What a shame and what waste! Colby, thank you for bringing this video to our attention--it fully explains what happened....but not so much why it happened. We used Dangling rope marina at least several times on each trip we made to Powell. It was making money, and it will impact how people are able to boat. The fuel and water were critical. The repair shop was also important.
It seems to be the small recreational boater, like the C Dorys get the short end of the stick. The houseboat concessions, can accomidate if necessary by adding more fuel and water tankage--expensive, but no where near as expensive as the alterneratives. Just raise rates 5% to cover the expense.
To me the government spends outrageous amounts in situations like this--similar to military. I have no idea what the dock speckifications are, but the wind storm, with relatively small seas damaged the fuel and water docks. I suspect the "well" was pulling up lake water, which had been filtered thru layers of sandstone. The "wells" had water on each side, as the lake level fell, then there was no water to filter thru the rocks. Lake water could have been pumped, filtered and treated. Not keeping the floating breakwater in good repair, was a major mistake, and the beginning of the end of Dangling Rope. I think about the floating breakwaters at Auke Bay in Juneau--and they withstand far greater stresses. A re-inforced concrete breakwater would have been a much better choice than old floating tires.
I suspect that anyone who has good working knowledge of dock construction, could put in a fueling and water station for less than 10 million dollars--the solar, and generator, inverter etc are still there, and it sounds as if the buildings are going to detiorrate, but if occuplied again they are plenty for a crew during the high season with a small crew to run a fuel, towing service and water stations., A private contractor could go in there and get a fuel and water dock up and running in a short time. There would be considerable money to be made--and the unit would pay for itself in one season.
