Early Launch - Flooding

LUnaCY

Active Member
Aug 28, 2018
206
Afton, MN
Boat Info
310 Sundancer 2002
Engines
Mercruiser 5.0 MPI Bravo III
My marina on the St. Croix River reached out today and said I have this week to get the boat ready to float. With the river coming up 1 foot per day they estimate to lose the parking lot by the end of next week.

Headed there tomorrow to unwrap, install plugs, batteries, check bilges and get lines and bumpers in place. Finish some through hull wires, new anodes, and touch up bottom paint. Detailing below the rail might have to wait until shes wet, which sucks.

All of this is good news...earliest boating day since I lived in Florida!
 
Curious. How do you access the boat if the Marina parking lot is flooded? Wouldn't the ramp be flooded too? Either way, I hope you have a great season. Good luck with the prep.
 
Sheesh...sounds like a stressful start to the year. Will your docks float high enough to keep the boats safe? Any concern over all the garbage in the water?

Good luck!
 
My marina on the St. Croix River reached out today and said I have this week to get the boat ready to float. With the river coming up 1 foot per day they estimate to lose the parking lot by the end of next week.

Headed there tomorrow to unwrap, install plugs, batteries, check bilges and get lines and bumpers in place. Finish some through hull wires, new anodes, and touch up bottom paint. Detailing below the rail might have to wait until shes wet, which sucks.

All of this is good news...earliest boating day since I lived in Florida!


Not really sure this is a good thing.... The lower lying marinas are being forced to launch boats early or they will float off their blocks.
 
Not really sure this is a good thing.... The lower lying marinas are being forced to launch boats early or they will float off their blocks.

Zach, I assume your Bayport Marina parking lot is high and dry?
 
Finishing getting boat ready to float. Unfortunately that means I had to pay to have below the rail compound wax and sealed. But, more time for other fun.

Marina wants to splash them next week, which won’t happen with all the ice around the docks.

Docks float so well just need a kayak from the road through the parking lot.
 
Zach, I assume your Bayport Marina parking lot is high and dry?

So far so good. Bayport is one of the last to flood. Getting some interior work done on the new boat the week of the 7th so hoping the river doesn't get to much higher then predicted. We are good where we are at for a few more feet. The new boat is sitting in the parking lot on B dock now.

The river could rise so quickly some of the lower lying marinas could be forced to launch boats regardless of ice..

https://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=mpx&gage=stlm5&view=1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1

Current highs would be the 8th highest crest ever and with rain south of us the river will be challenged to discharge into the Mississippi. As we start to near the 87 ft mark i belive the marina in Hudson completely floods. The issue when it happens this early is if they don't launch all the boats you start to risk them floating off the blocks.
 
So far so good. Bayport is one of the last to flood. Getting some interior work done on the new boat the week of the 7th so hoping the river doesn't get to much higher then predicted. We are good where we are at for a few more feet. The new boat is sitting in the parking lot on B dock now.

The river could rise so quickly some of the lower lying marinas could be forced to launch boats regardless of ice..

https://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=mpx&gage=stlm5&view=1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1

Current highs would be the 8th highest crest ever and with rain south of us the river will be challenged to discharge into the Mississippi. As we start to near the 87 ft mark i belive the marina in Hudson completely floods. The issue when it happens this early is if they don't launch all the boats you start to risk them floating off the blocks.

Good luck. Send some photos of your upgrades when you get launched.
 
I’m over on the Mississippi. It crested late Sun at 20.3 feet. All the hard stand boats have the drain plugs removed so they flood rather than float away. I lost access to my boat a week ago last Sun. I’m guessing I got a foot of water at the transom in it. The bad part is my automatic bilge pumps were on and undoubtedly ran the batteries down to 0.

This blizzard will restrict access probably to the weekend. The river is still 15 feet and leveling due to the storm. The road past the boats may be partially open so if I can get my car somewhere close I can cart my portable gen to the boat and pier up the shore connection so the converter will charge the main batteries. I can use a battery charger on the boat gen battery at the same time.

