I must confess, I haven't posted for some time. I can come up with a million excuses, but, I don't need to.
We embarked on a large expansion of the Marina this past year. It started with the clearing of 4 1/2 acres we had purchased next door to the original facility. After clearing, we needed to grade the area for better drainage. There is a pond at one end, so we could funnel drainage to there. After the grading, we laid out roadways to be used for moving boats in and out of storage which is our intended use of the property. Once that was done, we had large stone, actually slag from a nearby steel plant, spread on the roadways. Once that was done we topped the entire property with smaller slag and we were done with that portion. Yet to do is fencing and plantings. That is on the agenda for this spring / summer.
During this part of the process, we also removed our old boat ramp and replace it with a new wider and longer concrete ramp. Our old ramp was put in some 50 years ago and wasn't intended for the size and weight of present day boats. In some places the old concrete was as thin as 2 inches. There was a tree near the ramp that had grown to almost 4 foot in diameter and the root system was under the ramp and breaking through and 50 years of travel was also breaking up the old ramp. We probably make over 3000 trips in or out of the ramp each season and it is also open to the public 24 hours a day.
The size of boats has grown every year and our present storage buildings were erected when boats were much smaller. Where we used to house 160 boats inside, we could only house 65 or so. That is why we decided to build a new storage building. The new building will allow us to stack boats three high down each side and then fill the center aisle. We expect to store around 100 in this new building. Needless to say each step of the way in the construction process created some issues that required ingenuity to solve. A process that we hoped to finish in time to store in this past fall extended well into the new year. I purchased a Lift Truck from a local marina friend that allows us to raise a boat 16 feet in the air to stack boats on the third story. It's ugly as can be, but we had it serviced and it's ready to go. We have most of the driveways redone and are awaiting the COVID-19 to finish it's course so that we can open up and enjoy the summer months.
While that was all happening, we also started renovating our oldest storage building and making a new repair shop in it. We concreted the floors, created overhead door openings and installed doors. Replaced the roof, installed insulation and sided the inside. Installed heat, wiring and a new well. We have the lobby, office and parts room nearly complete and are anticipating moving from the old shop in the next 10 days to two weeks. Then we will finish bathrooms, plumbing the water and air and be ready to go. The old shop will get converted to more showroom over the summer.
This spring our business has been interrupted by the corona virus outbreak and subsequent travel restrictions. I have been forced to temporarily lay off some of my staff. In the 13 years since we purchased the Marina we have never had to do this. It is a terrible feeling to do this to staff that is much like family and I hope we can reunite soon. .
So, you just read one of my many reasons to not have posted lately. It is a very valid excuse.
