Durable marina entrance markers?

[Keith]

Our marina has put up daymarks on telephone poles as entrance markers, but they just keep getting knocked down. They have used single poles and clusters of 3; both get the same results. Any ideas on something a little more resistant to boat hits?

 

[Sailor of Fortune]

How about buoys?

 

[swampu]

Maybe light em' up.

 

[rochepoint]

How about not hitting them with a boat.....

 

[River Cruiser]

How about not hitting them with a boat.....

;-) Even the floating markers have a anchor & chain which can do damage if wrapped in a prop. Leaning to avoid would be the my advise.

 

[Keith]

That's the answer! We'll put up signs that say "do not hit". Or maybe get some old WWII mines and paint them red and green.

Now back to constructive suggestions... Wonder if we could find a couple of old steel buoys surplus and use those?

 

[psneeld]

I know it sounds like a silly question...but who keeps knocking them down?

A rec boat knocking down a 3 telephone pole cluster? I think not unless the pile driver is like some of the "drinkers" I've had to work with...

If it's commercial barge traffic (the usual culprits but easy to understand why sometimes)...then small plastic buoys that can be run over or PVC pipe that's flexible enough to bend seem to survive being run over than pilings.

 

[swampu]

Shrimpers and drunks take care of about 1/3 of our pilings every year. Coast Guard puts em' up and the idiots take em' down

 

[Keith]

No idea. There is hardly ever any commercial traffic up in here unless they are dredging, which is rarely. Almost has to be pleasure boaters. We used to have three pole setups on each side, but hurricane Ike worked them loose, they they were gone. I think they put single poles back up, but they didn't last. I don't know if we are not using long enough poles and driving then deep enough, or what. That's why I'm asking for suggestions. Outta my experience level on this one.

 

[rochepoint]

A marina near us finally put up a rock breakwater 15' above high tide mark and a week later the owners son ran hard a ground it with a customers sailboat.......go figure. The Coast Guard here has been replacing the wooden pile marks with steel columns with concrete footings. I would not want to hit one of these as they don't move.

 

[psneeld]

No idea. There is hardly ever any commercial traffic up in here unless they are dredging, which is rarely. Almost has to be pleasure boaters. We used to have three pole setups on each side, but hurricane Ike worked them loose, they they were gone. I think they put single poles back up, but they didn't last. I don't know if we are not using long enough poles and driving then deep enough, or what. That's why I'm asking for suggestions. Outta my experience level on this one.

Bad storms will do that but at some point a single pile driven correctly should stand all but a direct hit from a pretty good sized vessel.

One problem is the newer poles that are pressure treated versus creosoted tend to be quite brittle and will crack when hit pretty hard. Go to steel ora better quality wood coated with glass, plastic, creosote...or whatever the coating of the day is popular.

If you think it's private boaters...just use small cheap buoys with heavy chain....the local yards will tell you who has been hauled lately....

 

[David O]

Toilet seats maybe? They never seem to get messed with.

 

[JAT]

Boulders, boulders, boulders.....around the marker pole.... Not likely to get hit.

 

[rwidman]

Before you start installing steel beams or boulders, consider the possible liability risk to the marina. If someone is killed or seriously injured from hitting your steel I beam marker pole or the boulders you put saround the marker to protect it, they or their families may sue because you intentionally placed a hazzard in the water.

Now it's true they aren't supposed to hit these things but accidents happen.

When my neighborhood installed stop sign posts, they were required to have a breakaway design to minimize possible injuries in case of an accidental hit.

I would check with the Coast Guard and use what the recommend or what they are using for their markers.

 

[sharppractice]

Leading transit marks ashore lit at night.

 

[JAT]

Before you start installing steel beams or boulders, consider the possible liability risk to the marina.

Down here in FL....the Coast Guard has installed a lot of I-beams for markers.

In as much as the world is over run by lawyers looking to sue someone, I have a feeling that a jury would not be too sympathetic to someone who damaged their boat or got injured slamming into a marker or boulder after running out of the channel......

If you every come down to FL and go to Halifax Harbor Marina's north basin, be sure to look out for the boulders in the water...they've been there for more than 25 years now....

 

[OFB]

I will assume these are friction pilings.

If the pilings are not being broken alone or within the dolphin. They are not being driven in far enough.