Bringing Beachcomber Home

[Gofirstclass]

This tale actually started in the summer of 2008. We had a 1996 330 Sundancer and trailered it from our home in SE Washington to the San Juan Islands of WA’s NW coast. We spent two weeks up there and both agreed it was one of the best vacations a couple could ask for, and that we wanted to do more long distance and longer time cruising. With our retirement just two years away (at that time) we knew we wanted to be able to spend summers aboard and cruise further up into Canadian waters and possibly venture to Alaska. That was the good news. The bad knews is that we realized our boat was just too small for us to enjoy for longer cruises.

We started looking at boats and homed in on Ocean Alexanders in the 48’-54’ size. We found a boat in Seattle that we liked and took a quick look at it in the fall of 2009. In January, 2010 we made arrangements with our broker to look closely at it when we went to the boat show. The boat had recently had a major price reduction so it was looking better and better. Upon close examination we discovered that boat had some major flaws so we walked away from it and were very discouraged.

We walked the docks at the boat show but weren’t really looking at the boats. We felt like the rug had just been pulled out from us and were pretty discouraged. While doing the dock walk we happened aboard a 50’ Sedan Bridge. I’d never been aboard one and as I followed my wife into the salon, she turned to me and said “Wow, I really like this one.” It was quite different from what we’d been looking at, having almost no wood inside and none outside. It was bright, airy, offered great visibility and everything was on one level from the cockpit to the helm.

I started a search on YachtWorld for 50’ Sedan Bridge boats and discovered there were 50’ and 55’ and priced very close. At first my search criteria was just on the west coast. I expanded it to include the Great Lakes region and found a few more. One, a 1995 55’ boat was located in the Detroit area and was as repo boat. The YachtWorld ad mentioned the possibility of taking a trade so I started making phone calls.

As I looked more closely at the boat and it looked good, I got the HIN from the selling brokerage and called Sea Ray for a build sheet. That is the sheet that details everything that went into the boat when it was built. Whoever originally ordered this boat had spec’d a lot of add ons including the CAT 3406 engines, leather upholstery throughout the salon, and numerous other upgrades.

I got the serial numbers of both CAT engines and called the CAT dealer in MI to find out what (if any) work had been done on them. The dealership had done all maintenance on the boat and was very familiar with it. I spoke with the person who had done all the maintenance for the four years before the boat got repo’d and he said the engines were in perfect shape, that the prior owner had not spared the dollars when it came to maintenance. I had my broker in Seattle start negotiations with the selling brokerage and when we started to get close to where I wanted to be I had two surveys done on the boat. The first was the engine/transmission/genset survey done by the guy who had worked on the CATS and the second by a surveyor in the area on the hull and equipment. Both surveys came out very clean so I flew to MI and sea trialed the boat. It came through the sea trail with flying colors so we continued to negotiate on price. We got to within $10,000 of where I wanted to end up so we were ready to put ink to paper.

My wife and I flew to Detroit to do another sea trial to confirm what I’d experienced on the first one the boat did well again. We completed the negotiations to include some minor repairs to the boat and signed contracts.

I was to pay for the shipping of the boat to WA and my boat back to MI. I’d already contacted a trucker in Seattle that had a good reputation and he’d given me a good quote on shipping both boats. He was one of few that owned the type of trailer needed to haul the boat but by the time I bought the boat he had sold his trailer. The new owner of the trailer gave me a quote that was more than double the one I’d received so I started shopping online for a trucker.

I got several quotes that ranged from $27,000 to over $50,000. I finally settled on a load broker out of FL who owned the right kind of trailer, knew the flybridge had to come off and be shipped separately, and had the lowest bid. We arranged shipping dates and signed contracts. At that point I felt pretty comfortable that things were progressing.

One of the horror stories I had heard about selling brokerages who were to remove flybridges and sending boats to distant areas was they would simply cut cables and wires to save time with the dismantling and ultimately save on their costs. I wanted to avoid that mess so I found a boat yard in Portland, OR who would be able to install the equipment I wanted on the boat and also would fly one of their technicians to MI to supervise the dismantling. The tech knew he would have to put the boat back together so he was very careful to label every wire, photo document every part of the disassembly, and bag all the hardware in zip lock baggies and label each bag with what the contents came from.

As it turned out, we were in MI when the tech was there so we met and talked with him about it, and were able to watch the haul out and removal of the flybridge and the boat being loaded on the trailer for transport. Here are some pictures of that progress.

