How Low Will She Go (Lake Lanier 2007)?

spurofthemoment

spurofthemoment

New Member
Aug 6, 2007
29
Lake Lanier, GA
Full pool is a lake level that is 1071' above sea level. Based on the provided link, it looks like the lake is forecast to be at 1056' above sea level in four weeks. My depth sounder is already indicating that I am at 4' in my slip. Any lower and I will be in real trouble. You Lanier boaters keep a watchful eye out there and stay in the main channels.

http://water.sam.usace.army.mil/lanfc.htm
 
Welcome to the club!! We aredown five feet from full pond at Smith Mountain Lake,VA and I have about two feet of water left below the props. farther down the slip row everyone is sitting in the mud in about 1-2 feet of water left. The lake has been pretty stable at 790.X feet (795 is full pond). It's a hassle at the slips since because we do not have floating docks, but it really has no influence on boating. The shoals you need to stay clear of at full pond are now a foot above the water line so you can walk a mile out into the lake at some places. Raining today on our week off at the lake, but we are loving it !! Talking with my SR dealer about a used 1996 500DA (YES,YES,YESS!!!) :thumbsup:
 
Bob..........I can comisurate with you. I already posted our low water woes here on Lake Wylie in an earlier posting so I won't go into detail again on that. Our only saving grace now would be a deluge from a tropical storm at this point to help things out. :thumbsup:
 
one summer about 12 years ago, when I lived in Atlanta, my favorite spouts to go trout fishing were too shallow and warm for trout to survive the summer. Lake Lanier looked like that back then too.
 
Alex D said:
Talking with my SR dealer about a used 1996 500DA (YES,YES,YESS!!!) :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Can a 500DA even fit in that lake?! :smt017 Neven been there, but didn't realize it was that large looking at it from Google maps. Maybe I'll take a trip down there sometime... Always looking for a good freshwater lake. Looks to be just slightly farther than Deep Creek Lake is to me.

Your boat would be better suited in the Chesapeake Bay or Atlantic.
 
Gunn said:
Can a 500DA even fit in that lake?! :smt017 Neven been there, but didn't realize it was that large looking at it from Google maps. Maybe I'll take a trip down there sometime... Always looking for a good freshwater lake. Looks to be just slightly farther than Deep Creek Lake is to me.

Your boat would be better suited in the Chesapeake Bay or Atlantic.
Click to expand...

Yep, a 500 can easily work on Lanier. You should see some of the houseboats on it :smt101
 
I was on the lake yesterday and it's very low. Luckily not too many boats were out and it was nice and calm....for Lake Lanier that is! Seems like after Labor Day many people think the boating season is over....for me it's the nicest time to be on the lake.

Old guy at the gas dock says he's not seen it this low since 2001. My brother lives on Thompson's Creek three docks from the end of the cove and he had to take his boat and jet skis out of the water because it's dry.

We were tooling around in a large cove when I spotted a stick and as I turned to miss it I ran across an area that had to be less than a foot of water, churned up a lot of dirt and took a chunk out of my prop. Oh well, I wanted a new SS prop. Lesson learned....stay in the deep water.

Saw a beautiful old classic Chris Craft all wooden around 50' which was featured in Classic Yacht Magazine. What a sight wish I'd had my camera.


Cheers!
 
Keep on thinking Tropical Storm. It's the only thing that will help all of our low lake levels.

Duke Power is recommending all our communities in greater Charlotte go to Stage 3 water conservation. That will pretty much eliminate all outside watering except maybe once a week. It also has the potential to shut down businesses like Car Washes that don't use recycled water. And just like on Lanier, there is no boat traffic on our lake either. Yesterday it was amazingly empty. We are headed out again today to enjoy more of the "emptiness".
 
Update: Well, Starboard Marina has just notified all boaters on our dock to pull the boats. We will pull out for the season. The CoE has shut down all but one of the boat ramps on the lake too. This is depressing as this is just approaching some of the best boating days on the lake. I may have to install a GPS system and head down to the Keys with boat in-tow to relive myself of this anguish!
 
I am sorry to hear that. I know it's disheartening.

But you are not alone.This picture appeared in our paper this morning from Lake Norman. That looks like a Sundancer sitting on the hard at that one dock. I think it's better to pull out while you still have some water than have this happen to you.

