Barge services needed

[Kneedeep]

Hello all waterfront owners,

I have heard from many folks and have experienced myself that there is a real shortage of barge availability on the lake. I am seriously looking at bringing another barge to the lake and looking for how you would utilize a barge. If you wouldn’t mind sharing what your needs are. I am not necessarily looking to compete with the dock& marine builders that are well established but more of how waterfront owners would utilize a barge for rent service?
Thank you

[Lakeflier]

Island cottage owner here. Septic pump out requires a barge to carry the pump truck. Often several households will coordinate service to share the cost of the barge.


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[Descant]

Kneedeep, welcome to the Forum. I agree with Lakefront. I'm an islander too. But islanders don't need to pump that often due to limited season. The point is, you have a barge and somebody else has a septic pump truck. You need coordination, and a barge big enough to handle the load. Same with a crane, excavator, backhoe, etc. If I need those services, I want to make one call, not several calls, to coordinate two or more companies. Most recently, for small barge work, I had a new refrigerator delivered and installed. The barge operator picked it up at the retail store, loaded onto the barge, delivered and installed, then took the old machine to be recycled. They also installed new water lines for the new icemaker (i.e. light plumbing). In this example, the "barge" was incidental, actually a stripped down pontoon boat, but any boat could have done the same job.

I would say the first order of business is to secure a long term homeport, summer and winter. Can you load equipment and materials there? If not, where? More transit time? This may help determine the type of barging you want to do, mostly mainland waterfront dock work, or all sorts of island work?
Good luck.

[Kneedeep]

Originally Posted by Descant

Kneedeep, welcome to the Forum. I agree with Lakefront. I'm an islander too. But islanders don't need to pump that often due to limited season. The point is, you have a barge and somebody else has a septic pump truck. You need coordination, and a barge big enough to handle the load. Same with a crane, excavator, backhoe, etc. If I need those services, I want to make one call, not several calls, to coordinate two or more companies. Most recently, for small barge work, I had a new refrigerator delivered and installed. The barge operator picked it up at the retail store, loaded onto the barge, delivered and installed, then took the old machine to be recycled. They also installed new water lines for the new icemaker (i.e. light plumbing). In this example, the "barge" was incidental, actually a stripped down pontoon boat, but any boat could have done the same job.

I would say the first order of business is to secure a long term homeport, summer and winter. Can you load equipment and materials there? If not, where? More transit time? This may help determine the type of barging you want to do, mostly mainland waterfront dock work, or all sorts of island work?

Good luck.

Thank you Descant & lakeflier for your responses. Certainly dockage is the biggest obstacle but I do have some options I am looking at. I welcome all responses. Thanks again.


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