Lake Champlain flooding

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Larry14133

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Jul 17, 2006
75
Oday 302 Port Henry
Went to the lake today and its at the highest level in 125 years. My boat is sitting on the cradle in 3 feed of water. A few more inches and its going to be in trouble. Can't decide what would cause the least amount of damage. Leave the transducer plugs out and let it fill with water so it stays on the cradle or plugs in and let it float around and see what happens. Either way looks like i have about a foot before i need to decide.

Normally i would uncover, paint the bottom and wax before it got wet.
 

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Stu Jackson

Stu Jackson

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Feb 26, 2004
23,362
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
Sorry to hear that. Choice is to definitely wreck the inside of the boat, or hope the outside doesn't get trashed if it floats off. Even if you flood the inside, there's no guaranty that it won't float off. I'd plug it up and save in the inside. What are other folks doing?
 
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Ray Bowles

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Oct 6, 2008
857
Hunter, Island Packet, Catalina, San Juan 26,38,22,23 Kettle Falls, Washington
I'd insure it right away and then do what you must. Good luck.
Ray
 
sinnettc

sinnettc

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May 23, 2007
1,306
Catalina Capri 22 Albany, Oregon
Boy that sux. Is it insured? If so, you better put the plugs in. No doubt they'll weasel out if they can show "negligence" on your part.

Anything substantial that you could tie off to? I presume the cradle isn't substantial enough to act as a mooring? Could you add a couple of cleats to that building and tie it off there?
 
Ross

Ross

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Jun 15, 2004
14,693
Islander/Wayfairer 30 sail number 25 Perryville,Md.
My son lives up there on the NY side of the lake. He said the launching ramps are all under water and there is much trash in the water. Just run some long lines out to anything solid. They don't need to be real heavy butkeep an eye on her for a few days.
 
CalebD

CalebD

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Jun 27, 2006
1,479
Tartan 27' 1967 Nyack, NY
I'd '86' or ditch the tarp covers as well. Extra windage you don't need.
Think of this as a Tsunami that rolls in to your area. When the high water comes in you want your boat to be as far from land as it can be. Take her out and be somewhere safe; anchored or otherwise.
 
Roy10289

Roy10289

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Oct 13, 2007
179
Hunter 37.5 Plattsburgh
Does anyone know the dates in a normal year when the water level should begin to drop on Lake Champlain?
 
mcrow33

mcrow33

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Mar 29, 2011
169
Beneteau 361 Charlotte,Vt
The lake is 3 feet over flood stage. The average is 20 days per foot. So if this true it will be 60 days just to get to flood stage which is 100 feet. I have a June 6th launch date due to the high water. The water is so high at most marinas, they can't use their travel lift. I won't worry to much about your boat floating off the jack stands. It looks by the picture that the water would have to come up over another foot or more just to reach the water line. It takes a lot of rain at this point to raise the lake a few inches now. At this point it tends to go out instead of up. As of this morning the lake level at Burlington was 103.11, down from 103.27 yesterday. Hopefully we get a few days of sun before the next batch of rains come in towards the end of the week. If anybody has their boat in the lake, watch out for logs and other floating stuff. There is a lot of vary large trees floating around out there. Also most stuff, like docks and breakwaters are all submerged.
 
Indysailor

Indysailor

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Oct 10, 2009
1,100
Catalina 27 3657 Lake Monroe
Sorry to hear about it.

Our marina is under water, too. Here is a pic of our courtesy dock, boat pens and shelters. About forty boats had to be moved to higher ground and two days ago the water was lapping up to the roofs of those little shelters.
Luckily, the emergency spillway means the water here can't get up much higher than it is now and we're still able to get boats in the water, but this is the highest the reservoir has ever been, just under twenty feet above pool level.
The other pic is my boat in its slip. We have a row boat attached to the dock for ferrying out and back.
 

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higgs

higgs

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Aug 24, 2005
3,736
Nassau 34 Olcott, NY
Call your insurance company and ask them which they prefer. If you can get it in writing you have covered yourself.
 
kenn

kenn

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Apr 18, 2009
1,271
CL Sandpiper 565 Toronto
If you don't have insurance... I don't much expect you'll be able to get it right now ;)

I'd minimize damage to the boat. Plug the thruhulls, minimize windage, strap the boat to the cradle, and as a last resort, try to secure the cradle to something solid.

Best wishes for minimal flood damage, and of course that everyone's safe. L.Champlain is on our todo list with our trailerable boat.
 
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Larry14133

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Jul 17, 2006
75
Oday 302 Port Henry
Plugs in it is.

OK, we are going plugs in and hope for the best. I am concerned that if the water rises and the boat becomes buoyant the waves will beat it up on the cradle. Can't really strap it to the cradle with out swimming in the 40 degree water. Next year it will get strapped in the fall. It is properly insured but i'd rather have the boat undamaged. Figure with any luck i Might get to sail around the fourth of July.
 
kenn

kenn

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Apr 18, 2009
1,271
CL Sandpiper 565 Toronto
Larry14133 said:
Can't really strap it to the cradle with out swimming in the 40 degree water.
Click to expand
What, no wetsuit? ;)

At a minimum, possibly you could get alongside in a rowboat, toss some strong ropes over and tie them to the first solid cradle point you can reach from the boat.
 
BobM

BobM

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Jun 10, 2004
3,269
S2 9.2A Winthrop, MA
Wow...time to ask Maine how much scope to put out when the bottom is asphalt! Joking aside, have you thought about tying her to the cradle using a bungee as a snubber. Might let her float but keep her on at least near her cradle. However, I second the notion of following the instructions of your insurer. Send the photos and see what they say. Is it BoatUS?
 
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Dennis2936

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Feb 25, 2007
8
Oday 302 Milford, Ct
Larry, how much more water are they predicting? From your photo it looks like you have almost 2 feet before she floats.
 
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Sanfelice

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Jan 21, 2009
260
Catalina 30 Lake Perry, KS
Maybe?

Looking at your picture, it looks like the boat is on jackstands which hopefully are chained together. Better yet if it is on a cradlle. Definitly put the transducers back. It looks like you may have 12 to 18 inches before the water reaches the bottom of the hull at the keel junction point. I think the real issue is if the water gets high enough to float the boat it needs to stay as verticle as possible. Perhaps you can manufacture some stilts and strategically fasten them along the sides of the boat much the way is done when drying out a boat in high tidal areas. There should be some authority which can predict how much more the lake will rise. Hopefully, it will not be more than a foot or so which should keep you out of trouble. I just looked at a graph of daily lake levels and it appears to be droping.

http://www.westportmarina.com/lake.html
 
Douglast

Douglast

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Jul 18, 2009
274
marine clipper 21 ft santa ana Southern Lakes,Yukon
Re: Maybe?

load the boat with the animals Noah...and hope you don;t dock in Turkey
 
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Faris

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Apr 20, 2011
232
Catalina 27 San Juan Islands
Mostly good advice so far. I just wanted to add that it looks like the water level needs to come up at least another 2-3 feet before it is an issue (depending on your boat's draft). So, it's probably not an issue at all.
 
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capejt

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May 17, 2004
276
Hunter 33_77-83 New London, CT
Maybe it's just the angle, or it's sort of hiding in a shadow, but is she missing her keel?
 
mcrow33

mcrow33

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Mar 29, 2011
169
Beneteau 361 Charlotte,Vt
The good news is the lake is on it's way back down. As of this morning it's down to 103 feet, from a high of 103.27. There is no rain in the forcast until the weekend, so it will continue to drop all week.
 
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