 

[Gofirstclass]

We flew back home to get our boat ready to be transported to MI. I brought it home and unloaded it, removed the canvas and got everything ready for it to be loaded on the trailer. We don’t have a boat yard in this area that has a travellift, but we do have the headquarters of the world’s largest crane company. I arranged for them to lift the boat off my trailer and put it on the trucker’s trailer. That went very smoothly and was completed in a couple of hours.

At this point the new boat was in Portland, the flybridge was enroute on a second load, and my boat was enroute to MI. The boat yard had said the process of installing the equipment I wanted would take 4-5 weeks. I spent that time driving 3.5 hours each way to Portland to wax the hull and the flybridge before they reassembled the boat and before it went in the water. Each weekend I hauled the things we had taken off our 330 down the Portland and put them on the new boat. Check out this wax job...

The new boat still had all the flybridge furniture inside the salon as well as canvas and the electronics off the radar arch. It was a mess inside so there wasn’t much we could do to put stuff away. It was disheartening at first to see the boat in such disarray but I knew that it would all be cleaned up SOMEDAY.

After making a few of the trips to Portland things were starting to look better. The boat yard was getting the equipment installed, which included a bow thruster, inverter, 3’ extended swim deck, satellite TV system, genset exhaust water separator and some other things. Work was progressing, the flybridge was reinstalled and it was starting to look like a boat again. At that point my wife would accompany me to Portland so she could start arranging things and putting our “stuff” away. Here are some pictures of our progress and the installation of some of the equipment.
Bow thruster installation…

Running wiring to the thruster

 

[Gofirstclass]

Assembling the swim deck….

Here’s where they cut away the old deck. It had a crane installed on it for the dinghy and it had not been properly sealed. The wood inside was rotted so that was all removed. The new deck would extend the length of the boat roughly 3’.

The boat yard owner, Joe Ashton, is quite a guy. He’s a licensed captain with an Unlimited Master ticket and an engineer, his wife Shirley is licensed also (100 Ton) and they both are good at what they do. Installing the swim deck was quite an operation. Nobody makes a similar deck for the 550 so they were flying by the seat of their pants when they designed it. When we sea trialed the boat after the work was done we realized the deck would go underwater when the boat was coming up on plane. The roostertail was hitting the underside of the deck and, as well braced as it was, it would not last. The dinghy would also hang down below the deck when on the davits and Joe felt the roostertail would rup the dinghy off the deck. It was time to rethink what we were doing and consider that the deck may have to be cut back some.
The engineer side of Joe kicked in and he came up with a solution. He built a plate out of stainless steel that matched the deadrise angle of the boat and affixed it to the back end of the hull. He also lengthened the trim tabs from 8” to 14”. Both mods were to provide more lift, but more importantly they were going to push the roostertail back so it would clear the swim deck.

After installing the mods he sea trialed the boat again and the desired effect had been achieved. The boat now came up on plane without the deck submerging and the roostertail was about 1’-1.5’ behind the deck. Success.
And at this point I'm going to quit for awhile and head for the boat. It's going to be a perfect day...85°, no winds, no clouds and we're headed out for a few hours.

 

[Quint4]

Great read....thanks.

 

[wetpaint]

Good job.....Now get out there and use it

 

[330DA]

GFC,
I saw your posts about Beachcomber on the other site. You took on a project with this boat that would have scared me, especially seeing the bridge come off. Congratulations, she's a great looking boat. You have come a long way since your 1st 330.

I think the most important things I saw in your pics in this thread are the box of Corona and the wood painting "RELAX". Go grab a cold one and "relax". You did a great job!

 

[Gofirstclass]

My wife and I drove to Portland to finally get our last things loaded aboard and start the journey home. It’s about 225 miles up the Columbia River from Portland and we had to pass through locks at four dams on the way. After reading some of my postings here on CSR, DiveGirl had contacted me and suggested we attend the Aquapalooza party that was being held in Portland at their yacht club. As luck would have it, our schedule for picking up the boat allowed us to do that. I made a few phone calls to the club and to the Sea Ray dealer in Portland to see about attending. Mike Trudeau (Trudeau Marine) welcomed us to the party so when we picked her up from the boat yard, our first cruise was only going to be 10 miles to Columbia River Yacht Club.

That’s where the story about bringing Beachcomber home starts. I wrote the story below while we were at CRYC and that’s where this takes off. The “GW” I refer to in this is my wife. She came up with the nickname “Galley Wench” so that’s now her “official” title.

