COE Private Boat Dock regulation change

[Champ188]

Is it REALLY worth all of that trouble to avoid a few miles of trailering? Not to  mention getting your boat out of the elements and away from waterborne thieves. Plus the trouble of carting tackle and other equipment back and forth. 

[m&m]

4 hours ago, Champ188 said:

Is it REALLY worth all of that trouble to avoid a few miles of trailering? Not to  mention getting your boat out of the elements and away from waterborne thieves. Plus the trouble of carting tackle and other equipment back and forth. 

Champ, I agree especially if one doesn't have a lakefront home.

Mike

[bobby b.]

6 hours ago, Champ188 said:

Is it REALLY worth all of that trouble to avoid a few miles of trailering? Not to  mention getting your boat out of the elements and away from waterborne thieves. Plus the trouble of carting tackle and other equipment back and forth. 

Good point but my situation is such that I general only have an hour or two to fish but can do that very often even daily if I want thus I like the boat dock deal - the down side is that I can't drive the boat to the upper end which at times is the better fishing, but  I do have a small tin boat that I can go up into the rivers if I can find the time.

I've also dealt with the thief situation and hauling tackle with a self designed and built alarm system, but now (or in ten years) must deal with this stupid new power requirement. 

The other positive of the boat dock deal is that I had access everyday during the the recent floods when most ramps were closed.

PS I do have a lakefront home and the high cost of the solar will be shared 16 ways but IT'S STILL STUPID REQUIREMENT AND REMEMBER " YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID".

Bobby

[bobby b.]

On 7/13/2017 at 0:43 PM, Alex Heitman said:

We have had solar on our 20 slip condo dock for over a year now and it works great. It has an inverter switch that you turn on to get power and it stays on for 4 hours then turns off. We have lights and outlets at every stall and have never had a problem. We even fished a lot during the winter and our batteries charged just fine. 

Alex - I would like to learn more about your setup.

wattage of solar panels?

size of inverter?

number and voltage of batteries?

who put it in?

does all your slips have boats using on board battery chargers?

Thanks

Bobby

[Old plug]

On July 13, 2017 at 10:26 AM, bobby b. said:

Here is another stupid issue with this from the Corp.

we just got our dock permit renewed but to do so we had to take off two 50 lb each hanging swings because of a new COE policy because of the weight can cause structural issues.

How much weight do you think those solar panels and batteries will be compared to those two swingsets? 

God God!! Only thing I can think of after spending over 40 years inside DA and DOD is that somebodyvis jrust trying to malecpoints with all this stuff. Being a little quiet nose to the grind stone engineer.  Thing iis NOT the way to become a bigger you have to male up things that nay look like a smart idea. 

[fishinwrench]

I have never been a fan of electricity on private residential docks.   Even if you're retired and can usually monitor it regularly.....life happens, people get busy or distracted with other elements of their lives and dock wiring can go months without any attention.   

It's just not a good idea for the sake of a piddly convenience.   Hoists can be raised effortlessly with hydraulics or low amp DC winch or blower motors. And batteries can be wheeled to the shoreline in a wagon for charging (yeah their heavy....but they aren't THAT heavy, and odds are you could use the excersize anyway).   I change out between 6-12 batteries a day sometimes, so it makes me chuckle to hear about someone having their day ruined because they might have to do it once every couple days.   Having electricity on floating docks is a huge liability for nothing but the sake of plain laziness IMO.    If you need lights down there then put a flood light on a pole at the shoreline and point it towards the freakin' dock, or fire up a Coleman lantern.  

When I had the lake house I never had electricity on my dock, and I don't remember it ever being a giant inconvenience at all.  I fished 5-6 days a week and my batteries never went dead. So I don't understand what everybody is whining about?  

"Oh dang, I have to carry my bucket of fish 15 yards in order to use my electric fillet knife".   Gimme a break!  

[dblades]

4 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

I have never been a fan of electricity on private residential docks.   Even if you're retired and can usually monitor it regularly.....life happens, people get busy or distracted with other elements of their lives and dock wiring can go months without any attention.   

It's just not a good idea for the sake of a piddly convenience.   Hoists can be raised effortlessly with hydraulics or low amp DC winch or blower motors. And batteries can be wheeled to the shoreline in a wagon for charging (yeah their heavy....but they aren't THAT heavy, and odds are you could use the excersize anyway).   I change out between 6-12 batteries a day sometimes, so it makes me chuckle to hear about someone having their day ruined because they might have to do it once every couple days.   Having electricity on floating docks is a huge liability for nothing but the sake of plain laziness IMO.    If you need lights down there then put a flood light on a pole at the shoreline and point it towards the freakin' dock, or fire up a Coleman lantern.  

When I had the lake house I never had electricity on my dock, and I don't remember it ever being a giant inconvenience at all.  I fished 5-6 days a week and my batteries never went dead. So I don't understand what everybody is whining about?  

"Oh dang, I have to carry my bucket of fish 15 yards in order to use my electric fillet knife".   Gimme a break!  

The dock I use is at least a fifty yard hike,  down the bluff, thru the woods, watch out for copperheads on the way. Carrying three trolling batteries at my age isn't an option, I'd like to attempt. What is piddly convenience for you might be a major effort for others around the lake.

[Blll]

No need to debate trailer vs slip. They both have pros and cons. Each guy has his own good reasons for one or the other option. Personally I trailered for 30 years and have had a slip for the last 10. No doubt in my mind I use my boat 3-4x more having a slip. The silver lining that I see is that the COE has put this 10 years in the future. Lots can change by then. Plus community or individual docks can start putting aside a small amount of $$$ each year for this. Also the technology will be much better than it is today. Costs may actually be less. Light weight lithium batteries may be more affordable. This spring, our dock was without power for about 75 days in the best fishing times. Really sucked! If we had solar power, there would have been zero down time.  With the ozark style of floating docks, being tethered to the shore for electricity may not be the best system. JMO

[fishinwrench]

4 hours ago, dblades said:

The dock I use is at least a fifty yard hike,  down the bluff, thru the woods, watch out for copperheads on the way. Carrying three trolling batteries at my age isn't an option, I'd like to attempt. What is piddly convenience for you might be a major effort for others around the lake.

But you have power to the dock, right?

Major effort?  

Dude,  if the power stops at the shoreline you wouldn't have to carry the battery's all the way to the house!    Put them in a wagon or a 2-wheeled dolly and just take them to the end of the walkway.   If you're fit enough to fish then surely you can handle that.  

Putting electricity over the water is like storing a gas can next to the fireplace.

[MOPanfisher]

A much smaller system can be designed if only used for battery charging a a couple LED lights.  The Solar guys I have worked with will first ask yiu what you want to be able to do, and how often.  Then they will design the system.  Larger docks don't have to have the entire dock run off of a single solar system.  There could be multiple smaller systems running 4 or so stalls depending on usage/needs.