647-0927drought.standalone.prod_affiliate.57.jpg
 
Dave S said:
I am sorry to hear that. I know it's disheartening.

But you are not alone.This picture appeared in our paper this morning from Lake Norman. That looks like a Sundancer sitting on the hard at that one dock. I think it's better to pull out while you still have some water than have this happen to you.

647-0927drought.standalone.prod_affiliate.57.jpg
Click to expand...

I hate pulling out!
 
Dave S said:
I am sorry to hear that. I know it's disheartening.

But you are not alone.This picture appeared in our paper this morning from Lake Norman. That looks like a Sundancer sitting on the hard at that one dock. I think it's better to pull out while you still have some water than have this happen to you.

647-0927drought.standalone.prod_affiliate.57.jpg
Click to expand...

That is disheartening. They say that our whole marina will be dry in another 4 weeks. We will unlikely be able to put in until March. We badly need rain.
 
I got a call today from the Port Royale security people (Lake Lanier). They told me that dock B that I am on will be to shallow by next week at the end to move so they were going to reposition it further out in to the lake to keep it afloat. We will still have access via land with a temp walk way but will not have power or water till further notice.
 
Hotlanta,

Just out of curiousity, I hear a lot of folks talking about moving docks further out into deeper water. One thing that has me puzzled is how are the docks anchored to begin with and how are they detached from that anchorage? Do they have to drive new pilings further out in the lake for anchoring the docks in the new location?:huh:

Our docks are anchored by steel pilings driven into the lake bed and there are metal collars around those pilings. I am not sure there would be any way to remove the collars or pilings short of cutting them off with a torch.

Dave
 
Dave,

Most of the marinas on lake lanier, if not all, are anchored via cables to large concrete blocks reinforced with rebar then attached to the dock via large metal winches. Our marina (Holiday on Lanier) is littered with all kinds of other "dock-anchors" they have used over the years. I'll try to post a pic or two but there are a bunch of old engine blocks and 55 gallon drums with pipes sticking through them that look like WWII tank obstacles that are now exposed and or a few inches/feet below the surface.

I'm sure glad I have 18 feet below me, the slip behind me is at about 3 feet. The old owner of the marina had his boat near my slip and dredged my side of the dock some years back. Here's to old Jack Beachem (sic?)!!!

If anyone from the Army Corps of Engineers is reading this, I hope you realize that you are a bunch of morons. This is a mess that didn't have to happen, drought or no drought. I don't know why it hasn't been talked about much, but several months back the Corps of Idiots realized that the new gauges they installed at Buford Dam were improperly calibrated and they were letting 10x as much water out as they thought. It took them months to figure that one out.

Stop sending all the water out of the Lake!!!
 
Cocktail Time said:
Dave,

Most of the marinas on lake lanier, if not all, are anchored via cables to large concrete blocks reinforced with rebar then attached to the dock via large metal winches. Our marina (Holiday on Lanier) is littered with all kinds of other "dock-anchors" they have used over the years. I'll try to post a pic or two but there are a bunch of old engine blocks and 55 gallon drums with pipes sticking through them that look like WWII tank obstacles that are now exposed and or a few inches/feet below the surface.

I'm sure glad I have 18 feet below me, the slip behind me is at about 3 feet. The old owner of the marina had his boat near my slip and dredged my side of the dock some years back. Here's to old Jack Beachem (sic?)!!!

If anyone from the Army Corps of Engineers is reading this, I hope you realize that you are a bunch of morons. This is a mess that didn't have to happen, drought or no drought. I don't know why it hasn't been talked about much, but several months back the Corps of Idiots realized that the new gauges they installed at Buford Dam were improperly calibrated and they were letting 10x as much water out as they thought. It took them months to figure that one out.

Stop sending all the water out of the Lake!!!
Click to expand...

You got that right. I just can't understand why the CoE would jeopardize the drinking water of a major metropolitan area by not reducing the amount of water they release through the dam. Florida and Alabama will get what they ask for. Normal flow for the next 90 days, then no flow at all until it rains again. What a bunch of morons. If I were the governor I would send in the Guard and take over operations of Buford Dam until an agreeable plan that ALL parties share some pain in is put into place.
 
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