After a quick trip to a department store to pick up some things we realized we’d need we got back to the boat around 4:00 and took off. I have to tell you I was just a tad bit nervous about taking her out BY OURSELVES for the first time. GW asked me if I was OK doing this and I, in my very best manly voice, shrugged my shoulders and said “yeah, no problemo.” I turned the keys and breakers on and fired up the CATS and damn did that sound good. There’s just something about the rumble of a diesel that makes my heart beat just a bit faster.

We pulled out of the dock and headed down the Multnomah Channel to the Willamette River, then finally to the Columbia where Beachcomber would be spending a lot of her days.

We set a nice leisurely pace of about 8kts and it really felt good. Truth is, it felt like a dream. I kept thinking that one of these minutes I’m going to wake up in my own bed at home and realize that this whole thing was just a very nice dream. So far, the dream is continuing so I’m just going along for the ride.

Our destination was Columbia River Yacht Club which is only about 10 miles from MYH. It took us just about an hour to get here but we weren’t in any hurry. I had phoned ahead to CRYC to let them know when I would be there and asked if I could fuel up when I arrived. They had everything ready for me when I got there and we went right to the fuel dock. Now was the real test…I had to dock this thing. Fortunately there was zero wind and lots of maneuvering room. I did just fine, which really didn’t surprise me too much. Experience does pay off.


We took on 535 GALLONS OF DIESEL and I had to take a photo of that dial. Am I ever glad we don’t have to do that very often. While I was at the fuel dock a guy came by in his dinghy. He recognized the boat as we pulled in and came by to say “hi”. I’d met his wife on Club Sea Ray so they knew we were coming for the weekend. After fueling we pulled away and cruised over to where we’ll be docked for the weekend. Several members who had boats on the dock came out to give a hand. There was a bit of a breeze off the stbd bow but the docking went off like I’d been doing it for years.

We got some things cleaned up and put away then walked down the dock to where DiveGirl’s 340 Sundancer was docked. They invited us aboard and magically created a gin & tonic for me and some chardonnay for GW. We talked boats for awhile and they wanted to hear the whole tale about Beachcomber. Fortunately that required a second G&T.

Then we headed over to Beachcomber to give them a tour. I fixed myself another G&T, then another and after they left I started typing my saga. After a dinner of steak and shrimp cooked on the grill around 8:00 we decided to hit the sack. We were going to watch a video but I crashed so fast GW didn’t even have time to finish cleaning the kitchen before I was out.

Day 1 Monday, August 1 CRYC to The Dalles, OR 85 miles


We left CRYC around 0745 under a heavy overcast, light winds and about 60°. After a short stop at the gas dock for water we headed out.

Making some notes in the Ship’s Log.

We’re navigating the old fashioned way…with charts and compass. The chip I had ordered from Raymarine to go in the GPS/Plotter couldn’t be read by the plotter because it’s newer software than the plotter has. A call to Raymarine got a chip coming that would update the software in the plotter so it could read the chip. I had asked my daughter to pick up the package before she came over but they picked up the only package they saw and it was the wrong one. The chip is probably in our mailbox as I write this.

Oh well, we had a good time and it was a good exercise in chart reading. When we left CRYC the water was flat with only slight breezes. By the time we got half way to Bonneville Dam we were in a wind off the stern at about 10-15kts. It was blowing against the current (it always does on this stretch of river) so we had 2’-3’ rollers. The boat went through them without any rocking motion at all. It felt no different from the flat water we started in.

We had to reach Bonneville Dam by noon to catch the upstream lockage. I had figured out if we ran at 11mph we’d make the 40 mile trip in time. As the time got closer I got a bit nervous about my calcs so I brought Beachcomber up on plane for the last 5 miles or so. Running on plane gave me a chance to see how the swim deck performed. Like Joe figured, the roostertail comes up behind the swim deck so there's no drag on the deck.

We got to the dam about 1145 so my calcs were right on, but it was nice to be there. I’d rather be 15 mins early than 5 mins late because they don’t HAVE to let you lock through except on their schedule. In summer months they only lock upstream at 9:00, noon, 3:00 and 6:00. Downstream lock times are 30 mins later. Winter months you can go through when you arrive.

The upstream lockage was pretty uneventful. The dams are similar to the ones at home except the thing we had to tie to (it’s called a Bollard) was high enough above the walkways that GW couldn’t reach it easily. She got a line around it but I jumped down to get a second line fixed. The ride up was uneventful and very smooth and when we got to the top we were in total sunshine. The clouds had burned off and the water was calm again.

