By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle
The Town of Osoyoos has announced that the main boat launch ramp at Desert Sunrise Marina has re-opened, just in time for the July 1 long weekend. There is a catch, however.
While a dive team was contracted to survey the underwater portion of the ramp and assess the damage that was likely caused by the semi-truck cab that drove down the ramp and into the water, a plan still needs to be formulated and budget allocated.
Speaking to the Times Chronicle, Rod Risling, Chief Administrative Officer for the town said repair work still needs to be carried out but for now, the end of the ramp that can safely be used is indicated with a sign. That sign unfortunately at this point can only be seen by walking along the dock as it is flush on the walking surface.
Photo shows the end of the useable ramp – the endpoint for trailer wheels. Visible under the water (left corner of photo) is a concrete slab out of position.
Risling said that as long as people use that as the endpoint for the trailer wheels, there will be no problems.
The town is essentially between the proverbial rock and a hard place as it still must devise a plan and repair work would necessitate closing down the ramp for an unknown period of time and in order to facilitate work on the ramp, low water levels are needed.
Currently, Osoyoos Lake is being held at maximum level – 278.13 metres (912.5 feet) – for as long as possible according to a directive by the International Osoyoos Lake Board of Control based on official drought conditions.
Repair work will take place in the off-season either this fall or next spring Risling says.
He notes that the underwater assessment determined that some of the concrete slabs are not in their correct position and a couple of others further down are completely dislodged. But following the underwater survey it was determined that the ramp was still usable.
An additional problem is that despite signage asking boaters not to “power load” their boats onto their trailers – effectively using the engine to power the boat up onto the trailer rather than gliding the boat onto the trailer and using the winch to pull it fully up – many still disregard the request.
This activity “results in a lot of force and a lot of movement and stirs up the soil deeper down and that erodes some of the subsurface foundation,” Risling said.
He added that as long as boaters pay attention to where the end of the usable ramp is (according to signage) and avoid power loading there should be no problem. However he did note that should the ramp deteriorate due to boaters not observing these two points, the town may not have any choice but to close the ramp again.
