Watch Hill

mintregila

mintregila

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Mar 23, 2004
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13060
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2,554
Going for July 4.

Is restaurant open for business?

Anyone else going?
 
Had a great July 4 at WH visiting with Walter and Dave and families.

As far as WH is concerned, we had a power issue on day 1 which they resolved after a fashion but I didn't have the HWH on with the AC after that.

The new bulkheading and decks are nice but they could have put a few bucks more up to update the bathrooms. To have a facility like that with crummy bathrooms and showers is disappointing. The restaurant was open July 4 and the food for dinner was good as was the service.
 
Good seeing you Mark. It’s getting there.
The dj on Wednesday was a nice touch.
I think it will come back to what it was.
Most of the regulars still show up.
 
With the new dockwa reservation system are they still limited to a small % of reservations vs. 1st come as in the past?
 
Just found the rates online. Then looked at a receipt from last year with the rates on it.
Looks like a high percentage increase in price this season.
 
Went up a dollar a foot to 3 bucks. Hopefully it’s enough to keep people from leaving boats unattended before holidays.
 
Great seeing Mark and Pat

As mentioned in previous posts, the money allocated was strictly tagged (by the state) for the infrastructure Seawall, decking, electric etc. Bathrooms are gross, shame there was no update there. The new electric system is state of the art and meets all those new crazy NEC (National Electric Code) requirements. IMHO, "state of the art" is a problem waiting to happen. Very complicated system with a ton of electronics. Electronics in a salt water environment seems like a costly maintenance item going forward. I hope the new concessionaire, factors this in his bid. The restaurant was great, food was awesome, service was good and the pricing for what you got was fair. Doug, the new temporary concessionaire is working his tail off.
 
Out of curiosity, how often are there actually open slips at WH? I haven't frequented too much but would like to shoot over in August sometime. Can I reserve a slip up front? Sorry for newbie questions.
 
Planning trip to Watch Hill, heard that there are significant power issues. Grounding issues with older boats popping breakers across several stanchions. Dock Master said they've experienced a few power issues but nothing to be concerned with.
Anyone have first hand experience at Watch Hill this season?
 
I was at WH for 3 days with no problem or heard any complaints.
 
Yes older boats which aren’t grounded properly will trip the breaker on the stantion. We were there over July 4th and this repeatedly happened. Not a fault of the marina or electric system at all. It’s the boats themselves that are the issue.
 
I spent the week. They are definitely having power issues, or at least boats are having power issues. I was there with 5 boats. 2 had their watch hill adapter burn up. 1 had their hookup on their boat fry. All 3 were 2000+ sea rays. 2 of the boats were on B land, 1 was on C land.

The other boat had issues with their hot water heater tripping the main electrical panel, not the breaker at the dock but in the main system. Random boaters had access to the main panel throughout the week to reset the poles.

If you were on C Land or B land your would have heard of the power issues.
 
I can deal with resetting breakers on the main panel, but concerned about frying adapters. Generally, I don't have power issues. However, plan to check and clean AC adapters and AC connections removing
any corrosion.
 
I've spent 11 nights at Watch Hill, all in D5, since Memorial Day weekend. I have experienced two electrical issues in that time. My first visit I plugged in to the receptacle and heard an arc. My boat was still on generator power so no current flow should occur. When I pulled the plug out there was a very small burn mark on one of the stabs. I looked and the stanchion breaker was on so I turned it off, cleaned the tip and plugged back in. No further problem, though the park service says not to turn the stanchion breakers on and off as they are not deigned for high cycle usage. My next visit, the stanchion was dead and the boat next to me in D6 was running its generator. Apparently he had a 1.5 Amp ground fault, which was resolved a few days later. I think the new breakers trip at 30 MILLI-Amps!!! The dock master reset the breaker in the main panel and all was well for the next 8 days. One improvement of the new system is that each stanchion has its own breaker in the main panel, so multiple stanchions don't go down on a single trip. I think most, if not all of the recurring electrical issues are related to individual boat electrical systems not the new system. I agree with Walter, Doug the new concessionaire is working his ass off. I'm curious where all the picnic benches disappeared to. At $3/ft ($192/night for me) I expect SOME amenities. Picnic tables behind each boat on D dock would be a start. The park service should be embarrassed by the bathrooms at Watch Hill.
 
How long before the shoaling from the bulk head entrance is an issue ??

Was the park rangers station RENOVATED ?

Rob
 
I was in C13. No problem when I was just running my AC and the coffee pot. I put on the Hot Water heater and was not drawing more than 15 mps on my panel. Went to visit Walter and it was tripped when I returned. The manager was insisting there was power at the pole and the problem was on my boat until Dave brought over an LED to prove it was dead. The concessionaire came by and showed him it is on a spare, not where it should be in the panel. I left the HWH off and did not have any more issues.

I see the guy is working hard but I think the deck is stacked against him. Since he has a short term contract, no improvements will be made and he is still in a learning curve.
 
Sounds like it may be more trouble than it’s worth........
 
We were docked in C-31 -- Three days with no electrical faults -- Numerous boats on C/D Pier DID have many electrical issues --
 
How have the mosquitoes been at Watch Hill? We used to go all the time but they had gotten so bad we gave up.
 
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