Inside the lock at Bonneville Dam

A couple of tugs with barges that we passed along the way

This stretch of the Columbia runs through the Columbia Gorge Scenic Area. It’s beautiful country with some very unusual formations to enjoy.

Bonneville Dam is about 45 miles from The Dalles, OR and we were not in any hurry so we just cruised along at about 11mph again. The flat water didn’t last long and in a few miles we were back in the 2’-3’ rollers. Funny thing, we couldn’t even feel them. No boat movement at all and that was nice.

As we were continuing upstream we passed through some very interesting country. We also went through a section of the Columbia that is famous for its windsurfing and kite surfing areas. It’s between Hood River, OR and The Dalles, OR. There are several places we passed through that must have had a hundred or more windsurfers and kitesurfers at each spot. Most of them were giving us a wide berth but a few daredevils (read that as near-Darwin award recipients) had to cross in front of the boat. I counted the seconds from the time they crossed until we crossed their wake and there were several that crossed us only 3-4 seconds ahead of us. They must have no clue about how long it takes to stop or turn a boat. If they had fallen in front of us they’d have been turned into fish meal.

As we got closer to The Dalles the winds really picked up and the waves grew from 2’-3’ up to 3’-4’ and some over that. They were very steep and short duration. The boat handled them without any problem and the only time we even knew it was rough was when we’d catch a wave at an angle and the bow would swing off course. For me, that was the most fun of the whole trip.

Also as we got further east and in the rain shadow of the Cascade Mountains, the trees became more sparse and the hills more barren. This is the town of Lyle, WA and it’s pretty typical of the small towns that dot the WA side of the river.

I had calculated our arrival at The Dalles YC at 5:00. We pulled up in front of the club at 4:55. Nobody was around so we pulled in and tied to their fuel dock to see if I could find a phone number to call. Our club has reciprocal moorage privileges with them so moorage is free. I found someone who answered the phone and they said just to remain at the gas dock because there was power right there. Boaters started arriving at the club around 5:30 and we had a constant stream of people wandering by to say hello and talk about boating. (What else???).

After a dinner of GW’s homemade spaghetti sauce on pasta and her homemade raviolis (Ya gotta love Italian women who can cook and enjoy boating!!!) and corn we watched the videos I had taken and looked at the pics together. She hadn’t seen what I was videoing and I hadn’t seen what she photo’d so it was fun.
Here are a couple of links to videos I took in that area of the river…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAavenmlAkA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTMY6dtzVaY


So far I'm very pleased with how the boat is doing. It handles the waves like they weren't even there and cruises along very smoothly. The rumble of the diesels as we cruised almost puts me to sleep. We ran at about 1050 rpm's yesterday and were doing 11mph. When we were on plane we were around 1600rpm's and were running around 18kts. I must say that running at 10-11mph is not really my cup of tea, but I'm learning to enjoy the ride. I still do like running on plane better, but to save the fuel I'm learning to like the slow pace. This is my first time piloting a boat this size so I’m a bit nervous about it but so far everything has gone very well.

That's all for tonight. Time for some dinner. More to follow.

 

[Tonka Boater]

Thanks for sharing! That's a great read.

 

[jpk33]

Great story and looks to be a GREAT TRIP! Good Luck! - Jeff

 

[Two Peas]

Thanks for the insight into your adventure. It is certainly no small feat what you've accomplished!

 

[Gofirstclass]

Day 2, August 3, The Dalles, OR to Arlington, OR 54 miles
The next leg of the trip took us through 2 locks (The Dalles Dam and John Day Dam) and 54 miles of river. The time for that would be about 5.5-6 hours plus however long it takes to go through the locks. I really don’t want to be pulling in there after dark so we may end up running on plane to get to Arlington.

When we were ready to pull out of The Dalles YC there was a bit of a breeze holding us onto the dock. Space for maneuvering was limited so we had a few exciting moments as we pulled out. GW used a spring line off the bow so I could swing the stern out about 75° and we were able to back away from the dock. Then we had to spin the boat 180° so we could point the bow out and maneuver around a boathouse to the harbor entrance. Tight, but not horrible thanks to the bow thruster.

We wanted to make the noon upstream lockage at The Dalles Lock. We were set for a port tie in the lock but when I called the lockmaster on the radio he insisted we do a starboard tie. That meant redoing all the lines and fenders. Not a major problem but it delayed us getting into the lock for about 20 minutes.

