Michigan’s Presque Isle Marina Plans New Floating Dock System

Presque Isle Marina, located on Presque Isle Bay in Lake Erie, should be welcoming slipholders to a newly renovated marina by start of the 2020 boating season.

Built in the 1970s, the marina originally had three piers, but one was removed because it had become unusable. The City of Marquette, Michigan, which owns the marina, decided to renovate it and reconfigure it, removing the two remaining docks and replacing them with a single dock.

That won’t decrease the number of slips that much. “The capacity of the marina is currently only about 39 slips, since we’ve had to decommission a number of slips,” said Kevin Dowling, marina manager. Marquette’s Harbor Advisory Committee came up with a plan to maximize the space on a single pier so that it will have 32 slips. The plan also eliminates 24-foot-slips and concentrates on slips for boats from 30 feet to 45 feet.

“Part of the plan is that a second pier will be built if there is a viable demand for more slips,” Dowling added. “The city wants to make sure that they are not building too much capacity that we can’t utilize.” From the demand that he’s seen this summer, Dowling expects the marina to be at capacity or very close to it next year.

The construction of the docks will be different as well. “What we had before was fixed piers with a combination of fixed and floating docks attached to them,” Dowling said. The new dock will be a freeze-in system, which will be detached from shore and anchored in the marina during the winter. “The dock can move with the ice so there is less ice damage. When you fix a dock to shore, the ice usually wins when it starts to move; it snaps wooden piers like toothpicks.”

The ADA-accessible docks will include electricity, water and pumpout services, although the marina will no longer sell fuel. (That will still be available at another city marina just 3.5 miles away.)

Associated Contractors, LLC of Negaunee, Michigan, is the general contractor for the project. Durocher Marine is demoing the existing piers and dredging the area, while Cedarville Flotation Dock System will be installing the new piers and floating docks. Wright Electric will be handling the dock’s utilities.

The project will also include some shore work at the gangway abutment to ensure that the shoreline is structurally sound enough to handle the new project.

Half of the funding for the $1.4 million Presque Isle Marina project will come from a Michigan Waterways grant; the city will pay for the remainder of the work.