He only got 3 boats in as the river was rising. One was easy but the two houseboats were dead so he had to tow them. He said it was very dangerous due to the high current. It took the better part of the day to get them in.

So it’s looking like at least a week from this week end before I’ll be in the water. I’m scheduled to be among the first tier but the river is really flowing.

All the piers/slips are floating so no problem tying the boat off.

LOL on getting on the piers. The ramps are all underwater. The only access is by dingy. There were about a dozen on shore last week end from the livaboards. I’ll be one soon.

I can post some photos if y’all are interested. They are like looking at the ocean. This is the 8th worse flood since 1965.
 
Watergate is a mess right now. Now that the water has somewhat receded the whole lot is covered in silt.
 
C7E19E3A-578E-4FF8-B76B-6563AEB0A1AE.jpeg 3200D916-5B2A-4D26-85DB-EEDDE5E01E12.jpeg FE05EE17-67AC-454D-8E06-67174A77172D.jpeg 4DBD62C7-F25C-4770-8CE9-02EB9E11C0CA.jpeg C7E19E3A-578E-4FF8-B76B-6563AEB0A1AE.jpeg 3200D916-5B2A-4D26-85DB-EEDDE5E01E12.jpeg I stopped down at the marina tonight. The water is at 15 feet even. The road is open but only about 1 1/2 lanes. My pier access is still under water. Looks like two feet at least.

Two boats are down off the stands. One right behind mine. It’s twin inboard. Rudders and props took a beating.

My boat was flooded to about the normal waterline. The bow is quite a bit higher so all the water ran out. It looks like the exhaust port flooded. I hope the mufflers are ok.
 
A605CA73-5989-40EC-822A-65398C4C89CA.jpeg There is a double picture there somehow.
Here is my pier. My slip is about half way out. Yeah, that’s my el Camino.
My 94 RoadMaster wagon has been in the shop for a week. If we don’t get that blasted EFI fixed I’m going to put a nice reliable Holley carb on it.LOL sadly. Hard to beat the el Camino...it sat for 6 months, I never looked at it. Put the key in and it started right up. Nothing like a 40 year old carb. They work every time.

My boat has Rochester Quadrajunks on 454 motors but at least they start and idle too.....as long as the gas doesn’t have water in it. But at least all I have to do is put new gas/water separators on them and suck the bad gas out. Ten minutes at most. Try that with EFI. $8000 scanner and they still can’t find the problems.

Anyway I’m going down to the boat first thing in the morning and set up my portable gen on the shore power and converter to charge the main batteries. A regular battery charger for the boat gen. Then finish cleaning up the mess I left. And get ready for the unwrapping. I don’t think he will do much before next week end as the river is not predicted to go down much in fact it may come up a foot.

The St.Croix just north of Stillwater at Wolf Marine is down from crest about two feet but still pretty high. At least the ice is gone.

Hope everyone is safe. Be carefull around the boats on stands, that ground can still be unstable.
 
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View attachment 68064 There is a double picture there somehow.
Here is my pier. My slip is about half way out. Yeah, that’s my el Camino.
My 94 RoadMaster wagon has been in the shop for a week. If we don’t get that blasted EFI fixed I’m going to put a nice reliable Holley carb on it.LOL sadly. Hard to beat the el Camino...it sat for 6 months, I never looked at it. Put the key in and it started right up. Nothing like a 40 year old carb. They work every time.

My boat has Rochester Quadrajunks on 454 motors but at least they start and idle too.....as long as the gas doesn’t have water in it. But at least all I have to do is put new gas/water separators on them and suck the bad gas out. Ten minutes at most. Try that with EFI. $8000 scanner and they still can’t find the problems.

Anyway I’m going down to the boat first thing in the morning and set up my portable gen on the shore power and converter to charge the main batteries. A regular battery charger for the boat gen. Then finish cleaning up the mess I left. And get ready for the unwrapping. I don’t think he will do much before next week end as the river is not predicted to go down much in fact it may come up a foot.

The St.Croix just north of Stillwater at Wolf Marine is down from crest about two feet but still pretty high. At least the ice is gone.

