It’s that time of year again, when most boaters and their vessels come out of hibernation and the boatyard comes to life with the familiar sights of spring. We ended the 2016 boating season in mid-November, with our last haul-out, effectively packing the inside storage to capacity. We spent the winter with numerous shop projects, and have since welcomed many old and a few new faces back for the start of another great season of boating.
Our 2017 spring launch started early on March 24th, as we put the Travelift to work for the first time this season. With an unstable weather pattern though March and early April, many boaters were hesitant at first to call for a launch. We got our feet wet in early April, with the Saginaw River flooding from high winds and heavy rains. Now that we have overcome the flooding and snow, the boatyard has come to life over the past three weeks. We are seeing more boats uncovered, bottoms painted, and the schedule book is filling up fast. We have also dug a few boats out of the heated and cold storage buildings, so each day there are more “holes” in the buildings.
As the boatyard comes to life, the crew in the repair and mechanical shops are diligently working inside to complete the winter projects and ready our fleet for the summer. Our winter was packed with fun projects that included engine and fly-bridge installation on a classic Hatteras, along with hull planks, varnish and aft cockpit deck replacement on a 45’ Chris Craft Corsair. We were also busy with the regular preventive maintenance items; polishing, waxing, bottom painting, varnishing, and other custom repairs. Overall, it was a very busy winter in our service departments, and we are looking forward to seeing our work out on the water.
With launch time in full swing, please don’t hesitate to call us to get your boat on the launch schedule. It’s not too late to schedule service requests. We want to send you on your way this summer with your boat in ship shape. Please contact us to for an estimate or to schedule the work at service@pier7marina.com or visit our contact page and use the fill out form!
Happy Launch Season!
By Jamieson Poirier