We locked up with no problem but it took forever. The locks on the Snake River raise you about 95’-100’ and you’re in and out in 30 minutes. Bonneville lock raised us 85’ and it took 45 minutes. This lock raised us about the same amount and took almost an hour. That put us almost an hour and a half late coming out of the lock so we had to run on plane most of the 25 miles to the next lock at John Day Dam.

When we were close to John Day Dam I called the lockmaster to request an upstream lockage at 3:00. He answered that they had a tug in the lock at that time that was going to be raised, then had another on the upstream side that had to come down, then we could get into the lock. By the time both tugs were locked through and the lock ready for us we had idled around for almost two hours. The wind was blowing about 15kts with higher gusts and the swells were about 3’. That meant we couldn’t just shut down the engines and drift. When we’d come out of gear the boat would turn broadside to the wind and waves and this is what we would see.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yotRTuijk2g

By the time we finally got through the lock it was almost 5:00 and we had about 35 miles to go before our stop for the night at Arlington, OR. I didn’t want to be pulling in there after dark so we got up on plane and cruised most of the way there at 20kts at around 1700 rpm’s. Here’s a shot of my Galley Wench taken while we’re in the lock and wake shot when we’re on plane. The headset she’s wearing allows us to keep in voice contact with each other when she’s not in view on the swim deck or the walkway in the locks. It’s voice activated and lets us talk in normal tones without having to yell at each other to be heard.

Ya gotta love good looking Italian women that love boating and can cook!

Here's a wake shot when we were running on plane.

I calculated our arrival at Arlington at about 6:10 and it was 6:15 when we arrived. Keep in mind we were running without a GPS/plotter, doing it the old fashioned way with chart and compass so being that close in my calculations felt pretty good.

Here are some pics of the countryside along that stretch of the Columbia. We’re now in a desert area. Daytime temps run close to 100° this time of year and it can be VERY windy. It’s not what most people think of when they picture WA and OR.

Arlington’s harbor and marina are very nice for such a small town (500 population???). We got in and tied up without any problem. There’s no power there but that was OK because the whole marina is free. It was just about sundown when we arrived so I took some pics of the boat.

Day 3, August 3, Arlington, OR to our home port in the Tri Cites, WA 88 miles

I awoke at 5:45, did a quick check of the weather and elected to let GW sleep and I would start the trip without her help. It was already about 78° with almost no winds and glassy water

We wanted to make the 9:00 lockage at McNary Dam so after the engines warmed up I pulled out of the harbor at 5:50. I headed out on plane to make sure we could make the 50 mile run to McNary and arrive on time. We got there in plenty of time and locked through quickly without problems. Here are a few shots of the wake. The first ones were taken while at 10kts and show the roostertail behind the swim deck.

This one was taken on plane and shows the roostertail coming up about 1’-1.5’ behind the deck. Joe, thanks for doing a good job with the hull and swim tab alterations. Ya gotta love glassy calm water.

Now there were no more locks to go through so the time pressures were off. We pulled out of the lock for the last part of the trip home and I set the throttles at 1100rpm’s and we cruised at 10kts. It was already starting to get hot by the time we left the lock. I was tempted to push it up a bit and get home faster but I resisted. This stretch of the river is pretty and we wanted to enjoy it and also wanted some time to get things in order before we arrived home.


Our marina is in the background to the left of the center of the picture.

My next test was to see if I could back the boat into the slip without touching the sides. I managed to do just that so the last test was passed with flying colors. Here’s a shot taken after we got her tied up in her new slip.

All things considered it was an excellent shakedown cruise. This was our first time on that stretch of the river. We'd seen it from the highway and knew it could get rough out there but we had not experienced it first hand. The original plan was to have come home a week earlier because we could have traveled with a group of 3 other boats from our yacht club that were traveling the same route then. The boat wasn't ready so that plan was scrapped.


It was also the first time with this boat and it performed better than I had hoped for, especially when the winds and waves kicked up. We were navigating with compass and charts so we didn't have the luxury of a GPS/plotter. That would have made the trip a bit easier. I've since received and installed the software update and the Raymarine plotter now works very well. Thanks Raymarine.


The hot weather made the trip very long. The last two days it got near 100° and even though we were on the water and under the bimini it was still HOT. I was wishing for A/C on the bridge but that wasn't going to happen.


Given this experience, I feel confident in taking the boat just about anywhere, and GW will be tickled to go along. It's sure nice to be home and I don't think we'll be planning any trips soon.

