Northport Marina Improvements

[jimh]

The G. Marsten Dame marina at Northport, Michigan, has significant construction work in progress on the boat launching area. The level of the parking lot is being raised about a foot or more, and a new concrete launching ramp is being constructed. The cost of this project is about $1,000,000, with the village contributing about half and federal or state funds providing the rest. I visited the marina on May 10, 2023, and I found there was still a lot of work to be done.

Fig. 1. Construction work on the parking lot at Northport's public marina as seen on May 10, 2023.

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In 2020-2021 the level of Lake Michigan rose to nearly record high-water levels, with the lake rising to about four feet above its long-term average level. The result at the boat launching ramp was the lake was able to spill over the top of the ramp and flood parts of the parking lot. The parking lot flooding was also complicated by the existing drainage system, which instead of draining rain water from the parking lot into the lake, was now permitting lake water to flow into the drain and rise into the parking lot. For several months in the summer of 2020 the parking lot had a few inches of water sitting atop the asphalt in low spots in the lot, and to reach the launching ramp one had to wade through about 30-feet of shallow the water. To prevent this from occurring again, the Village of Northport is raising the parking lot level. The improvements are also supposed to create 34 additional trailer parking spaces. Added trailer parking spaces will be much appreciated, as there has been considerable contention for the limited number of trailer parking spaces at this busy ramp during Summer.

Fig. 2. The new one-piece boat launch ramp has been poured. Parts of the cofferdam remain in place in this view, taken on May 10, 2023.

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As part of the overall project, the existing concrete boat launching ramp is being replaced. The old ramp was formed by several large slabs of concrete, but over the years the gaps between the slabs had widened. While this was not particularly harmful for the tires of boat trailers, it was quite a hazard to your foot if you had to walk down the ramp into the water to attach a towing line to the bow tow eye of your boat. Stepping into the gap between slabs was a hazard and could cause falling or worse outcomes.

In early May the launch ramp and parking lot are were not accessible, and the work looked like there was still a lot to be done. The Village indicated that mid-June was the anticipated date for completion of the improvements. Until then, the boat ramp won't be available, nor will the parking lot adjacent to the ramp be open.

Normally in late April and early May the launch ramp and parking lot are at full capacity every day due to very good perch fishing in Northport Bay. I am sure a lot of anglers were disappointed this Spring to find the ramp closed.

More details about the project can be found at

https://www.leelanauticker.com/news/northport-marina-readies-for-upgrades/

Fig. 3. The flooded parking lot at the marina in an undated photograph during high water on Lake Michigan. The tall orange cones mark a depression with a drain, now hidden to vehicle traffic. This image was probably taken on a day with strong East winds; the parking lot was not always at this state of flooding. This is probably about the worst flooding experienced.

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[jimh]

The Village of Nothport—now my boat’s home port for the Summer—has almost finished its significant project to improve the boat launch ramp, wrapping up the majority of the work and reopening the launch area and trailer parking just as promised for “mid-June.” There are just a few more items to complete, such as new street lighting poles and signage.

The new boat launch ramp looks great. The ramp surface is much better—a one-piece poured concrete structure instead of multiple individual slabs held in place by friction. The parking lot grade level is now about a foot higher, so in 25-years when we get the next occurrence of Lake Michigan at record high water (5-feet over chart datum) the pavement should be dry and not flooded.

Fig. 4. The raised and resurfaced parking lot at the Nothport boat launch. There are now 12 trailer parking spaces.

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Fig. 5. The new boat launch ramp, with a new courtesy dock.

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Fig. 6. The courtesy dock is very strongly built. The underwater pavement of the ramp extends into deep water, all the way to the end of the dock.

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Fig. 7. Electric charger at slip.

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And the marina now has one slip with an electric charging station, for those rare occasions when a battery-powered boat needs to recharge:

[jimh]

A bit of amending is needed in the number of parking spaces available at the boat launch parking lot after the renovation. Previously I cited 34-parking spaces, based on information provided to me about the planned improvements. Indeed, there are 34-parking spaces now available in the boat launch parking area, but 22-spaces are for automobiles without boat trailers, and 12-spaces are marked “trailer parking only.”

