Toledo Boat Yard

Toledo Port Manager Bud Shoemake says his boat yard off the west end of town is a lot busier this January than last January. Shoemake says they’re extremely busy on boats showing up for everything from a new paint job to new engines. He says they even had a 32 foot cabin cruiser type boat donated to the port to benefit the port’s youth boating group that meets at the floating club house at the end of main street. The club house is always the center of attention during various special port related events throughout the year.

Shoemake said the increased volume of boats and the work they bring with them has prompted him to make changes in the boat yard management. He said boat yard activity has grown so much that it needs a full time assistant manager to not only run the office but also be involved in actual boat yard activities. So that change has been made, which was appreciated by the new assistant manager and the outgoing part-time manager whose own business has grown considerably over the past two years.

Shoemake says the port continues to move ahead toward purchasing a 300 ton travel lift that will be able to lift out of the water most fishing vessels that ply the Pacific Coast of the U.S. He says the port is acting as if they will soon be in the position to buy the expensive addition and so they are pursing required in-water work permits to install it. Shoemake says there are grants and other funds they’re going after which includes Connect Oregon as well as Oregon Public Ports Association programs that arrange for loans and grants for up-and-coming economic endeavors that show growing promise in their operations, which Shoemake contends is written all over the new Toledo Boat Yard. “We’ve got a great future growing over here in Toledo,” he said.

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Travel lift scenario, top
Sandblasting/Paint Shop, bottom
Click on photos to enlarge

A consultant working on a plan to expand the Port of Toledo’s Sturgeon Bend Boatyard gave port commissioners basically two ways to go this week. Build a rail system to haul out bigger boats than the port’s been able to work on so far, or buy a 300 ton portable lift system which would do the same thing. The consultant said the rail system has large lift capacity, it’s simple and works for many sizes of boats. But he added that the rail lift handles only one boat at a time, mixes small and big boat work areas, and building the thing would require major construction in the slough which will be hard to get permission to do and then be susceptible to an array of environmental protection regulations.

On the other hand, the consultant said, a travel-lift, capable of lifting 300 tons is probably the better choice. It can lift small boats and big boats and move them to appropriate work areas including the nine work zones just north of the proposed sanding and paint shop. The consultant emphasized that the travel-lift would make working in the boatyard’s limited space as efficient as possible, getting the most boats in and out quickly, which means good revenue flow to workers and to the port.

The consultant went over the costs for the travel lift and everything that would go with it. The list includes the lift pier, site electrical, strengthening the work surfaces, site preparation, sewer/utilities, the sand blasting, paint and repair shop, boat yard office, break room and restrooms and the lift itself ($1.5 million) for a grand total of around $7 million.

Comments from a small number of the public included former Toledo City Councilwoman Frankie Trujillo-Dalby and her husband Bill who complained that when they bought their home on the hill above the boat yard, they never dreamed that it would ever be resurrected, complete with a big sanding and paint shop rising up to partially obstruct their view. They said the noise and fumes would lower their property values and would make it impossible to ever sell their home. Port officials replied that the port has always been dedicated to economic development and that the site is designated as a boatyard and that it’s moving forward. As for the complaints about the sanding and paint shops, they said there are strict environmental controls on paint fumes escaping to the outside and that the shop’s location on the plans is just that..on a plan. Plans are flexible. Port Manager Bud Shoemake chimed in saying “All of this is not going to happen overnight. We’re talking three to five years out, based on funding. So we’ve got time to work on details.”

The Port Commissioners were told that the travel lift configuration could easily double the boatyard’s monthly run of boats (currently up to 30 a month) with even higher revenues from the much larger boats that they will be able to handle.

So, the future looks bright for the Port of Toledo as long as they can find funding for the lion’s share of the $7 million price tag. A number of Oregon state funding sources are going to be approached, funds which focus on economic development, port creation and expansion, transportation and family wage jobs. The consultant added, however, that one major issue looming on the horizon is that local schools and colleges must begin gearing up to train tomorrow’s boatwrights, electricians, engineers and painters, because many of today’s workers are nearing retirement.

Toledo Port Commissioners will soon hold another public meeting on the boatyard master plan, after which they’ll vote to move forward and begin tracking down the dollars to make it happen. Again, they’ve given themselves a five year window to get everything in place.

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Sturgeon Bend Boat Yard, Port of Toledo

Port of Toledo Commissioners next week will put out a request for proposals for a consultant to help them guide the way to growing the Sturgeon Bend boat yard so it can offer more boat repair options to local fishermen as well as to other craft that ply the waters of the American west coast.

The successful consultant will take stock of the port’s already existing business plan that has been the basis for the port’s progress to date; the Sturgeon Bend boat yard, the new transient dock project and the upland river park area just west of the railroad museum.

Port Manager Bud Shoemake says they’ll be looking for guidance on the best way to expand their Sturgeon Bend Boatyard operations. Shoemake says they have been very busy working on boats of all varieties for the past year; 140 boats and counting, which Shoemake says is beyond their original forecast. “We’re making money,” he said.

Shoemake says that their current dry dock and lift operations have been working quite well, but that they’re contemplating expanding them to include possibly adding a heavy duty travel lift, something in the 150 to 300 ton category. “That would make Sturgeon Bend able to handle 95% of all west coast vessels along the American west coast.”

Shoemake says once the Sturgeon Bend facilities expansion is approved, business would be expected to begin another rapid curve upward. Shoemake told us that “Business has exceeded out expectations. We feel we’re on a roll.”

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Port of Toledo Commissioners were told this week by Port Manager Bud Shoemake that progress is moving right along in the creation of the new riverfront dock and community event facility near the railroad museum. Shoemake said the new transient boat docks will soon be installed accompanied by the sound of piles being driven into the river bottom. The public restrooms are already in place and the plumbing installed. But they won’t be open to public use until the transit boat docks are finished. Shoemake said the whole project should be finished in late December of early January. After that he said the park pavilion and enclosed storage and kitchen area will be completed in time for a late Spring dedication.

Shoemake also reported that the Toledo Youth Boat Club received a $10,000 grant from the Maybelle Clark Macdonald Fund, based in Bend, OR. The funds will go toward the continued teaching of boat-making techniques to kids to keep the craft alive and well in Toledo. The fund was approached by boat club manager Andrew Linn, to whom the credit should be given for landing the grant!

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