kpetry
Member
- Jul 19, 2008
- 362
- Boat Info
- 2002 Sea Ray 340DA
- Engines
- Twin 8.1 Horizons, inboard
Hi Y'all! We're just back from our Pittsburgh to Louisville Ohio River trip. It may take me a couple of days to get a couple of posts up about the trip, but this one was too good to wait!
The following was our experience at Huntington Yacht Club at mile 308. Sounds pretty swanky huh?
We had just put in 130 miles and 4 or 5 locks. We were hot, tired, and needed gas. We had planned on stopping in Huntington, WV, as it is WV's second largest city. After pulling up to the fuel dock at Huntington Yacht Club, I filled the tank, and without thinking too much about it, went ahead and paid for a night's transient dockage. The fuel dock didn't look too bad. When we were directed to our slip, the fun began!
This is what awaited us at our slip:
That's an abandoned pickup truck fuel tank, with 3 or 4 gallons of gas in it, and an empty beer 24 pack! You can tell by my wife's expression how pleased she is!
This was the dock a couple of boats downstream:
And a few boats upstream:
Note the wooden "hump along one side of the dock. This is a chase with dozens of electrical cables laying open inside. More electrical pics later in the post!
Another good one, note that this grill has been sitting in the same place long enough that moss has begun to grow under it!
That's tons of goose poop on the dock. The picture does not do the dock's appearance justice!
And now on to the amenities. These are the electrical lines crossing from the land side to the marina:
Note how they are suspended by a single uninsulated piece of cable from the I beam in the distance which is driven into the bottom of the river to hold the "marina" in position.
This is how the cables cross alongside the catwalk from shore.
A few more pics to stir your imagination. Not one of the HVAC or ice machine units in the "marina" had it's cover on. All were off and laying on the ground or on top of the machine, exposing all of the wonderful stuff inside!
In retrospect, we should have just demanded our money back and left. But, we were really tired, really hot, and really hungry. The AC was working, and we were cool for the first time that day. We changed our clothes, went into town and had a very good meal. Afterwards, we spent some time in Huntington's newly renovated Pullman Plaza, which was excellent. We fixed some drinks after dark, got a good night's sleep, and beat a hasty retreat early the next morning.
The more I think about it, the madder I get! There's several thousand gallons of fuel on the very same metal barge right next to a bar with a dance floor (the plastic hoop structure in one of the pics above) and all of that wood dock with electric cables running in wood chases! Just one spark at the wrong time, and we'll be reading about an explosion and dozens of fatalities in Huntington!
I have half a mind to report them to the authorities!
The following was our experience at Huntington Yacht Club at mile 308. Sounds pretty swanky huh?
We had just put in 130 miles and 4 or 5 locks. We were hot, tired, and needed gas. We had planned on stopping in Huntington, WV, as it is WV's second largest city. After pulling up to the fuel dock at Huntington Yacht Club, I filled the tank, and without thinking too much about it, went ahead and paid for a night's transient dockage. The fuel dock didn't look too bad. When we were directed to our slip, the fun began!
This is what awaited us at our slip:
That's an abandoned pickup truck fuel tank, with 3 or 4 gallons of gas in it, and an empty beer 24 pack! You can tell by my wife's expression how pleased she is!
This was the dock a couple of boats downstream:
And a few boats upstream:
Note the wooden "hump along one side of the dock. This is a chase with dozens of electrical cables laying open inside. More electrical pics later in the post!
Another good one, note that this grill has been sitting in the same place long enough that moss has begun to grow under it!
That's tons of goose poop on the dock. The picture does not do the dock's appearance justice!
And now on to the amenities. These are the electrical lines crossing from the land side to the marina:
Note how they are suspended by a single uninsulated piece of cable from the I beam in the distance which is driven into the bottom of the river to hold the "marina" in position.
This is how the cables cross alongside the catwalk from shore.
A few more pics to stir your imagination. Not one of the HVAC or ice machine units in the "marina" had it's cover on. All were off and laying on the ground or on top of the machine, exposing all of the wonderful stuff inside!
In retrospect, we should have just demanded our money back and left. But, we were really tired, really hot, and really hungry. The AC was working, and we were cool for the first time that day. We changed our clothes, went into town and had a very good meal. Afterwards, we spent some time in Huntington's newly renovated Pullman Plaza, which was excellent. We fixed some drinks after dark, got a good night's sleep, and beat a hasty retreat early the next morning.
The more I think about it, the madder I get! There's several thousand gallons of fuel on the very same metal barge right next to a bar with a dance floor (the plastic hoop structure in one of the pics above) and all of that wood dock with electric cables running in wood chases! Just one spark at the wrong time, and we'll be reading about an explosion and dozens of fatalities in Huntington!
I have half a mind to report them to the authorities!