Personal observation of the boat trailer parking for the last five years has shown that the availability of boat-trailer parking at the ramp on fair weather Summer days for small craft boating, particularly on Fridays through Mondays, is extremely limited. Often by noon on a nice day the ramp parking is full. Even more frustrating, one often sees boat trailers parked overnight for the entire weekend with their boats still on the boat trailers, sometimes with the boats fully covered with a trailering cover. Although signs used to say “No over night parking” in that parking lot, it was common to see several boats left on their trailers over night.

I was optimistic that the $1,000,000 renovations would add more boat trailer parking. I don’t think there was any significant change in boat trailer parking. An area of the parking lot exit roadway was widened to create a wider tie-down or preparation area for boats hauling out or arriving to launch. To not have added more boat trailer parking makes me, as a transient boater and a tax payer in the village, rather upset with the cost-benefit analysis of this project.

[jimh]

On July 5, 2023 I measured the downslope of the new launching ramp at the G. Marsten Dame Marina at Northport. The ramp slopes down at a rate of 12.94-percent, or at an angle of 7.4-degrees. Those figures are based on reaching 40-inches water depth in 309 inches from the shoreline.

Based on my recollection, I think the previous ramp had a steeper descent, but I never took any measurements of it.

[Phil T]

I think the courtesy dock designs being installed on lakes are quite poor from a boater's perspective.

Using precast concrete sections (narrow and long) are easy to install and repair and are less prone to damage.

Having exposed posts every 8' or whatever makes is hard to land a boat let alone walk a boat forward or backward along the dock. Setting proper fenders is a hassle.

Given the short length of the docks I see on several lakes, and this one (another shortsighted design flaw) why not install a few steel piles centered and use floats instead. Easy to remove and less prone to damaging waves.

Oh well.

[jimh]

Unlike the near-record high water level of Lake MIchigan at 45-inches above chart datum in August 2021 (see above in Figure 3), in 2025 the current water level is now significantly lower at 16-inches above chart datum (as of June 1, 2025, and trending downward). As a result of the missing 29-inches of water, the recently "improved" boat launch ramp at the Northport marina has become, perhaps, a bit too short for some boats to easily launch.

The "curb"(seen in Figure 6 above) created at the end of the concrete ramp and intended to stop the wheels of a trailer from backing too far down the ramp are now often limiting the immersion of larger boats to be able to float off their trailers. As a stop-gap measure, some large rocks and smaller fill have been added beyond the curb to allow for the possibility of a trailer wheel being pushed over the curb without completely falling into an abyss at the end of the ramp.

I have not been to the ramp with my boat this year for a test launch, but I hope to be able to get the boat off the trailer without having to back down the ramp all the way to the curb or past it. I will report the outcome in a update to this thread.

UPDATE: I visited the ramp and measured the water depth at the end of the original ramp surface, that is, at the "curb": 38-inches of water. Based on some markings on my boat trailer, I typically back in the trailer until a mark on a guide post is just at or below the water surface. The mark on the trailer mounted guide is at about 34-inches above the ground. On that basis I should be able to submerge the mark on the trailer at least 4-inches, which will produce enough buoyancy in the boat hull to allow the hull to come off the trailer without much fuss at all. Of course, this theory is to be tested in actual use, perhaps coming in a week or so.

[jimh]

UPDATE: to help reduce the effect of the reduced level of Lake Michigan on the available depth at the end of the boat launch ramp, the Village of Northport, as mentioned above, has added more small rocks to build up and extent the ramp beyond the end of the poured concrete portion and the 5-inch high curb that terminates the ramp. To help trailer wheels to get over the curb, the Village recently added some 2-inch-high rectangular paver blocks with about an 8- to 10-inch width along the concrete ramp side of the curb. In this way the bump of the curb is now in two increments: when backing down the ramp the first change is a 2-inch bump from paved ramp to new paver blocks, then a 3-inch bump from paver block to the ramp-end curb. On the other side of the curb there is a build up of rocks to almost the height of the curb so a trailer wheel will have a better chance to get back over the curb and onto the concrete sloping ramp.

The water level at the end of the ramp varies daily due to the influence of winds. If we have sustained winds from the southeast the lake level will rise in Northport Bay several inches from the steady level. If we have sustantained westerly winds, the water level will drop an inch or two. Recently there was more than 40-inches of water at the end of the paved ramp; that was on a day with sustained easterly winds.