Way back in 2016 our community worked closely with the then Great Lakes Council to install dinghy launching ramps at Casuarina Park and Water Street. The cost of installing the ramps was paid for by government grants, Council and community contributions. These ramps are regularly used by local residents to hand launch small dinghies and kayaks.
MidCoast Council has recently upgraded the ramps, and installed gravel at the bottom of the Casuarina Park ramp to fix the steep drop off hazard there, and steel bollards at the top of them.
Casuarina Park dinghy ramp
The ramps were only intended to be used for hand launching dinghies and kayaks, and were not designed for launching boats off trailers.
To prevent trailers or vehicles from driving onto the ramps, wooden bollards were installed at the top of the ramps.
Unfortunately, a few months ago someone cut off the bollards so they could drive onto the ramps and launch boats directly off them. Since the ramps were not designed to take the weight of trailers or vehicles, this could easily damaged the ramps making them unsafe to use.
So as part of the upgrading of the Casuarina Park ramp, Council has installed yellow painted steel bollards at the top of both of these ramps to prevent trailers or vehicles driving onto them. There is still plenty of room to hand launch dinghies or kayaks, but not enough room to launch trailer boats.
Water St dinghy ramp
Casuarina Park dinghy ramp
