Visual of Lake Michigan water levels

Just curious,how or where to you get that Black Dog burgee.We spend a week or two at the Black wharf ay Vineyard Haven every summer.Our slip is only an hour to an hour and a half away(Fairhaven,Mass.
 
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Gofirstclass said:
While things like beaches come and go, one thing stays on forever. That is the change to water levels and the changes to the amount of beaches.

When I was growing up we had a cottage at Pt. Lookout, just north of Au Gres. I remember years when we had almost zero beach and other years when we had over 100' of beach.

Ya pays yer money and ya takes yer chances.
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Yes. That is spot on. The year we put our ladder on the dock so we could get down to the boat for boarding, we could walk in front of our boat without getting our feet wet. On week ends, strangers would some times walk by our house without getting their feet wet. When our children still lived with us, there was a 13 foot Boston Whaler tied up in front of our boat with pretty of water under its keel. Unlike others who own homes on Lake Michigan, we prefer no beach in front of ours.
 
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ltjpc715 said:
Just curious,how or where to you get that Black Dog burgee.We spend a week or two at the Black wharf ay Vineyard Haven every summer.Our slip is only an hour to an hour and a half away(Fairhaven,Mass.
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They are available from theblackdog.com for $38. Google "black dog boat burgees" and you will see various colors for sale. We somehow ended up getting their catalog. Good quality tees and I like their burgees which are also nice quality. They last about two seasons.
 
Our place is on what is called “Dynamic shoreline”, which basically means sand with no bedrock underneath until very deep. A few years ago they changed the set back distance rules for constructing homes to make our lot non-buildable except on the existing footprint. We are high enough up from the waterline that not a risk though. Some down the beach are not so lucky and their rock break walls that used to be yards from the waters edge are now at the waters edge.
 
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Creekwood said:
Our place is on what is called “Dynamic shoreline”, which basically means sand with no bedrock underneath until very deep. A few years ago they changed the set back distance rules for constructing homes to make our lot non-buildable except on the existing footprint. We are high enough up from the waterline that not a risk though. Some down the beach are not so lucky and their rock break walls that used to be yards from the waters edge are now at the waters edge.
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We considered buying a home on Lake Michigan when we moved to Michigan, but were nervous over the possibility of damage due to rising water levels. We would also have had to rent a slip at a marina for our boat. A lake attached to Lake Michigan seemed like a better choice for us for a home site. There are still times when Lake Michigan looks good to us, but the risk has prevented us from pulling the trigger.
 
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sbw1 said:
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We considered buying a home on Lake Michigan when we moved to Michigan, but were nervous over the possibility of damage due to rising water levels. We would also have had to rent a slip at a marina for our boat. A lake attached to Lake Michigan seemed like a better choice for us for a home site. There are still times when Lake Michigan looks good to us, but the risk has prevented us from pulling the trigger.
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No boat at the dock for us. It’s open water beach out front. The boat is in a marina about 15 min away in a town called Penetanguishene. Lots of history. The area was the site of the largest British navy fleet outside of England in the early 1800s. Seems they thought the US would invade Fort York (Toronto) from the North so assembled a large fleet of sailing ships in the bay to defend if they came around from Lake Huron or Michigan.
 
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Creekwood said:
No boat at the dock for us. It’s open water beach out front. The boat is in a marina about 15 min away in a town called Penetanguishene. Lots of history. The area was the site of the largest British navy fleet outside of England in the early 1800s. Seems they thought the US would invade Fort York (Toronto) from the North so assembled a large fleet of sailing ships in the bay to defend if they came around from Lake Huron or Michigan.
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You live in one of the best boating areas of the world. It is beautiful.
 
sbw1 said:
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We considered buying a home on Lake Michigan when we moved to Michigan, but were nervous over the possibility of damage due to rising water levels. We would also have had to rent a slip at a marina for our boat. A lake attached to Lake Michigan seemed like a better choice for us for a home site. There are still times when Lake Michigan looks good to us, but the risk has prevented us from pulling the trigger.
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I assume you own the slip and just have the maintenance costs for it, how does the compare to slip fees?

MM
 
sbw1 said:
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Is that a recent pic? How much snow do you have?
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Not recent, that was last Christmas. This is this past weekend. That is a native fishing boat out front laying gill nets on the whitefish and lake trout spawning shoals. Closer this year than normal. The weather they go out in is crazy.

The hills across the bay are the ski hills of the Blue Mountains (term used loosely). That is about 15-20 miles across.

