It was all downhill for City of Powell River workers while they were upgrading the Powell Lake boat launch adjacent to Shinglemill Pub and Bistro.
Tor Birtig, the city’s director of infrastructure, said the project went very well, with no surprises.
“Everything is within budget,” he said. “The anchoring and installation went more rapidly than anticipated. We did have to put a little more concrete work in, so we spent a little more on concrete than what we had forecast, but we saved on labour because we didn’t have to do individual formwork.”
Concrete was poured to create a bed so that when the lake level falls, the floats will rest on the concrete surface. Previously, the old floats sat on gravel when the lake level dropped. In addition to providing a smoother, level surface than when the floats are sitting on the ground, the concrete bed will also hopefully lengthen the life of the floats. Birtig pointed out that the floats at Mowat Bay are a similar construction and have lasted well with very little maintenance since they were installed 10 years ago.
“We were starting to see a lot of rot,” Birtig said of the Shinglemill launch. “I believe those previous floats were probably 40-some-odd years old.
The floats were built of cedar logs and provided ample floatation, but they floated irregularly compared to the new floats. The old ones were certainly at the end of service life.
“The new ones are a lot more rigid than what we had previously. The old ones were connected with boom chains. Now, a mechanical joint allows them to hinge properly.”
The new floats are eight feet wide, which is similar in dimension to the old floats. Birtig said from what he’s seen at the Shinglemill launch, the floats are definitely adequate for the job.
There had been a request to install the new floats in a similar configuration to those at Mowat Bay. At that location, vessels can be launched on either side of the ramp.
Jack Dice, who helped build the original boat launch at the Shinglemill location, said he is not at all happy with the project.
“It’s exactly the same as before,” Dice said. “There’s no change. There’s nothing gained at all. All they got was a longer float and better connections between the floats. I’m really, really, upset about it.”
Birtig said at the launch adjacent to the Shinglemill, there is a 38-foot right-of-way, which is not adequate for two lanes of traffic on the ramp.
“We took into consideration if we were to move it we would run into issues with people getting fuel,” he said. “There wasn’t adequate space in between. If people use the fuel dock they can use that as a secondary launch area.
“We are tied with the right-of-way room that we’re given down there.”
Birtig said if the city was to acquire some land down the road to increase that right-of-way width, then the floats could be centralized.
“I just don’t see the need to get into those extra costs,” he said. “This is the second launch that we have on the lake—we have Mowat Bay, so that takes up a lot of the traffic. We are providing adequate service.”
Birtig said he uses the Shinglemill launch regularly and even on long weekends, because of the length of the floats and the efficiency of people launching or retrieving their boats, it goes “rather quickly,” and not too many backlogs are experienced.
Birtig also said this year’s Powell River Community Forest contribution was instrumental in the installation of new floats. In providing the city its annual dividend cheque in June of this year, the community forest recommended an allocation of $120,000 to the boat launch project to purchase the floats.
“I think we put it forward in budgets for the last eight to 10 years,” Birtig said. “There had never been funding available until the community forest came along. We want to acknowledge the contribution of the Powell River Community Forest.”
Labour for the project and the concrete was provided by the city.
The only item outstanding to complete the project is dock ties. Over the next week or two, those will be in place.
“It will be fully operational at that point,” Birtig said. “People can use it now. There just are no tie-downs.”