Hope everyone is safe. Be carefull around the boats on stands, that ground can still be unstable.
The El Camino is a classic!!
 
Thanks. I’m a gearhead so I must have appropriate cars. LOL

It’s the largest,heaviest, and least popular of all el Caminos. However few know that a few suspension parts and a bit larger tires these become by far the best handling of the group as well as the most comfortable riding. Mine is almost like the RoadMaster wagon but handles better. Faster? Nope the RM is a good 500 pounds heavier yet will out 0-60 the el Camino that has 50 more hp and performance gearing. It’s all in the transmission. The Buick has a factory governor but the el Camino does not so top speed is higher....not that I will go that fast.

Our morning rush hour left lane is 75-80 mph if you can’t play with the big dogs stay out of the left lane. I hate it but I have a 50 mile commute to work so I have to play with the big dogs.
 
I was down at the marina all day Sun. The road was finally open and by the end of the day. It had dry pavement. As I suspected the two main batteries are history. One I’d a stone the other only came up to 11 volts. The gen battery is ok as it was higher and not hooked to the bilge pumps. So I’ll get new batteries today. I’ve got a little stale moldy water in the mid bilge but I think I can cure that. There is a layer of silt in the aft bilge but it will wash out I think.

By 4:00 pm yesterday the ramp to my pier was just barely wet. The guy on the end slip was able to dry foot it out to his house boat.

The river prediction is not good. It’s due to go down to 14 feet Wed then go back up to 15+ by the weekend due to the melt off of the blizzard and additional rains.

I’m going to call the marina office today and see what their plans are.

Well off to work.
 
I got new batteries but it was pouring rain Wed so it was all I could do to get then on board. It’s amazingly hard to climb a ladder in a “monsoon” with a battery in one hand and balancing on the top step of the ladder. Twice. I had enough. They aren’t launching boats this week.

I looked on the river projections and it’s due to go back up from 14 feet to 18 feet by Mon or Tue. The chart is still going up at that point. I have only tonight before there will be water over the road again. I be sure the bilge pumps are either off or not connected this time. Lesson learned the hard way.

If we get launched before May I’ll be surprised.
 
Yeah. I want access mine, but Watergate is so busy moving stuff and cleaning up, I'd rather not hassle them until after a week or so when things settle down. Probably looking at next weekend to go take a peak.

Good luck over there.
 
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Happy days are here again! They put my boat in the water today. He said both motors started right up and ran perfectly. He said they just let them warm up then motored on up to my slip. Probably took half throttle to go against the current. LOL. The walkway is underwater so I went and got boots but they may only be good tomorrow night if that.

The river prediction is up to 18.5 feet now and may go higher.

I went by Wolf Marine in Stillwater and they have not put a single boat in. The water was up about a foot this morning.
 
I went down Sat to install the new batteries. I had knee boots and at noon the water was 1” from the top of them. By the time I was done at 5pm the water was well,over the top of my boots. I had to make two round trip 50 yard sloshes with the batteries. Those things are heavy when bucking the current.

Then I forgot the AF for the motors so I made another slosh trip and went to the auto parts store. I got AF and Gorilla tape to tape the boots to my legs. That didn’t work. They leaked and just made it harder to get the boots off. The water was only 48 deg F so needless to say I had “cold feet”.LOL

I did start the motors and they started right up. No water leaks and the oil looks clean so no cracked parts I don’t think.
The port motor got a little rough after 10 minutes. I looked at it and the Quadrajunk is leaking a little. Looks like a stuck float. I’ll get a carb kit and go through it next time I can access the boat. The river is due to go up to 17.9 feet about Wed. so I won’t be able to get to it for at least a week. The dept finder said 17.5 feet under the boat.

The shaft logs were only dripping a couple drops a minute right on target so that’s good.

Since it’s not flooded now the bilge pumps will take care of it without running down. I should have hooked up shore power but I have to run the cord across the pier. I asked the neighbor and he said it’s a fact of life on this pier so don’t worry about it.

I suppose I’ll have to get a dingy. I’ll check craigslist. I can always store it at work so I don’t have to have it forever at the marina.
 

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