Best way to get to my boat?

nola mike

nola mike

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I have my lift maybe 50 ft from shore, stand alone. Currently I walk out to it, not usually a huge deal but getting to be less pleasant towards the end of the season. One of my jetties needs to be rebuilt, and I'm trying to figure out a way to incorporate something to get out there.
1. Jetty is in 2 sections. Part closest to shore is what's getting rebuilt. The farther section is still in decent shape.
2. That last piling to the lift is 11 feet.
3. Tides and storms are significant, and whatever I built would likely be underwater a good portion of the time. If I have to walk through knee deep water that's a lot different than upper chest deep.
3a. Anything built would have to be either removable or something that I wouldn't care about/easily replaceable. Big storms can come in unexpected
4. Needs to be functional only. It would be just me using it (likely), or people with some dexterity.

The pilings would be spaced close enough together that they could be spanned with 2x lumbar. Some sort of hand rail or something would be necessary I think--Anything underwater will get very slick. I can get the near pilings built high, but anything deep (2nd section) would need a barge out there, which isn't in the cards. I'm thinking of just running a couple of 2x8 on edge on either side of the near (new) pilings, but gets a bit trickier deeper. I can also use that far/higher piling and the near one on the left (interestingly that's the only remains of a boathouse from when the house was built in the '60's). Pier guy coming on saturday (2 months just to get the appointment) to give me an estimate. Any thoughts welcome.

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Lou C

Lou C

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I keep my boat on a rotating mooring and paddle out in a 8’ Walker Bay dinghy, unless I have paid the boatyard to use their water taxi service that year…
Easy way to do it because the mooring is safe in storms like the one we just had BUT you have to deal with bottom paint…
 
Lou C

Lou C

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Or can you build a ladder from the lift to the water and keep a dinghy or kayak on the beach to paddle out?
 
nola mike

nola mike

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alldodge said:
What about a ready made floating dock ?
Click to expand...
That would get killed I think in short order, but maybe a link to specifically what you're talking about?
flashback said:
A hanging bridge?
Click to expand...
Thought about that, but didn't know exactly how to go about that, where it would be mounted, what kind of materials I'd need, etc. But yeah, any specific ideas would be welcome. Also thought about a zip line, which would be a fast/dangerous/fun one way trip!
Lou C said:
I keep my boat on a rotating mooring and paddle out in a 8’ Walker Bay dinghy, unless I have paid the boatyard to use their water taxi service that year…
Easy way to do it because the mooring is safe in storms like the one we just had BUT you have to deal with bottom paint…
Click to expand...
I actually had that same WB plastic dinghy but...it washed away in a storm (found 6 months later! but had already purchased a replacement). I have a mooring, and kept it there for years. Still use it if the water is too rough to get on the lift. I don't like leaving it unattended though. I do paddle out in the dinghy, but I still need to haul the dinghy in and out of the water, and put it on my seawall every time. Hopefully rebuilding the wall gives me some beach back. I'd rather walk out there though, and the dinghy is no good if it's rough.
airshot said:
Solve all your issues by building a pole barn and trailering your boat...
Click to expand...
This solves...none of my issues.
 
Scott Danforth

Scott Danforth

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few options:
dock on wheels (like the Tommy Dock), just remember to pull it out before going home
folding dinghy like flote-bote
Build a swamp buggy - power it with a mercruiser 3.7
learn to walk on stilts.....
 
redneck joe

redneck joe

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Yeah like a cable on pulley system then an on off switch on some braided electrical cord to a small, maybe 12v motor attached to the beach side pulley which is on a pole solar charged so no electrical run from house is needed. The switch goes with you in the dingy so you can stop of course. Come home, reverse process.
 
Scott Danforth

Scott Danforth

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@nola mike , you already have 12 volts and solar panel at the boat. add a 4-channel remote and run the lift off two channels and your cable pulley system off the other two.
 
Lou C

Lou C

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The WB dinghies are really heavy for their size, a kayak might be easier to haul in your vehicle.
Where you are there, is this a bay that backs up to the ocean? What kind of tides and winds do you get?
No one has lifts where I am, on the North Shore of Long Island, either you have moorings like in Huntington and Northport, or you're in a marina with regular docks. Only place I have seen lifts is on canals on the South Shore behind people's houses. Here, either way you're stuck with bottom paint, and with moorings have to have a way of getting out there.
If your area is prone to costal storms, I do like a mooring better, even in 50 mph gusts (like we just had during a nor'easter) I have no real worries about the boat with a 200 lb mooring properly set and 2 pennant lines to the front cleats. I've done it this way over 20 years here. The mooring allows the boat to move naturally with the wind and the waves, and to me is even safer than a dock, as long as no boats nearby break loose. We are not on LI Sound but in an interior harbor that is very well protected.
 
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