a lot of work.”

The team says the business is open and ready to take people out on the water as long as the weather is safe enough to do so.