Expansion of the Beaufort Downtown Marina’s mooring field will get underway in the new year, harbormaster Rick Griffin said.
Fourteen moorings will be added, which he hopes will occur in January. The plan is to eventually have 41 moorings in the bend of the Beaufort River by the bluff along Bay Street. So far, 16 have been installed for transient boaters.
Those moorings only allow boats up to 36 feet long. The new moorings will have a circumference of 160 feet and accommodate larger boats.
“That should be big enough for pretty much anything,” Griffin said.
The new moorings will also cost more because of brittle shale on the riverbed. Instead of the $1,400 screw anchors used in the initial moorings, bar anchors, which cost $3,000 to $3,500 each, must be used.
The plan is for Steadfast Marine Construction of Ridgeland to install 14 bar anchors at the beginning of the year, and American Underwater Contractors of Tequesta, Fla., will attach the moorings. Griffin said that if he waits until American Underwater Contractors is in the area for other work, the company will waive mobilization fees.
The remaining 11 anchors and moorings — four small and seven large — will be added at a later time.
Griffin said demand exists for the moorings from both local and transient boaters.
“Boaters seem much more at ease to come and stay the night and dine and shop than I’ve ever seen,” he said.
Beaufort used funding from a $100,000 federal Boat Infrastructure Grant, matched it with $31,715 and received $33,408 from Griffin Enterprises for the first 16 moorings.
Griffin’s company is paying an additional $64,534 for the expansion. That amount includes a partial loan from the city.
Courtesy of www.islandpacket.com
