Watch Hill a mess

CurrentSea

CurrentSea

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Well as predicted someone made money on fixing watch Jill btr the taxpayers and boaters got screwed.

I am sure some of the issues are things that need to be worked out but after a year and a half closed you would expect more.

Many poles are missing or underwater or crooked or sticking out of air. This was not part of repair but not done prior to start of season.

Electric is a nightmare. Eaton is model. Poles are nice but they have those plastic yellow panels that hold the receptacles and when you wiggle and pull they crack and break. Some receptacles are not sized right and the plugs don't go on. Many power posts are dead. Because the system is digital in order to reset the system they have to shut down the whole dock. Many boats are plugged into posts not behind them. In fact I am now because my post died in rain his morning. Government made them do sensitive gfi which is good but let's face it most Boats in rain get water in their adapters. If it was a direct plug in that works but not when every Boat requires and adapter.

Bathrooms the same.
Buildings the same.
Visitor center and nature center was redone. Yeah we needed that. No one goes.

Tiki bar closed down. Not family friendly.
Restaurant not open yet.
Grass growing up they docks.
Shells covering docks.
Dead animals on bay beach.
No path or sunset patio on bay beach.

I can go on and on.
$7mlilion and a year of lost revenue.

I wish the new concessionaire Doug good luck. Nice guy. Trying hard. He moved his whole family here.
 
SO where is newsday on this .. After they gave a glowing NYPS review...

Where is FOWH ??? oh yea they just got their like everyone else..

TAX DOLLARS pissed away as expected. Dave send me pics of everything . I want to email the newsday reporter who glossed over all of our concerns from 2 years ago.....

Rob
 
I have a reservation for July 4. This is very disappointing.

Unless they confirm me into a corner slip I am cancelling anyway.
 
I lurk here because Watch Hill seems like a unique place that's special to many of you. Our boat isn't big enough for marina type excursions, but we take our RV to many state parks, and I see just what you're talking about. All too often. Inattention, neglect, sloppy work that takes too long, costs too much, and comes up incomplete.

Those White Plastic Eaton "Lighthouse" Pedestals? Awful Choice! I was a campground volunteer, and the nature of campgrounds (and I'm sure transient marinas) is extreme wear and tear on Pedestals. First, simply Mechanical. Things caught on them, things running into them, etc. We found that marine aluminum pedestals were best. Around salt water, plastic gets interesting, but those little doors and stuff on Eaton are fragile. But here's the WORST: In any application like this, essential to be able to repair one Pedestal without taking the Loop down. Most good Pedestals have a Module that comes loose with a screw or two then disconnects like a breaker rolls out of a home panel. The Module can then be replaced in a minute with an undamaged one. OR... Can be repaired on a nearby picnic table. The parts aren't HOT, and the Loop is still ON. Eaton? Nope! Clamping screw terminals onto stripped stranded wire. Serious safety hazard.
 
Been there years ago a great place in a near location for many boaters.
It is so frustrating to see government contracts being poorly done. I just don't understand the lack of professionalism of today's contractors. It usually doesn't take longer to do something well.
 
Where is FOWH ??? oh yea they just got their like everyone else..
.

Rob
[/quote]
What would you like FOWH to do?

(Full disclosure I'm on the board)
 
quote:
Originally posted by mintregila

I have a reservation for July 4. This is very disappointing.

Unless they confirm me into a corner slip I am cancelling anyway.

Click to expand...


Mark,
The new concessiner, Doug, is a really nice guy and very accommodating.Get him on the phone and I am sure he will help you.

On a positive note about watch hill.
The electric needs to be tweaked, the stanchions are nice, but as Daved mentioned the plastic back plates that hold the receptacles is a poor silly design. They built a building that is the hub of all the electric. The electric is all home runs to each stanchion which is a way better design then before. I am a bit scared about the "modern electrical" system being controlled by electronics. But this design and the equipment is conforming with new NEC (national electric code) standards. This design is all about GFI protection.

I think, and hope I am wrong, this new complex electric system is going to be a cost hog to the concessionaire.The concessionaire is responsible for maintaining this stuff and that money to do such comes from his till.