 
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Creekwood said:
The hills across the bay are the ski hills of the Blue Mountains (term used loosely). That is about 15-20 miles across.
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When my wife and I were a lot younger...we lived in oakville Ont.... We decided to go to Blue mountain skiing on Saturday morning early for the day... So we packed the car the night before it was parked in heated underground parking. Next morning hop in the car make the drive to the mountain and realized we left our coats In the closet in the apartment. I don't know if you know the area... But it is boutiques and expensive clothing stores...designer crap.....No Walmart..and we didn't have a lot of disposable income at the time. We ended buying stupid priced coats.... When we had brand new coats at home... We didn't really laugh about it.... But we did a year later when we put those coats on..and thought what we were thinking.... That's my blue mountain story.
 
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MonacoMike said:
I assume you own the slip and just have the maintenance costs for it, how does the compare to slip fees?

MM
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Slip fees for our sized boat are pretty steep. Not sure how much but probably around 4,400 to 5,000 per season depending on where you slip. Our slip is old, but is a sturdy design. It paid for itself in about three years. We replaced an outboard piling a few years back when an ice flow snapped it off during ice out in the spring. 1,800. That was a first for us in 40 plus years of ownership. We painted the steel supports at the same time. That was minimal, maybe 250 bucks. The dock box got a new lid last year, about 75 for lumber. The de-icer runs as needed. While that shows up on our electric bill, it is minimal, because we let the dock freeze in and then run the de-icer to clear the ice before it gets too thick to cause damage. The ice eater is 40 years old and still going strong. I power wash the decking in the spring which takes about three hours of my time. So....that's pretty much the maintenance story. As you can see, not much compared to renting a slip at a marina.
 
sbw1 said:
Slip fees for our sized boat are pretty steep. Not sure how much but probably around 4,400 to 5,000 per season depending on where you slip. Our slip is old, but is a sturdy design. It paid for itself in about three years. We replaced an outboard piling a few years back when an ice flow snapped it off during ice out in the spring. 1,800. That was a first for us in 40 plus years of ownership. We painted the steel supports at the same time. That was minimal, maybe 250 bucks. The dock box got a new lid last year, about 75 for lumber. The de-icer runs as needed. While that shows up on our electric bill, it is minimal, because we let the dock freeze in and then run the de-icer to clear the ice before it gets too thick to cause damage. The ice eater is 40 years old and still going strong. I power wash the decking in the spring which takes about three hours of my time. So....that's pretty much the maintenance story. As you can see, not much compared to renting a slip at a marina.
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You need something to keep the ducks from crapping on your dock. Ever thought about running 40lb monofillament between low steel stakes around the water edge and between the dock posts where you don't access the boat? Water birds hate it and probably won't come ashore or on the dock.
 
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Creekwood said:
You need something to keep the ducks from crapping on your dock. Ever thought about running 40lb monofillament between low steel stakes around the water edge and between the dock posts where you don't access the boat? Water birds hate it and probably won't come ashore or on the dock.
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I should have explained the pic. This is from the seagulls attracted to the open water and move onto our dock over the winter. Once I power wash it in the spring and move our boat into its slip, they move onto Lake Michigan. For some reason, we seldom see a duck on our dock, and it stays clean during the boating season.
 
sbw1 said:
I should have explained the pic. This is from the seagulls attracted to the open water and move onto our dock over the winter. Once I power wash it in the spring and move our boat into its slip, they move onto Lake Michigan. For some reason, we seldom see a duck on our dock, and it stays clean during the boating season.
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Ah Seagulls. $Hi7 hawks. Thats hard to fix!
 
sbw1 said:
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Slip fees for our sized boat are pretty steep. Not sure how much but probably around 4,400 to 5,000 per season depending on where you slip. Our slip is old, but is a sturdy design. It paid for itself in about three years. We replaced an outboard piling a few years back when an ice flow snapped it off during ice out in the spring. 1,800. That was a first for us in 40 plus years of ownership. We painted the steel supports at the same time. That was minimal, maybe 250 bucks. The dock box got a new lid last year, about 75 for lumber. The de-icer runs as needed. While that shows up on our electric bill, it is minimal, because we let the dock freeze in and then run the de-icer to clear the ice before it gets too thick to cause damage. The ice eater is 40 years old and still going strong. I power wash the decking in the spring which takes about three hours of my time. So....that's pretty much the maintenance story. As you can see, not much compared to renting a slip at a marina.
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That makes the property a better deal for a boater. Is it a hassle to get approval to build a dock now?

MM
 
sbw1, what you have there is a real treasure and I can tell from your posts that you appreciate what you have. Good on ya for that.
 
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