Too shallow to launch

Blueone

Blueone

Well-Known Member
SILVER Sponsor
Jan 24, 2007
13,794
Lake Erie, Ohio
Boat Info
2004 420 Sundancer
Engines
Cummins 6CTA 450's
The marina where we winter store has a problem with the entrance. Lake Erie has dropped almost 2’ from last years high ...they are measuring the depth of the entrance between 3’ and 3-1/2’.... my draft is 40”. They say dredging will be after May 1st but no definitive start or completion date. The bottom is sand and sooty mud. I was thinking maybe get BoatUS to tow us out.. what would you guys do?....typically we are in mid April. I haven’t called the tow company yet so don’t know if they would just say no
 
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Leave on plane? :)
 
Blueone said:
The marina where we winter store has a problem with the entrance. Lake Erie has dropped almost 2’ from last years high ...they are measuring the depth of the entrance between 3’ and 3-1/2’.... my draft is 40”. They say dredging will be after May 1st but no definitive start or completion date. The bottom is sand and sooty mud. I was thinking maybe get BoatUS to tow us out.. what would you guys do?....typically we are in mid April. I haven’t called the tow company yet so don’t know if they would just say no
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Blueone, wow. That is a new one for me. Not sure what to say, wish I had a good suggestion. Have you talked to any of the other boat owners who winter store there, what are their plans?
 
A towing company would probably charge for a soft grounding, which I'd imagine is more $$$ than a standard tow. I'd check to make sure it's covered.
 
Put about 40-50 of your closest friends on the bow when exiting the channel?

Hope for a strong North or Northeast wind to "raise the tide"?

Was in the area yesterday and the water levels are definitely down. Hoping once you get out of the marina, they stay down so water stays off my dock and yard this year.

If it does, might eliminate your concerns about the bridge at Bay Point. If you exit BP on the bay side, be careful, it gets very skinny back there.

Good luck!
 
spikedaddy99 said:
Crazy. So your clearance last year, and record high's, was only a foot?
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Yes... we had a few North west wind storms that brought in a bunch of sand...if you veered from straight out the entrance you grounded and two did.... A few of us warned them last year that they need to dredge or people were leaving (the irony) they said they would have it dredged before April 1st...evidently that didn’t happen
 
I feel for ya buddy. Mine is still in the shed from the salon door I asked them to fix last summer...They just got the wrong parts in yesterday. :mad:
 
Buckeye Boater said:
If it does, might eliminate your concerns about the bridge at Bay Point. If you exit BP on the bay side, be careful, it gets very skinny back there.
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The bayside doesn’t seem like a good option just looking at the charts. There are a lot of bridge boats at BP that don’t look like they can get under the bridge...so there must be a way thru...
 
Our mooring is in a tidal river, and when we kept the boat on it, we had the same conundrum on a daily basis. The thing about bottoms that are mostly muck and sand is that they are also partially: rocks, bottles, sunken logs, lost anchors and outboards, barbecue grills and the odd Chevy engine block.

Considering the downside is pulling the boat and prop R&R, is an over land movement possible?
 
Back in the day, the fishing boats would tie up on the sea walls or bank to bank and use prop wash to blow the shoaling back out to sea. If anyone asks you could just say your engines warm up faster under a load.:)
 
Wow ...this sounds like some prime grade A BS to me. May? I would be losing my s$%T for sure. I wish I could be as incompetent at my job as some people are allowed to be. Unreal.
 
I like the idea of getting a bunch of people on the bow and then getting someone with a decent dingy to tow you out. They yard doesn’t have a workboat that they could tow you out with? Maybe go out in a small boat and get the depths with a stick first?
 
M Prod said:
Wow ...this sounds like some prime grade A BS to me. May? I would be losing my s$%T for sure. I wish I could be as incompetent at my job as some people are allowed to be. Unreal.
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We had a dredging guy dredge the condo marina next door who quoted my storage half the price to dredge them and they didn’t take the offer.... that’s what is frustrating
 
Blueone said:
The marina where we winter store has a problem with the entrance. Lake Erie has dropped almost 2’ from last years high ...they are measuring the depth of the entrance between 3’ and 3-1/2’.... my draft is 40”. They say dredging will be after May 1st but no definitive start or completion date. The bottom is sand and sooty mud. I was thinking maybe get BoatUS to tow us out.. what would you guys do?....typically we are in mid April. I haven’t called the tow company yet so don’t know if they would just say no
Click to expand...

You should move out here and boat on the Atlantic, where we have the opposite problem. Ever since we drove the temps way up, and all the polar ice caps melted, the sea level has risen a few feet and our slips are practically under water. And it's like an obstacle course maneuvering around all the dead polar bears :eek:
 
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