07/21 - 07/25 - 2016 Midwest Trailerable Trawler Gathering

SouthLake · From 21 Jul 2016 to 25 Jul 2016 (included)

Deb and I live on a 13,500 acre lake in West Central Ohio, Grand Lake St Marys. We keep our Ranger Tug R25 here, docked in back of our house when we don't trailer it for a trip.

There is an annual event held here called Lakefest which is quite popular. the 2016 Lakefest event is scheduled for July 22nd through July 24th. Lot's of rides, food, fireworks, etc.

I'm reaching out to both Ranger Tug owners and C-Dory owners (I had a CD25 before the Ranger Tug) to see if there would be interest in having a gathering here for the Lakefest weekend. We'd have some competition for the "cute boat" category as it's the largest annual gathering of Amphicars in the country.

There's a pump out station on the lake and a couple of public dock harbors that we could reserve. The docks don't have shore power at the moment but I've spoken to some community leaders to see if they could make that happen for us if there was enough interest. There are very nice launch ramps and I can look into truck/trailer parking if anyone wanted to have their rigs stored away from the ramp. There are several restaurants around the lake and good hotel accommodations for those who would want them. The state park has an excellent campground and some very nice shelter house facilities that I can reserve for a cookout.

Grand Lake St Marys is an easy drive with Interstate 75 and US 33 intersecting just to the east. Celina, Ohio is on the Northwest corner of the lake and that's where Lakefest is held. St Marys is on the Northeast side. The plan would be to reserve the docks in the Celina Lighthouse harbor but it's all dependent on how many boats we might have and arranging power to the docks.

My first order of business is to gauge the interest and that's why I'm posting this. It's not as big an excursion as the North Channel or the Gulf but it's a nice way to spend a summer weekend in the heartland and show off these great boats.

So, if you have interest in attending, please let me know.

Thanks,

Jeff and Deb Marcum
the Get~Aweigh
2010 Ranger Tug R-25
www.GetAweigh.com
email: TheMarcums@GetAweigh.COM

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-TyBoo

Robert H. Wilkinson

[quote= it's the largest annual gathering of Amphicars in the country. [/quote]

A friend of mine from Cambridge Ontario did a complete restoration on an Amphicar a few years ago. It was featured in the Snap On Tool calendar about 3 or 4 years ago. Interesting contraption! Cool

Regards, Rob

BrentB · Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2016 12:03 pm Post subject:

Nice place.

We had meetings on the eastern side of the Lake by St Marys

Take some and travel to Wapakoneta and visit Neil Armstrong Museum http://www.armstrongmuseum.org

and
National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton

SouthLake · Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 10:33 am Post subject:

I've had a few responses here and on Tugnuts and a couple of contacts through private message. So, although July is still off in the future, planning something that would be fun and a good chance to bring Midwest C-Brats and Tug-nutters together will take a little effort and coordination.

I've set up a website to share information as planning comes along at http://www.MontezumaBay.com. Yes, there is a Montezuma Bay on Grand Lake St Marys. There you'll find an initial agenda, a slide show of the lake and past Lakefests, and links to both the Lakefest site and the Grand Lake area. There's a lot to do and the schedule I've put together so far takes us from Thursday, July 21st through Monday, July 25th, with departure on the 26th.

We'll have assigned dock space in Celina's Lighthouse Harbor which is at the center of all of the Lakefest activities and the docks will be at no charge. I'm working with the State Park and city to have shore power provided but there are no shower facilities there. We're still looking into how we might solve that problem.

We'll have a separate location to store trailers and trucks in and I'll have friends who will pitch in to assist with launching and retrieval of boats.

For those who would like hotel accommodations there are two great choices very close to the venue but this festival draws large crowds from out of the area so the earlier I can get a count on attendees the easier it will be to lock up rooms.

If the attendees include canine family members there's a nice walkway along the west shore of the lake and an off leash dog park nearby.

