ENFIELD — The public boat launch at Crystal Lake will be closed through the end of May as construction crews work to replace the aging concrete ramp.
The public boat launch, which is located off Algonquin Road, closed April 20 and is expected to reopen by Saturday, May 30, said Garret Graaskamp, who coordinates the statewide public boat access program at the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department.
The ramp — first built in 2000 — needs to be replaced because there is a hole at the end of the ramp in the lakebed that is roughly 8-feet long, 5-feet wide and approximately 1½ feet at its deepest that needs to be filled in and covered, said Graaskamp.
“When people backed their (boat) trailers down, they dropped the tires off the end into the hole, making it difficult to pull back out,” he said.
The work involves creating a temporary dam — known as a cofferdam — to keep the worksite accessible. After filling the hole, crews will put down thick concrete planks “so that the surface is armored,” Graaskamp said.
Residents noticed that the ramp was starting to deteriorate around three or four years ago, Dan Regan, president of the Crystal Lake Improvement Association, said.
“The ramp is important because the lake is not just for people who live around the lake,” Regan said in a Monday morning phone interview.
Hundreds of people use the boat ramp each week during July and August, when the lake is the busiest.
“It’s a public body of water: Having a well functioning ramp is important for people’s access,” Regan said.
People who have motorized boats who live along the lake also rely on the ramp to launch their boats before driving them to their personal docks for the season. Residents had the opportunity to do so before the work on the ramp started and after the state Department of Environmental Services Dam Bureau raised the water in the roughly 2-mile long, 400-acre lake back up 5 to 6 feet after drawing it down last year for the winter.
The state started planning the replacement around a year ago, Graaskamp said. Andrews Construction Co. Inc., a Campton, N.H.-based firm, was awarded the contract through a competitive bidding process, Graaskamp said.
The project costs around $110,000; 75% of the funding comes from the federal Sport Fish Restoration Act and the remaining 25% will be funded by the Statewide Public Boat Access Program, which is paid for by motorized boat registration fees.
It is a popular kayaking and fishing spot, Regan said, adding that state Fish and Game officials regularly stock it with bass. While the closure is “a bit of an inconvenience,” the majority of people Regan has heard from are supportive of the project.
“We’re looking forward to having it fixed,” he said.
The concrete reinforcements will protect the ramp from boaters who “power load” their motorized vessels to get them from the lake onto a trailer on the ramp.
Power loading is what created the hole in the first place, Graaskamp said.
“When they do use their motor to drive their boat onto the trailer, that energy is directed down into the bottom of the lake at the end of the ramp and it’s forceful enough to dislodge the sediment and create a hole,” Graaskamp said.
The dislodged sediment created a berm on the other side of the hole.
Once the work is complete, “even if people still choose to power load, there won’t be damage anymore,” Graaskamp said.
