Ok. Here is what I know so far About dredging and Crane Day.
The railroad causeway breach looks all but certain. It appears that that Union Pacific will breach the causeway on or near December 1st. As of today there is 3.2 feet of difference between the north half and the south half of the lake with the south half being higher. USGS estimates that we will lose 1 foot to 1.3 feet of water on the south half of the lake. I think it is more likely we could lose 1.3 feet to 1.6 feet. That will put 2 to 4 (max) water in the south basin. We had a boat with a 4.5 foot draft who wanted to drop his mast last Saturday. He was stuck in his slip. It took over 5 minutes with RESCUE ONE to pull him out of his slip. And we pulled him most of the way through mud to the crane out slip.
So what does your boat draw? If you are still in the water I HIGHLY recommend you get your boat out before the breach.
It looks like we will be dredging starting sometime in January. I do not know what method they will use to dredge but I can tell you that the bid came back as coffer dam / dry dredging. This means that they would dam up the mouth of the marina, pump all the water out of the marina leaving the marina dry. They would then let the mud dry out and then begin dry dredging with heavy equipment. This process would take several months but would likely allow us to dredge deeper than wet suction dredging. A coffer dam would require ALL the boats be removed from the marina.
Three bad winters and the breach have had and will have a very serious impact on water levels inside the marina EVEN AFTER dredging. We absolutely need a weather pattern change in order get boats back in the marina next summer.
I am scheduling a crane day on Friday, December 2nd to start pulling boats of people who want out NOW before the breach has its huge impact on lake levels. Please let me know if you want to pull. I need to know if you have a trailer or if you will be getting stands or cradles. And, before I get emails about how much water is at the launch ramp, there is NOT enough water over there. And pray for snow! Lots of it!
Dave
Dave Shearer
Harbor Master
Great Salt Lake State Marina
Antelope Island State Marina
801-209-9142
