Boot Key Harbor Expanding Shoreside Facilities By Cliff Stephan Photo by Steve Morrell
M
arathon City Marina, now with the largest mooring field in Florida, is increasing the shoreside services for both visiting cruisers and the harbor denizens, with plans to build a new bath and laundry facility. The bids recently came in for the new 1,846-square-foot project, and the city is expected to award the contract shortly. Earlier this summer, marina staff expected that the first cruisers of the season, who arrive in October, would experience the new bathhouse. Now—with luck—those who leave in March 2008 will have been among the first users of the new facilities. The project will take about 180 days and when completed, boaters will enjoy a new windowless laundry room with more washers and dryers (there never seemed to be enough dryers). There will be 12 individual shower rooms with toilets. Each will have an exterior door opening onto the fourfoot balcony, as will the two community restrooms, one for the men and one for women (four stalls each). The 87-by-20-foot single-story block building will be built to withstand 150 mph winds. It will be built on a platform two feet above the existing grade, have no windows, a four- to five-foot balcony along both sides and will include handicap showers. The structure will have the appearance of a true monument to hurricanes. Located about 100 feet north of the existing building, it will be squeezed between
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September 2007
SOUTHWINDS
The new dinghy dock. Photo by Cliff Stephan.
the existing seawall walkway and the current parking curb stops, meaning no parking spaces will be lost, yet the drive lanes will get squeezed. The new building will allow—in the building currently housing these facilities—the relocation and expansion of the existing TV lounge areas into the old laundry space, creating areas for computer-users, an expanded exchange library and providing more space for community meetings. The marina office will still be located at the far southern end, in the same offices. The marina staff has been busy this summer painting and redecorating public areas of the old structure. Definite improvements of image and morale are occurring. On the waterside of things, the final pile for the canal dinghy docks was placed during the last week of July. Then the marina staff spent part of a day installing 50 feet of new floating dock. Two days later, they went out and changed everything. Instead of short fingers sticking across the canal, one 160-plus-foot-long finger dock splits the canal in two; one side for hard dinghies and the other for soft dinghies, giving soft dinghies double the cleats and dock space. In the process, space for another vessel up to 42 feet long was created. There are also plans for dinghy docks to be built south and west of the canal entrance, but there are rumors about state approvals delaying the process. The mooring rates may be going up soon, but the fee will include the dinghy dock usage and showers. This will be an additional hidden cost of the moorings. For anchored vessels, dinghy dock usage fees may include a weekly pump-out. Some wonder if the changes and improvements will be enough to keep up with the demands of the boating public. www.southwindsmagazine.com