How is your boating season starting off?

[statefan]

1 hour ago, bkearney said:

I hope phase 2 makes it easier. 2 hours to put in at bartons creek is not fun.

Wow! Was that the wait time last weekend? That was always our home ramp when we'd go out on Falls before we got a place at Gaston. Had some good times out there for sure though.....

[obski]

Our ramp is not open yet, so haven't been out at all.

Hopefully that will change soon, although it looks like rain all week.

[obski]

On 4/15/2020 at 6:51 AM, kylesullens said:

to answer your question- we live in Sweet Home so we are 5 minute from Foster reservoir, 15 minutes from Green Peter.  if you've never been on GP you should check it out.  best lake in Oregon IMHO.  limited access and no services (no marina or store nearby) but the lake is great. 

I've camped at and boated on Foster before, but just drove up to Green Peter to take a look.  It did look like a better lake for boating than Foster.

[Raleigh]

3 hours ago, bkearney said:

I hope phase 2 makes it easier. 2 hours to put in at bartons creek is not fun.

Ugh tell me about it! Is Barton Creek your home ramp? I’ve never seen it as busy as it was then. Cars backed up both ways on Six Forks and the police were turning people away!

@statefan How do you like Gaston on weekends vs being able to use the boat during the week? Or is that not the case? 

Edited May 19, 2020 by Raleigh

[bkearney]

2 hours ago, statefan said:

Wow! Was that the wait time last weekend? That was always our home ramp when we'd go out on Falls before we got a place at Gaston. Had some good times out there for sure though.....

depends on the time of day that you go. If you are at the ramp before 9:00 am, no issues . All the state parks are closed, so you have 2-3 wildlife ramps on the whole lake.

@Raleigh it is our home ramp. I can go from couch to lake in one hour (normally). But, TBH, I have been thinking more and more about a place on either Gaston or Smith Mountain.

Edited May 19, 2020 by bkearney

[statefan]

1 hour ago, Raleigh said:

Ugh tell me about it! Is Barton Creek your home ramp? I’ve never seen it as busy as it was then. Cars backed up both ways on Six Forks and the police were turning people away!

@statefan How do you like Gaston on weekends vs being able to use the boat during the week? Or is that not the case? 

Changes in our life situation is what caused us to make the switch to going to Gaston for the weekend vs having the boat accessible 24/7 here in Raleigh. That big change was kids and the hassle of loading 2 little kids up, putting the boat in the water, getting everyone situated and hoping to get a few hours out there before someone got too hot or wanted to go home finally became too much. We live pretty close to Falls Lake so before kids were going out most late afternoons/evenings after work during the summer and almost every weekend. With kids we never went out during the week and the weekends were a crap shoot. This alone made us start to consider a lake house. I grew up going to Kerr Lake as a kid but we wanted to give Gaston a try so last summer we lucked up and found long-term rental of a fully furnished 3 BR house with a double boat house on the main lake right by the Eatons Ferry bridge. We signed a 2 year lease on the place and now we have a semi-permanent vacation home to go to whenever we want and my boat lives on a covered lift up there. It's about an hour and 10 min from my house in Raleigh to the front door at the lake and taking the boat in and out for multiple trips throughout the weekend is as simple as lowering the lift. No boat ramps, no trailering, no loading kid crap in and out of the truck every Saturday. We've got the house the rest of this year and we are already looking for permanent places up there or may end up purchasing our current rental home as the owner is interested in selling at some point. Either way, this is a long way of answering your simple question but once you throw little kids in the mix, it almost became a necessity to have a lake house in my opinion. My stress level and the kids overall enjoyment of boating has greatly improved plus having a place to get away is a huge added bonus. 

Edited May 19, 2020 by statefan

[Raleigh]

On 5/19/2020 at 12:01 PM, bkearney said:

depends on the time of day that you go. If you are at the ramp before 9:00 am, no issues . All the state parks are closed, so you have 2-3 wildlife ramps on the whole lake.

@Raleigh it is our home ramp. I can go from couch to lake in one hour (normally). But, TBH, I have been thinking more and more about a place on either Gaston or Smith Mountain.

Gaston is great! Smith Mountain Lake is the best lake in the region I think. Clear cold water, mountain views, decent restaurants. 2.5 hours from my house is a bit far for me though for a weekend retreat. It is 2x better than Gaston but not sure if that's worth the extra 2 hours in the car on the weekends! Have y'all stayed on both before? I prefer the SE quadrant of SML.

[Raleigh]

On 5/19/2020 at 12:28 PM, statefan said:

Changes in our life situation is what caused us to make the switch to going to Gaston for the weekend vs having the boat accessible 24/7 here in Raleigh. That big change was kids and the hassle of loading 2 little kids up, putting the boat in the water, getting everyone situated and hoping to get a few hours out there before someone got too hot or wanted to go home finally became too much. We live pretty close to Falls Lake so before kids were going out most late afternoons/evenings after work during the summer and almost every weekend. With kids we never went out during the week and the weekends were a crap shoot. This alone made us start to consider a lake house. I grew up going to Kerr Lake as a kid but we wanted to give Gaston a try so last summer we lucked up and found long-term rental of a fully furnished 3 BR house with a double boat house on the main lake right by the Eatons Ferry bridge. We signed a 2 year lease on the place and now we have a semi-permanent vacation home to go to whenever we want and my boat lives on a covered lift up there. It's about an hour and 10 min from my house in Raleigh to the front door at the lake and taking the boat in and out for multiple trips throughout the weekend is as simple as lowering the lift. No boat ramps, no trailering, no loading kid crap in and out of the truck every Saturday. We've got the house the rest of this year and we are already looking for permanent places up there or may end up purchasing our current rental home as the owner is interested in selling at some point. Either way, this is a long way of answering your simple question but once you throw little kids in the mix, it almost became a necessity to have a lake house in my opinion. My stress level and the kids overall enjoyment of boating has greatly improved plus having a place to get away is a huge added bonus. 

