After that winter...I really don't think we're getting the Spring '19 we deserve fellas

Stee6043

Well-Known Member
Jun 1, 2015
6,706
West Michigan
Boat Info
1997 Sundancer 400
Engines
7.4L Gassers
This weekend looks like another cool and rainy one for West Michigan.

I sure wish I could get out and enjoy more of this "record high" water I keep seeing around my dock. I've spent considerably more time adjusting my lines for water levels this year than I have for actually moving my boat.

I suppose we could start a few winterization threads to really move this along :)
 
Don't Feel so bad, It's not any better here between the rain, the cool weather, and the high winds it's just miserable !
 
When we got home last week from being down south, we both commented on how our friends are all excited to have their boats back in the water and the weather was making us feel like we should be taking ours out of the water.
We are looking forward to weekends with our friends on the dock, even if it isn't great weather, although that would be sooo much better. One of the girls made reservations yesterday for dinner at a local restaurant for Friday evening, Weatherman says it looks like we will be Ubering instead of going by boat.
 
Hey the way I look at it is a rainy day on the boat is better than a rainy day at home... I'm still on the boat!
 
I'm so sick of wet shoes and wet feet... I'm grateful for floating piers, but if someone could invent floating sidewalks that would be great.

But even floating piers have limits and many Great Lakes marinas are at the limit. I believe JimG posted a pic that looked like utility poles at his marina but in reality they were for the floating docks to rise on. The Great Lakes marinas are not set to rise that much, limits are being reached.

MM
 
I believe it. For most of the years I've been at this marina, the ramp from the shore to the pier sloped downward. For the past few years it has been an incline, but now it's more of a wall than a ramp.
 
But even floating piers have limits and many Great Lakes marinas are at the limit. I believe JimG posted a pic that looked like utility poles at his marina but in reality they were for the floating docks to rise on. The Great Lakes marinas are not set to rise that much, limits are being reached.

MM
That's correct Mike, all of our docks and fingers are floating, with about 40 feet of elevation change available.
 
The rainy weather and high water here have conspired to 1) significantly delay putting the floating docks back in at our club; 2) significantly increase debris and river currents with run off; 3) significantly decrease water quality; and 4) significantly shorten an already truncated season on the Great Lakes.

The abnormal east winds (which we typically experience late in the season/fall) have increased seiche activity and it seems every weekend is cool, windy, stormy, or all three. We've spent a lot more time doing yard work that boating and that is never the goal.
 
Gives me time to do some boat projects. :)

This has become a problem for me. I'm quickly realizing that a late spring and/or crappy weather is actually more expensive than putting gas in the boat!

18.9 new projects identified per every 4 hours of rain is about what I'm figuring. I'm going to go broke sitting in the marina. :)
 
Last weekend was perfect! 70's, Lake Mi was as flat as a sheet of glass. We did our 1st trip across to Frankfort.
 
I'm so sick of wet shoes and wet feet... I'm grateful for floating piers, but if someone could invent floating sidewalks that would be great.

No doubt. I'm right there with you, everything is WET!

I'm dealing with a regularly flooded parking lot and as of this year a three step climb up to the side of my boat before stepping over and in. I had to add a 3rd step, could have added one more yet. I really, really wish we had floating docks. I very much enjoy visiting marinas where you can use the swim platform to get on the boat. It's the way the boating gods intended it to be, I'm convinced of it.
 
Gotta love floating docks. No worries if the lines are too tight.
I, too, am so ready for this weather to break. The teasing of good weather in the middle of the week is not fair.
 
IMHO the northeast weather isn’t boat-able.
CT is 58 onshore and you’ll loose temp just offshore.
(not amused)
 
Some of those images above perfectly sum up my Thursday evening. I hit the boat last night to wrap up a few projects. The parking lot was a mess with water, the marina has now taken to placing cones in the submerged pot holes so they don't lose small cars in them and I imagine the water will be even higher today after getting an inch of rain yesterday morning.

I guess as long as my grill stays above water it's still worth going out there :)
 
Was out last weekend and open water on Georgian Bay was 53 degrees. ITs crazy. Rainy this weekend so staying home rather than heading up north to the boat.

And western Canada is in drought conditions this spring.
Capture.JPG
 
Floating docks are fine from the dock to the boat - but with the high water, the holding cables or spuds are nearing their maximum height. There is risk that some of the spudded floating systems may come loose.
 
Ok, this is crazy. Here are the weather conditions in Northern Lake Huron this AM. Water barely above literal freezing.

Capture.JPG
 

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