The bulkhead they installed looks solid as a rock, I think all here will be dead before that needs replacement. The decking is perfect, level and installed properly, plus they did us that plastic lumber. The walls they built on the along the decking on the beach side are also perfect and done to perfection.

As far as the weeds growing through the decking, well as explained on the "meet and greet" Saturday, that is happening because we now have sand as opposed to water under the decking. Weeds will be part of the maintenance from the concessionaire to deal with. Shells on the on the dock, well that is just seagulls and I am sure that too will be cleaned up by the concessionaire.

Once the pole situation is fixed, the good news is on D dock they will be re-configuring the slips to better accommodate larger boats.

Also, with that said and mentioning electric, The power available is more than before and the bigger slips even on A dock have choices (50 amp 220) or (50 amp 110v)

In short, just from a quick glance, most will argue "where did this money go ?" Absolutely no "bling" But good foundation to keep this place going, and yes, if it was private,rather than the federal government running this, the money would have stretched further and better.

When the day is done, all will be good at Watch Hill IMHO.

The new, temporary concessionaire only had 3 weeks to get this place ready, he is a great guy and his heart is in this place. He moved his family out there and will be living there this season. I hope he gets a permanent 10 year contract, but I know he will have challenges, as others had with the federal government.
 
FOWH (Friends Of Watch Hill) now has a different board, the others retired from this. Doug (Happy Kamper) is looking for support (donations). We all know the improvements FOWH did before, so please donate. Any questions, ask Doug, (Happy Kamper).
 
I agree with Walter, the issues that we saw over the weekend should all be resolved fairly quickly and things will be fine. I think we all knew nothing was really changing and this was an infrastructure upgrade of docks, electric, etc. From a standpoint of government wasteful spending the numbers don't add up to me for what was done. And there are things that make you scratch your head like after all that time and money they didn't change the bulkheading at the channel entrance and both bay walkways are either gone or unusable... And they couldn't find some money in those millions to upgrade the bathrooms? But like Walter said on the positive side there are additional slips with 220v power, the re-configuring of D dock should help get a few more of us in, and although paying ahead for Memorial Day weekend was kind of a waste given how the weather worked out, I think I'm glad about them using Dockwa now and being able to plan ahead. At the end of the day if you liked Watch Hill before, you'll like it now, nothing changed, and it's still to me the nicest of the local beaches and makes you feel like you're away from everything while only being an hour from home. The beach held up well over the winter and I plan to be back multiple times this summer.

John
 
What I’ve learned is that it’s sometimes hard to compare what a private company or individual will pay for something to what a municipality or government agency pays.
Although the end product (rebuilding a marina) is the same, comparing what has to happen to get the same end result is like comparing apples and oranges.
That’s mostly due to the bureaucracy that a contractor has to deal with every step of the way when doing work on a project for a municipality or government agency. The red tape, stops and restarts, paperwork, billing, etc. all cost the contractor time and money, and that has to be tacked on to the bill.
Very often the people inside the bureaucracy have little or no expertise in the area or specialty they are reviewing or overseeing. That adds time, money, and mistakes to the project too.
The answer is to shrink government and bureaucracy.
 
So the entrance bulk head continues to pour sand tru into the fair way ?? Wasn't replaced with the MILLIONS ?

HELLO NEWSDAY >>>>>

Rob
 
Yep, and the canoe dock is gone, boardwalk over there a mess.
No boardwalk to bay beach.

I think they got shafted at watch hill.

Sure the contractor probably made good money selling the old pedestals and lumber!
 
IT all goes back to that A hole park superintendent. INSANE how this is tolerated.

Rob
 
If what was done cost $7mil then there is easily another $5mil needed to make this place right.
There is alot of footage on the entrance bulkhead.

Plus I want to point out they used treated wood for bulkhead, not Navy bulkhead. If you wanted it to be permanent they should of used Navy BH!
 
Poles don't rot as fast as the thin planks that make up the bulkhead.
Look at any bulkhead that is rotting and the first thing to go is the thin planks that make up the wall, not the supports or cross members. Look at AYC bulkhead and you will see. All wood BH eventually will leak where as Navy is design not to!
 
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