HHYC NEWSLETTER 26 Feb., 2005

Dock Rebuild

Contract was awarded to KMI Marine Inc., of Hollywood, Fl. On Feb. 21, 2005, for $195,500, to rebuild the docks destroyed by the recent hurricanes. KMI will do the concrete pilings and wood decking. Additional work is required to replace the electrical and water lines. KMI is presently doing the engineering and permitting. Work on the docks is scheduled to begin 2^nd week in March and completed by 2^nd week in June.

Current Dock Reserves are inadequate to fund the rebuild. The dock Committee recommended that the HH Board pass a Special Marina Assessment of $95,000. This will be voted on at the Feb. 28 Board meeting.

Marina Rules and Regulations

During the recent hurricanes, inadequately installed boat lifts failed, causing considerable damage to the lifts, the boats on them and to our docks. The Dock Committee recommended and on Jan. 22, 2005, the HH Board approved an addition to the Marina Rules and Regulations for Boat Lift and Lift Piling Installation Requirements. All new piling and/or lift installations must use 10 inch pilings, driven at least 8 feet into the bottom. All new boat lift top beams are to be attached to pilings with two tangs and lag bolts.

New Boats and New Boat Lifts

Despite the hurricanes, interest in owning a dock and a having a boat at Hutchinson House has not diminished. Old and new owners alike are buying new boats and installing new boat lifts. Hurricane Boat Lifts Co. is presently installing seven new lifts.

HHYC Merchandise

We still have a few items of HHYC merchandise left; shirt, hats, and a mug or two. Several members expressed an interest in purchasing shirts with pockets. If you are interested in acquiring any of the above or have a suggestion as to when and what additional items we should purchase, call Bernadette.

Fishing and Aquaculture at HH Docks

Dock owners Clyde Webb, Bill Baxter, Tom Parrish and Ollie Bessette visited the Florida Oceanographic Society facility clam and oyster spat experimental station on the river just south of HH. They are currently working with Martin County (MC) to seed oysters in the St. Lucie River. They plan to start a new project soon to promote the reestablishment of oysters in the Indian River lagoon. We said we wanted to be involved. Bill has ordered the catalogs from which we can buy the trays, etc.

They gave us about 500,000 seed clams which we broadcast around and under the mini-dock. We should have some good clams in a couple of years.

Kathy Fitzpatrick, Martin County Coastal Engineer, has led a project to install Reef Balls (fish havens) in the local estuaries. These are concrete igloos with holes, so small fish can swim in and out. We are asking for her help in putting in some Reef Balls at HH. This would greatly improve the fishing around our docks. Kathy would like to help us with this now but the hurricane related work is keeping her busy, so we will call her back in the summer when things quiet down.

Cruising and Parties

A cruise down to Pecks Lake for a picnic, a swim and a walk on the miles of natural beach is a favorite trip for HHYC. Our first trip there this year was Jan 11^th. Six HHYC boats and about thirty members and guests made the trip and the weather was perfect.

March activities include a repeat boat trip and picnic to Pecks Lake on Tuesday, March 1^st and a cocktail party on the docks on Monday, March 7^th . We look forward to seeing all our dock owners, both old and new, as well as our Social Members. Watch the bulletin boards for future announcements.

Social Members

For anyone interested in becoming a Social Member, it’s not too late to sign up and join us.

The HHYC lost 10 boats in hurricane Francis and Hurricane Jeanne. Hurricane Jeanne had winds of 122 here and a 6.5’ surge. That put the water in the eye of the storm over our docks and the 120 mph winds added wave height on top of that. Seven boats were tossed off their lifts, because they were not high enough. Two boats were lost because a newly installed piling fell over.

There was considerably damage to the docks, caused by the boats that came off their lifts. There was also many lifts whose bottom lift beams were left at dock level and the bottom lift beams banged up the docks severely.

Ollie made a list of the Marina Damage and a list of the Boat Lift damage. These lists are posted in the office.

High Lift Pilings

To protect the dock and your boat during a severe storm or hurricane, boat lifts need to be able to lift the lower beams at least 1'-2' above the dock deck on the inner docks and 2-3' on the outer docks. Our docks are 5' above Mean High Water (MHW). By having piling tops 5' above our docks, you can get your lift/ boat 8' above MHW, which is 3' above the dock and 1-1/2' above the surge we got with hurricane Jeanne. All boats in our marina whose bottom lift beams were 1-2' above the dock, survived with little damage. Those which were 2-3' above the dock, had no damage.

To meet this High Lift requirement, new lift pilings must be 10" piles, driven at least 8', preferably 10-12', into the bottom and the top of the pilings must be at least 5' (6' if you want head clearance) above the dock deck.

Boat Lift Pilings Installation Requirements

The following requirements have been submitted to the Rules Committee for review and incorporation into the HHYC Rules and Regulations. The items in bold are most critical:

Whenever an owner installs new lift pilings, the piling installation must meet the HHYC piling Installation Requirements. These requirements do not apply to lift pilings existing/ in-use at the date of this ruling.

Piling size: 10" minimum, 10" for 3' (10-3) preferred

Piling length: 25' for inner docks, 30' for outer docks ( docks are 8-10' above sea bottom)

Bottom penetration: 8' minimum, 10' preferred, 10-12' preferred for outer docks

Installed height: 5'-6' above dock deck. (10'-11' above MHW)

Hurricane Season Rules

The Rules Committee will be putting together a set of instructions for how to leave your lift, or lift and boat, secured during hurricane season if you are not in residence, or during a hurricane if you are in residence. Primarily, this involves raising your lift beams above the dock, tying your lift beams to your pilings and tying down your boat.

Boat Lifts

Some of the boat lifts installed in 02', 03' and 04' (e.g. J&B and Hurricane), have lift-to-piling attachments which are inadequate to weather a category 3 hurricane. They have only one "tang". We recommend lifts be attached to pilings with two tangs/straps and lagbolts.

Hurricane Boat Lift Co. has developed a new piling attachment and also is developing a hurricane-storm lift "fix". It is 2 additional beams that attach to the pilings so that you can set your lift beams on them, removing the strain on the cables and providing for a solid attachment of lift and pilings.

In 2002, the following Boat Lift suppliers and installers were contacted for prices:

Tropic marine, Dave, 692-4154, "High Tide" lifts; Hurricane Boat Lifts, Tracy, 781-2556, "Hurricane" lifts; J&B, Keith, 219-0315, "Quality" lifts; Linden Marine, Maurice, 219-3634, "IMM" lifts; Harbor Bay, Scotty, 335-7080, "Nautic-Lift" lifts; Blue Water Marine, Mark, 286-5181. 2002 quotes from the above companies were:

(4) 10" x 25' pilings, installed 8' in sand, $1,200-$1,500, in rock $1,900-$2,800 + permit 9,000-12,000 # lift, installed, $3,835-$5,745 + tax.