July 2025 - GSL-Marina - mailman.xmission.com

Important Dredging Information
by Dave Shearer 29 Jul '25

29 Jul '25

Dredging is just around the corner. Preliminary work is complete and they start mobilizing to the marina in just barely over two weeks. So here are a couple important details. LAUNCH RAMP. The launch ramp will be closed for the DURATION of dredging. The closure will begin August 12th and is scheduled to be closed until November 30th. Although it is more likely the ramp will open up sometime mid-October. This closure is absolutely necessary for launching their equipment, loading the dump trucks during the project, and then loading their equipment at the end of the project. So if you want to pull your boat out on the trailer, you need to do it BEFORE the 12th. PARKING. Parking is going to be very restricted. You will have access to your boats but half of the parking lot will be closed down for their equipment. ACCESS THROUGH THE MOUTH TO SAIL: There will be some restrictions in accessing the lake to go sailing. But we will not be closing the mouth off. We will work out times that the mouth will be open each day so you can sail. WORK: The project will begin at the launch ramp and go out through the mouth first. Then they will focus on the main fairway from the Rescue dock, ten slips on E dock for rescue boats, then out to the mouth again. The final part of the project will be the channel outside the marina to the elbow buoy (R4). PARKING PASSES: We will be changing out the parking passes to the new ones beginning in a few weeks. The old passes will be good through November and then you will need the new pass to get into the marina for free. Thanks Dave

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WATER TO PARK
by Dave Shearer 29 Jul '25

29 Jul '25

We have finally got all the water drained in the pond and have begun digging in the mud to find the waterline. We are probably going to be without water for another two weeks (could be longer). Once the line is found and repaired, we will need to charge the line and chlorinate it. This part of the process will take a minimum of four days. Then we will need to test the water to make sure it is safe before water is restored to the Park. I will keep you posted. Thanks Dave

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SAD NEWS
by Dave Shearer 24 Jul '25

24 Jul '25

Sad News. We've lost another member of the Great Salt Lake Marina community. Lawrence (Larry) Kelley passed away on July 6th at the age of 90 after an accident in his home. Larry was married to Linda for 30 years. They had a Catalina 30 named Sea Otter that they loved to sail on. They also did a few sailing trips to the British Virgin Islands. Larry was a member of the Utah Coast Guard Auxiliary where he held the honorary rank of Admiral and loved helping other boat owners on Utah's lakes. I believe a Celebration of Life is planned sometime this month. If I hear anything more I will pass it on. The Obituary can be viewed here<https://www.aaronsmortuary.com/obituaries/lawrence-kelley>:

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DREDGING UPDATE / WATERLINE
by Dave Shearer 24 Jul '25

24 Jul '25

First of all, let me apologize for my slow response to your emails. I have had my time consumed by dredging issues (more on that in a second), The massive waterline leak and now broken waterline and other issues. I have hardly been in my office over the last three weeks. I am now spending more time back in the office and am beginning to answer emails. So bear with me. DREDGING: the dredging project has actually begun! They have been working on the retention area where the spoils will be going shoring it up for the trucks and equipment so when dredging starts in earnest they are ready to go. Mobilization for dredging is only about three weeks away with dredging a few days behind that. So dredging should begin in just less than a month. Dredging should only take a few months and is slated to wrap up mid-October. Parking is going to be a BIG issue during dredging (at least until Labor Day when traffic to the marina eases up some). We are going to have to shut a large chunk of the parking lot off for dredging equipment and trucks. As I've stated in earlier emails, we have no plans to shut down the marina mouth during dredging so boats can still access the lake. But there may be restrictions at times. We will keep you posted on the plans for any restrictions. WATERLINE: We have tried so many ideas to keep water flowing to the park including a temporary water tank only to be shot down at every turn by powers that be. We have consulted with some very smart experts but there is no easy solution to fix the waterline. The original leak, which was MASSIVE, is in an area VERY difficult to get to, let alone, work on safely. We were finally left with digging up the line on the opposite side of the railroad track with the intent of cutting in the line and sending a camera up it so we could identify the exact location of the leak and to see what it would take to fix it. Unfortunately, while the crew were digging to uncover the line, a boulder fell down and broke the line causing the water pressure to drop to zero. We were able to cut the line, once it was finally dug up, and send the camera up the line. The leak couldn't have been in much worse of a spot. We are now pumping water out of the pond where the leak is located. It is going to take several days running multiple pumps to dewater the pond so work can begin. In short, I don't know when the line will be fixed and when it will be repaired as we won't know what we are dealing with until the water is out. After repairs are completed it will take about four more days to decontaminate the line before it can be turned back on. I will keep you posted as we know more details. In the meantime, I know that everyone has noticed the water truck and tanks over by the fenced in dinghy storage area. Several have asked if they could use that water. Unfortunately the purpose of all that water is to keep enough water running through the sewer system to keep the system from petrifying and clogging up. If sewage doesn't flow daily through the system it will petrify and create a problem almost as bad as the broken waterline. Also, the lawn is dying because we originally didn't have enough water pressure for the sprinkling system to work properly. Now we have no water. We will just have to deal with the lawn after we get water. On a good note (besides dredging) the phone lines have finally been repaired by CenturyLink. There was a lot of damage to the lines from the two fires near the marina. Dave

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Dredging and Waterline Disaster
by Dave Shearer 11 Jul '25

11 Jul '25

A couple important notes for our marina community. First, dredging. Dredging is on schedule to begin mid-August. They will start over at the launch ramp and dredge from there out through the mouth of the marina. They will then dredge the channel from the rescue dock to the mouth of the marina. Then they will move out into the channel and dredge the whole channel to the elbow buoy. From what I've heard, the plan is to dredge to an elevation of 4185'msl which would make these channels about 7 feet at current lake levels. This will suck up ALL the money we have for dredging. There is no money to dredge the slips which means we might be pulling all the boats next spring while the lake is at its highest point unless we have a great winter this next winter. Pray for an early winter and lots of snow in the mountains. Second, Waterline disaster. We have a MAJOR water line leak on the line that feeds the park with water. And I mean MAJOR. We have done everything we can to try to fix it the simple way. The leak is in a very tricky spot. We are now faced with turning the water off to the park and cutting into the line so we can send a camera up the line to see what we are dealing with. This line is over 14' deep due to the building up of the infrastructure during the floods of the 1980's. It is likely the water will be off to the park for two weeks or more while we investigate exactly where the leak is and how it can be fixed. We will be bringing in nicer end temporary restrooms while this happens. But there will be no water to wash off your boats. I am so sorry for this inconvenience but we really have exhausted all efforts to fix this line with the least amount of inconvenience. The legislature has provided us funds to replace the whole water line. But that will take time to run through the process and build the new waterline. In the meantime we need to fix the existing line. I will keep you posted on both these issues. Right now, dredging looks like it should take about two months and wrap up mid-October. It also sounds like it will have minimal impact on getting out and boating on the lake. Dave

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SAD NEWS
by Dave Shearer 08 Jul '25

08 Jul '25

Sad news. One of our marina community members passed away in May after a brief battle of Lung Cancer. Gary Gordon had a few boats at the marina including a Balboa 27 named Spanky's 8 and a Catalina 30 named Radha of which he lived on both for about 10 years. Gary was a regular at marina events and was always willing to help out with work around the marina. He would help weed in his free time and help cook during the Turkey Fry events. Dave

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