Maumee Bay State Park

[Captn TJ]

I saw a recent article in Scuttlebutt about this location/marina. Has anyone seen up to date charts of the area or have been in the harbor. We're planning a trip with several boats including 2 sailboats . The info on the State park site (entrance depth) conflicts with what I see on the charts.

 

[RollerCoastr]

My experience matches the claims of the park. The unmarked channel is weird at first glance, but not as intimidating IRL as it sounds.

I just checked the site, and they’ve cleaned it up since my last visit. They used to include advice about aiming between radio towers. I’m glad they removed that. It was unnecessary on an approach that’s due south from the channel. (But even so, would buying some buoys bankrupt them?!)

Their claims of depth are legit as I recall, and we’ll have high water this year.

 

[Captn TJ]

Thanks. There's a lot of shallow water out there. One of my friends is going to stop by and talk to the harbormaster. If they have their own chart I'll post it here.

 

[RollerCoastr]

I wonder if you're looking at low-water datum? If so, it looks scary, but it's intentionally a worst-case scenario. One of the ActiveCaptain reviews from '14 says that he saw 40' sailboats in the MBSP basin. They could've had wing keels/shallow draft, so I'm not suggesting sailboaters take it lightly, but 2014 wasn't a high water year - I'd say probably about 18" lower than we'll see this year?

"Water" to be concerned about for sure is dockside water supply. The spigots are far from the docks. Bring plenty of hose and if you're with a group, maybe a couple of Y fittings.

Note: my avatar pic was taken on my way to MBSP. May your journey be as nice as mine was!