Steppin' Up

[Mercrewser]

Steppin' Up is safe and sound, and snug as a bug in a rug.  Made the rounds today (powerboat shopping) and noticed her all bundled up.  I'm assuming it was her, she had a green tarp.  If not, whoever owns a CP16 at the State Marina with a green tarp, your boat is fine.   So, what happened at the marina?  New houses being built there?  Wow, major news to me.  Imagine my astonishment when I went to the State Marina to see if anyone was launching on such a beautiful day, only to find boats stacked EVERYWHERE.  Gil, when did they move everything over?  I grew up boating in that area.  Not much as changed in the past 30ys until this winter.  I had no idea anything was amiss till today.  WOW!  Come on Spring!!

[Gil Weiss]

I am impressed that you saw (found) Steppin' Up in all those boats. How did you recognize her? By the clean bottom? (Not bad after 5 months in the water, a tribute to Aqua Gard bottom paint)

The story surrounding Three Seasons Marina was bazaar. On Friday Oct 28 I came home to  a letter from them saying the property had just been sold and all boats and personal property had to be remeoved by the following Monday  -lots of notice huh! I had used this facility for storage of my boat and trailer the past seven seasons. I used their shop services too. I felt that selling the place t make condos was still uncertain and a few years away. I was WRONG!

Anyway, last spring, the service manager quit to go to work for the new operator of the Neshaminy State Marina. Carl was a knowledgable and really great guy and this seemed an interesting move for him since not much was happening at the state marina at that time.  Looking back, it is evident he knew something  . . . I then read in the paper that the state leased Neshaminy Marina to a new operator on  a 30 yr lease at a low price. Then I heard from the security guy at 3 seasons the new operator was a well to do shipping guy from Philly who ownes Holt Marine - a shipping company. I was further told that future  river boat gambling played into all of this?

Anyway, back to Halloween weekend. When I got the letter I had the trailer home as I was ready to pull Steppin' Up for the season. I was paid in full to store here at 3 Seasons so this was an upsetting turn of events. Meantime I received a letter early in the season from Carl at "All Season's Marina", the new name for Neshaminy, that they were now storing boats. So, I ran over there the next day, got in line, and got my new spot. Later that week 3 season's sent me my money back.

Since all this happened, the new expanded All Season's Marina got most of the boats from 3 Seasons and most of its equipment. They are expanding the entire facilty,  probably adding a shop and putting in new and more docks - did you see them stacked in the parking lot  - same kind we have at Nock! The place should be a goldmine. The old place sits empty (almost) and idol in the meantime.

This is some sort of politically motivated situation that created great inconvenience for many boaters.

That's the LONG and the short of it. I live 12 minutes away in Bensalem and visit often.

PS/ What do you mean when you say you were"power boat" shopping???

[Mercrewser]

Yeah, powerboat shopping.  We will have a powerboat this year, and we will keep the CP16 also.  I got a bad feeling about this whole marina shakeup down there, and its convincing me to take my boating to the shore.  My marina was Snug Harbor, a little ways up the creek, and I might go there again.  Those gus are pretty nice.  I was starting to get a little tired of the river crowd when I sold my last powerboat though, and I'm not sure I want to go back.

[Craig]

Gil,

Is the old marina where you had all that work done to your former sail boat? Will the new marina have a shop? The reason I am asking is my father had extensive work done on his Mercury 15, but the hardware needs to be put back on, and I think the keel (cast iron) needs to be sealed and then the bottom needs to be epoxy coated and bottom panted before he puts it back in the water at Wallenpaupack.

Craig

[Gil Weiss]

Hi Craig,

Yes, the old marina was the place that did a great job taking care of the blisters on the bottom of my GP14. I work with the new GP14 owner and see it every so often and the work has held up fine. It was done six years ago.

The new place is starting to look like the old place. They are expanding their office building for what looks like a shop and it appears they bought most of the boat handling equipment from the old place. Their property is covered in boats including a lot of sail boats. They are going to put in new docks - identical to the new docks at Nock.

I suspect they will be doing work. The manager is the really good guy who is very knowledgeable re boats. He is the guy I dealt with at the old place. His name is Carl Swain. Phone number for the new place, All Seasons Marina - aka Neshaminy State Marina, is 215-826-1662.

That's what I know . . . stay warm . . .