1h10m is ideal. It's about 1h25m from me to Gaston. Barton Creek is 15 minutes from my house. I go out with friends on weeknights so I'd miss that. Life will change though as the kids get older. 

What part of Gaston are you on? We'll be on the SW quadrant, west of the Eatons Ferry bridge this weekend.

[statefan]

15 minutes ago, Raleigh said:

1h10m is ideal. It's about 1h25m from me to Gaston. Barton Creek is 15 minutes from my house. I go out with friends on weeknights so I'd miss that. Life will change though as the kids get older. 

What part of Gaston are you on? We'll be on the SW quadrant, west of the Eatons Ferry bridge this weekend.

We are dead center of the lake on the north side of the Eatons Ferry bridge. Our dock is the 2nd one from Watersview restaurant on the west side of the bridge and directly across the lake from AF Wake and The Pointe. We are heading back up there tomorrow afternoon and plan to be there until 6/1. Having the house this year in particular has been awesome with all the Coronavirus crap....we went up in late March and stayed for 6 weeks straight and socially distanced ourselves from everyone while being on the water most afternoons and didn't have to worry about closed boat ramps. We have good internet at the house so the wife and I have been able to "work from home" up there during this mess.

[Raleigh]

1 hour ago, statefan said:

We are dead center of the lake on the north side of the Eatons Ferry bridge. Our dock is the 2nd one from Watersview restaurant on the west side of the bridge and directly across the lake from AF Wake and The Pointe. We are heading back up there tomorrow afternoon and plan to be there until 6/1. Having the house this year in particular has been awesome with all the Coronavirus crap....we went up in late March and stayed for 6 weeks straight and socially distanced ourselves from everyone while being on the water most afternoons and didn't have to worry about closed boat ramps. We have good internet at the house so the wife and I have been able to "work from home" up there during this mess.

That's a nice setup! What part of the lake do you surf & ski/board on? Just right out front?

[noeffort]

Already got my boat back in for the 50 hour check, other day asked my son to straighten the tongue so I could back on, he did but left the lock unlocked on the trailer, found that after about a 20 minute ride to the lake.   

[statefan]

4 hours ago, Raleigh said:

That's a nice setup! What part of the lake do you surf & ski/board on? Just right out front?

I mostly surf these days but will mix in a little wakeboarding if I feel like hurting myself. On weekdays or weekend mornings we'll just make runs in front of the house or back and forth along the rip rap on either side of the Eatons Ferry bridge. Other times we will head across to the south side of the lake to the wide, deep cove just to our west. Honestly though, I'm still learning my way around the lake and am eager to find some new spots this summer.

[Quasimoto]

On 4/14/2020 at 8:39 PM, kylesullens said:

I get to the ramp and am waiting in line and the wife calls me: "I am about 2 miles from the ramp.  the swim platform is in the middle of the road".

Thanks for sharing, made me at least feel not alone!  I’ll share my version in the hopes it does the same for you:  We finally got out and  when we were almost to the water, I heard this strange grinding noise.  Turned the stereo down, rolled down the window and....Wife:”what’s that?”  Me:”nothing good”.  Pulled over as soon as I could and started to walk back to the boat.  By the sound, totally expected to find a failed wheel bearing on the trailer. Nope.  Swim platform had popped up (yes, I too forgot the pins), one bracket had become hooked on the wedge and the platform was dragging along the road.  Looked like a ramp up to the back of the boat.  In my head, I pictured someone riding up it into the boat on a skateboard. So...there you have it, you are not the only one my friend.

on the bright side, once on the water had one of the most amazing days of my boating life.  Glass/light texture and nobody around for like 5 hours until some wind picked up. Skied until I could no longer.  Great day other than the shredded platform.

[braindamage]

9 hours ago, Quasimoto said:

on the bright side, once on the water had one of the most amazing days of my boating life.  Glass/light texture and nobody around for like 5 hours until some wind picked up. Skied until I could no longer.  Great day other than the shredded platform.

Now that is the sign of a passionate skier!! 👍👍

Edited May 21, 2020 by braindamage

[Raleigh]

15 minutes from home and a world away 

25 hours so far this season! 

[carguy79ta]

We started last Saturday logged 5hr sat 4hr sun. We usually start earlier but with a cool spring, CV, doing more work at home than at the office, thats the way it goes. Had a great weekend,  13yo gk was able to get up on a surfboard 1st time. Also got two others to get up 1st time and throw the rope to boot. Fun introducing new peeps to surfing. I guarantee after they are done, they are thinking ..how can I adjust finances to be able to get surf boat..🙂