We're anywhere from 1 to 2 1/2 hours drive from Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Toledo, Sandusky/Port Clinton, Columbus, Dayton, and Cincinnati so it would be easy to leave here and continue on to Lake Erie or the Ohio River if you wanted to build a longer trip around this gathering.

The most important thing for me will be to get a reasonable idea of how many boats and attendees we will have. If you think you might want to attend, visit the site and fill out the response form.

Thanks,

colbysmith · Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 1:07 pm Post subject:

I'd like to see more events like this, but not sure if the dates this year would work out for me, due to previous made plans. None the less, I'll keep this event in the back of my mind, or at least shown on my calendar. Colby

colbysmith · Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 2:15 pm Post subject:

Jeff & Deb, I talked to my wife, and looks like we may try to make it. I did fill out the form at that website you set up. I didn't include it in the remarks, but I would need a place to park my Highlander & Trailer. Are there any fees involved, for launching, docking or parking the rig. Thanks. Colby

SouthLake · Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 4:06 pm Post subject:

Hi Colby,

I got your form and sent you an email earlier today. No charge for launching or retrieval at the state ramp. No docking fee, and we think we'll have no charge for parking the truck and trailer. I'll have that firmed up as we get more people signed up.

colbysmith · Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 6:13 pm Post subject:

Thanks. Also, as of yet, I have not seen the email. Either here on C-brats or at my personal email address. Colby

colbysmith · Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 7:16 pm Post subject:

Disregard my last post. The email was there... I just forgot.... Sad

Colby

SouthLake · Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2016 9:08 am Post subject:

We wanted to post an update on the planning for a Mid-West gathering of Trailerable Trawlers.

We’ve posted notices on 3 sites: The Tugnuts for Ranger Tug and Cutwater Owners; the C-Brats for C-Dory Owners; and the Yahoo Group for Rosborough RF-246 Owners.

So far, we have the Owners of 2 Ranger Tugs, 3 C-Dorys, and 1 Rosborough who have expressed interest and are likely to attend even though the event is still 5 months out. We also have two other boaters (1 sail and one power) who have expressed an interest in joining us.

Since most of these kinds of get-togethers are limited to one brand of boat and are usually on the Great Lakes or some coastal area, we think this would be the first time these boaters would all be together for a common event. And it’s likely this is the first event of its kind on a smaller freshwater lake in a more central part of the country. It will be an opportunity for many people who haven’t seen these kinds of boats to do so and an opportunity to see the different brands and styles in one place.

Planning for this is a bit of an effort and coordination of things like hotels, dockage, meals, and group activities takes some time to put together. If you have an interest, the earlier you can let us know, the better. It’s easy to get considered in the planning and you don’t have to make a firm commitment to attend yet. Just go to www.montezumabay.com and fill out the form and we’ll add you to the notification list so we can keep you up to date.

The Lake Fest Committee in Celina is still planning their 2016 event and as they complete their plans, we’ll update our information.

So, if you’re a Trailerable Trawler owner who’d like to meet other boaters with the same interest and take part in a fun first time event, go to www.montezumabay.com and indicate your interest.

colbysmith · Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2016 1:55 pm Post subject:

To keep this on the C-brat radar, would it be worthwhile to also add it as an event to the C-Brat event signup? Colby

SouthLake · Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2016 2:29 pm Post subject:

I think that's a great idea. I don't know how to set that up.

Bill K · Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2016 5:56 pm Post subject:

Jeff,
FYI I plan on sleeping on my boat.

Bill Kelleher

colbysmith · Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2016 5:58 pm Post subject:

Just send a request to one of the sysops. Tyboo or DaNag. Then folks that are interested in seeing what events are coming up, that may not see this thread, and look at the event signups link, will see it there. From there they can find this thread and see the rest of the info. Smile

Colby

SouthLake · Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2016 8:50 pm Post subject:

Thanks Colby, I'll do that. Bill, I've got you down for staying on your boat.

In case anyone tried to sign up on our website today and didn't get a confirmation message back, give it another try in a day or so. Our hosting service has encountered some issues they're trying to resolve. Hopefully everything will be fixed by the weekend.