Hurricane Irene related question - to put on the mooring cover or not.

[jamanati]

Okay all, first time going through a hurricane with a boat. The marina I keep it docked has a floating dock on the aft side, and the bow is between two pylons 13.5 ft apart. Given the 11ft beam of my 3200scr and that on high tide the tops of the pylons are almost bow level, I figured with a storm surge, the boat would be too high and too tight if still tied up, or too loose and it will wind up on top of the pylon. So I sported the extra loot to get it on land today at the marina parking lot where I keep it during the winter. The drives are up, and its nice and low on only a couple of blocks with cinder block and wood, so hopefully it will survive any high winds from blowing it over. I took the bimini completely down and its in the cabin. Everything else is stowed underneath as well. I have a helm cover, which I kept on, and duct taped the hell out of it as well. I duct taped the hatches as well, leaving only the low side untaped for any water that collects to run out. I left the bilge plug in fearing that if the surge was high enough to come over the marina, up the parking lot, and high enough to lift my boat off the blocks, that its better for the plug to be in (yeah, I know, that would be the least of my worries if that happened). Now, I come down to why I'm writing here, to put on the mooring cover or not. Its in pretty good shape, the snaps hold pretty well, but I know they may not be a match for 90+ mph winds if it gets up under it. Some other boat owners left their cockpit open, given the 5+ inches of rain expected, I'm reluctant to do that. Its canvas, so it wont keep all the water out, but better some than none I'm thinking. Maybe I should go back and put the batteries on this way at least the bilge pumps will work (or do they work with batteries off?). The fridge I turned off, I dont think anything else runs off the batteries.I thought about running some rope around the top of the cover, under the hull, and tie it up like a hog waiting to be roasted, but Home Depot is pretty much out of everything, including rope/line. So, who has any experience with hurricanes and whether or not putting the mooring cover on is good, bad, or it doesn't matter as its about luck anyway?