Lake Washington - Krikland launch ramp.. low water

[gregtay]

Not sure where to post this but...

If you plan on using the Kirkland launch ramp on Lake Washington (Seattle area) any time soon be careful! The water level is low and there seems to be a pile of rocks that creates a very shallow spot about 15 feet behind where your trailer will be sitting. Thankfully we were pushing our Bu back along the dock when we got hung up on the rocks... it looks like it is about 18" deep in one spot. We were able to push the boat around the shallow spot so all was good... but if you launched and tried to reverse away from your trailer (or drive on to your trailer) you will be buying a new prop. I've never had this problem in the past but hopefully this post will save someone a prop.

BTW... Lake Washington was actually great on Sunday. Air temp was good in the sun, water temp was fine (mid 60's) and we had a great time... didn't even feel like the end of the season. (but with the the weather today i am guessing that might have been our last outing for the year

Cheers.

[liljohn]

Greg, please call Kirkland's parks dept. and let them know you almost had a problem. The Kirkland launch is private and if enough people call they will fix it. The shallow spot you came across is from people power loading there boats. Glad to here you didn`t have an issue. On a side note it would be advised to have some one watch the pole that goes up and down I have 2 friends that have total loss trailers due to the poll coming up before they where all the way out and grabbing cross members or axles. Kirkland is paying but not with out grumbling about it. Glad to hear you had fun. Did you run into the northwest riders (Zach & Greg)? They where tearing up the north end the first half of the day.

[Bill_AirJunky]

That hump can be from people power loading, and one of the reasons it's not legal on many WA lakes to do that.

Edited October 14, 2009 by Bill_AirJunky

[Green_Giant]

Sunday morning Lake Wa 8:00 am, unreal!

This morning was nice before the wind blew in, now..... not so nice....

As for that being your last outing of the year, don't be so sure, plenty of nice stuff left to be had!

I'll let my buddy know about the ramp, thanks!

[Bobby Light]

Also have to be carefull if trying to tie the boat up to that dock, it has some nasty bolts sticking out of it.

[gregtay]

Greg, please call Kirkland's parks dept. and let them know you almost had a problem. The Kirkland launch is private and if enough people call they will fix it. The shallow spot you came across is from people power loading there boats. Glad to here you didn`t have an issue. On a side note it would be advised to have some one watch the pole that goes up and down I have 2 friends that have total loss trailers due to the poll coming up before they where all the way out and grabbing cross members or axles. Kirkland is paying but not with out grumbling about it. Glad to hear you had fun. Did you run into the northwest riders (Zach & Greg)? They where tearing up the north end the first half of the day.

Did these guys have issues with the new "pole" they installed this year? Not sure i trust that thing.. moves too fast to be able to catch it if it does go up. I really don't like the whole set up the cards/pole/etc... but i pay mine fee every year and use the ramp because it's close to the house and I can always find a place to park the truck trailer. Thankfully the pole is down for the winter... so no issues with that this past weekend.

(for those who are curious as to what we are talking about.. the Kirkland ramp is a single ramp... very narrow (dock on one side and rock wall on the other... maybe 11-12' wide where you back down with no room for error. The ramp is owned by the city and every year you need to pay a launch fee and activate a launch card. You can only use the ramp if you have a launch card... 'cause they put a huge hydrolic pole in the middle of the ramp... when the pole is "up" there is no way you are going to launch a boat. You insert your launch card and the pole lowers... just long enough to back your boat in. it has sensors that detect a car/boat and it stays down till you pull your car up the ramp... or at least that's how it was designed... sounds like they have issues.)

[gregtay]

Also have to be carefull if trying to tie the boat up to that dock, it has some nasty bolts sticking out of it.

That's what we get for all the launch fees . I think they spent all our money on a new pole to make sure people pay their launch fees. That ramp and dock are in bad shape... needs a lot of love this winter.

[MalibuTime]

As long as we are talking about launching on Lake Wa...

I was shocked I tell ya, shocked to discover that launching at Gene Coulon is $16 if you are not a resident of the City of Renton. Ouch. Fortunately I checked before we went and launched at MI. $7 instead. Bellevue was $8, and not sure about the Seattle side, don't ever go there with the boat to launch for obvious reasons. I have launched once or twice at Kirkland, but that was maybe 20 years ago when it was free for anyone any time.