 

[Black180BR]

Great log and pictures! That is kind of a nice trip on the highway(WA side), looks fantastic from the water!!

 

[wetpaint]

Great job....Did you film the videos with a video camera on a tri pod........I love the cockpit cover...did you have that made......great looking boat..good luck with her and look forward to more chronicles of your journey

 

[Gofirstclass]

Wetpaint, yes, we had the cockpit bimini added when the boat was in Portland. I had Carol's Custom Canvas do canvas work on both my 330's and they did excellent jobs. I had no question about who I was going to call for the work on this boat.

It's made from 1 1/4" stainless tubing and Stamoid material. I met with Gordon Gruhlke from Carol's on one of my trips down there. We looked at the boat, discussed how I wanted the bimini to look, size, etc.

He did an excellent job on it. It starts out at the aft end of the bimini as the same width as the flybridge, then extends out to become the same width as the hull at the cockpit. I wanted a "bow" in the top so it would drain water off easily, and wanted it to extend all the way back to the transom. That's in case we ever decide to enclose the cockpit the windows will hang vertically. If they hang at any angle, in our desert area, they'll be dust collectors and always look dirty. He also did a nice job of putting in a "doorway" where you go up the stairs to the flybridge. When the flybridge enclosure is up there's a piece in the bimini that zips in and completely closes up that area.

 

[sbw1]

I'm curious about the marina that you stayed at that was free. Why does the city have a free marina and how do they pay to maintain it???

 

[Gofirstclass]

sbw1, I'm not sure why the marina is free, but it is. There are a few RV sites on that spit and they have to pay to stay there. It looked like the RV sites have power and water, so that may be what they're paying for.

The marina does have a pumpout and water and a two lane launch ramp with a center dock. I suspect the marina was built by the state of OR. There aren't any other marinas anywhere close to this one, so this marina offers a sheltered area to get in off the river if storms kick up. That area does get some horrendous winds.

It's about 1/2 mile up to the town of Arlington and there is a grocery store there. Not much else. If you look at Arlington on a map it's a long ways from any city of size.

The marina is well designed. The breakwaters are easy to maneuver through and do a credible job of blocking the wind and current.

 

[320Bob]

Great pictures and travelog. Truely awesome boat. The waves on your river make mine look like a kiddy wading pool with only a wake from a rubber ducky.:grin:

 

[Gofirstclass]

320Bob, ya gotta watch those Rubber Duckies. They can throw a heck of a wake.

That entire stretch of the Columbia is known for its high winds and waves. It's not so bad in Portland, OR, but once you get upstream a bit it starts to get worse. From there, all the way to Wallula, WA it can be horrendous.

Several years ago I had my 330 in the stretch of river a few miles upstream from where this picture was taken...

The river is almost 2 miles wide at that point and as I came to the bend in the river there was about a 2' chop. The river narrows to about 1/2 mile and has steep hills on both sides which form a venturi for the winds and waves. (Google Map Wallula, WA and you'll see what I mean.) When I rounded the bend I found myself in about a 6'-8' chop coming head on the bow. I was afraid to turn around because I thought the boat might broach and capsize. I eased my way to the southern shore of the river where there was a little shelter from the wind to make my 180° turn. I was still in 5' waves but powered through the turn OK and got back around the bend as quickly as I could.

That trip scared the bejesus out of me and made me a believer in the power of the wind.

 

[sbw1]

sbw1, I'm not sure why the marina is free, but it is. There are a few RV sites on that spit and they have to pay to stay there. It looked like the RV sites have power and water, so that may be what they're paying for.

The marina does have a pumpout and water and a two lane launch ramp with a center dock. I suspect the marina was built by the state of OR. There aren't any other marinas anywhere close to this one, so this marina offers a sheltered area to get in off the river if storms kick up. That area does get some horrendous winds.

It's about 1/2 mile up to the town of Arlington and there is a grocery store there. Not much else. If you look at Arlington on a map it's a long ways from any city of size.

The marina is well designed. The breakwaters are easy to maneuver through and do a credible job of blocking the wind and current.

Interesting. Sounds like what we call "ports of refuge" that are placed in areas where people can get into during really bad weather. Still, we have to pay. Nice to see that boaters are getting a little consideration somewhere. The State of Michigan takes our fuel taxes and spends it on non related stuff. Thanks for the good read.

 

[wetpaint]

My assumption is that his boat is so small that the dockmaster did not even realize there was a boat there and valaaaa...free dockage