Alton Bay boat ramp
 

I see an excavator and the start of some sort of construction (hay bales), going on at the boat ramp formerly known as Downing's Landing in Alton Bay. I have heard in the past that the state has "big plans" to renovate that ramp, which is in desperate need, but I didn't think it was going to start this soon. I know they already laid new concrete pads for the actual ramp itself, but I was told by a F&G officer that there were big plans for the docks (and an out building) as well. I was told last summer it was going to take a few years for the state to come up with the money... Does anyone have any knowledge as to what is going on with it?

Nothing with the dock right now
 

The excavator is there because there was a water leak in the Alton Water Works line that that crosses the Merrymeeting at the bridge. They were working on it Friday evening.

Dave

The launch ramp will be closed May 15-18 to remove the old docks and replace with new floating docks according to F&G Facebook page.

Also, the entire facility will be closed, no parking or fishing permitted while the work is being done.

Boy am I glad to hear this. Hopefully the dock is long enough to have more than one boat in que to be pulled out. It gets pretty ugly there sometimes.

Public ramps, in general, are ugly only because of “googans” and they’re everywhere.

Very true but at the same time are a great source of entertainment if you got nothing better to do than to sit around and watch people do really dumb things.

We were on Lake Champlain last year and had a transient slip on a portion of our stay that gave us front row seats to a 4-lane public launch ramp on a Saturday afternoon. The ramps were wide and the docks were really nice, there was tons of dock space and truck/trailer room, and there really wasn't any meaningful waiting time with all 4 lanes active (so no angry outbursts about cutting in line and such), but the antics were superbly entertaining and non-stop. Why anyone would pick a Saturday in August to learn how to use a boat ramp is beyond me...

The best was a guy with a very loud, 30ish foot speed boat that must've attempted to drive on to the trailer (that was in way too deep) at least 15 times. His bow was so high that he had no hope of seeing the trailer as the winch post was only about 2 feet higher than the surface of the water, it looked like he was just aiming for his truck and hoping for the best. Of course the boat kept going on one side or the other of the winch post and his guests on shore would scream at him to reverse. I have a video somewhere...

Saw a guy at a small lake try that maneuver and ended up power loading right over the winch and through the rear window of his Escalade. :) :laugh: :laugh:

Youtube is chock full of boat launching/loading antics...hard to believe people can be so dumb and clueless.

I think watching those and people on rope swings are my 2 favorite things on line. Of course I'm not routing for bad things, or injuries, but if they're going to happen I'd like to see them.

Don't we all!

Speaking of which, having lunch at the Lyons Den after registering the boat today, the googans were ever present as we watched from our window table, the ramp antics, as they tried to load their boats. Thank heavens the ramp wasn’t busy. Like a clown circus...

What genius decided that derby week was the best time to schedule this work?

The derby is May 18-20

Has anyone seen how this work is progressing?

Nothing done on the 15th
 

Nothing was done on the 15 th . Forecast was for rain, potentially some severe storms. Notice did say "weather permitting". I'll be going out this morning, and will check then.

Now there saying closed Monday and Tuesday, Weather must have set them back.

From The Baysider FB page
 

From The Baysider newspaper FB page:

News from New Hampshire Fish and Game arrived too late for this week's edition: The Downing's Landing public boat access facility in Alton will be closed on Monday, May 21, and Tuesday, May 22, to allow for the installation of a temporary floating dock to replace the degraded courtesy docks at the boat ramp. The closure will begin on Sunday evening, May 20. Please check NH Fish and Game Department's Statewide Public Boat Access Program’s web page at www.fishnh.com/access/index.php for any last-minute schedule updates.
During the installation, the entire facility will be closed to the public to ensure a safe and effective work site. The ramp will be closed and there will be no opportunity to launch or retrieve motorized boats, sail boats, canoes, kayaks, or other self- propelled watercraft during this time period. The parking area for the ramp will also be closed to the public and there will be no fishing from the shore.


This is not a bad idea considering the Derby this weekend and the effect any delay could have on launching and parking for participants.

Dave

From Facebook on the new docks
 

I wonder if they are doing both docks or just one? The Facebook article calls the replacement docks "temporary" I wonder if they have larger plans for the facility?

The way I took it was that they are putting in floating docks, I’ve seen these around the lake and it’s a good concept, that way they can just remove them at end of season to prevent ice damage.

That's how I interpreted it as well. Floating docks are idea for this application and very common around the country for public ramps. I hope they install 2 of them.

If you ever want to install a dock for just sitting on, don't use a floating dock. They are terrible for that because the motion from waves is all jerky and unpleasant.

Today
 

Drove by this afternoon and there is one floating dock installed, which appears to be about 3-4 ft wide. I did not stop, park , and walk in, so I do not know about the posts.

IMHO, if they were removing both docks, which they did, they would remove all parts of the dock.

Dave

I really like the fact that F&G is doing this repair work. However, if there is no one to monitor what goes on down there, "like most public ramps" it wont take long for damage to start to set in. All it takes is one person to back into the dock with a trailer or smash into it with a boat at night and it's down hill from there. I hate to be a negative Nelly but that's just reality. That ramp used to have a HUGE drop off at the end of the concrete from all the power loading that went on down there. So bad that I thought I was going to rip and axle off my trailer pulling the boat out one day. I'm not sure what its like now that they redid the ramp.

Like this?....

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2oq0YNo02KM" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oq0...&feature=share

I've used dozens of public ramps with these kinds of docks over the last 20+ years and have never seen one damaged as you described. They are pretty rugged and there's a lot of incentive not to hit one with a boat. I realize boat ramp follies are pretty common and wildly amusing, but rarely do they result in damage to the ramp infrastructure.

The power-loading damage at this ramp was fixed by extending the concrete deeper into the lake and has not been a problem since. FWIW, the dock that this new dock replaced was more likely than not damaged by ice, not boats.

visited today
 

I headed down to the Bay post office and took a little detour over to the launch area. Very nice dock.

A short section on land with a hinge connection to the 1st section, which is of course connected to section 2. All heavy duty connections. Dock is quite stable, although wind was blowing out, so not much wave action to see. Unfortunately, I left my phone at the house, so no pictures.

Note, the dock is anchored by two heavy duty stainless chains that extend from the corners to their anchors, in crisscross fashion. They are marked by a small orange round buoy.

Overall, looks nice. I will probably deploy fenders when I launch and recover my boat, due to the low profile of the dock, which is probably too low for contact with the rubrail.

Dave

There were pics on facebook of the posts they removed.