Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

It may seem obvious but thought I would offer this public service announcement.

If you expect high water, do not raise the lift all the way up as you need to leave enough room to float your boat out in case you experience some 500 year flood event. I have recently experienced the Louisiana flooding first hand. Went to our camp this past Friday morning and put the bimini top in travel position (all the way down) and removed the cover poles then raised the boat up but left about 12 inches from the rafters and the boat. You guessed it, I had to swim the boat out Sunday evening and tie if off between piers. Lots of boats have crushed fences, chairs, consoles, and lift damage.

Going to be a while before I can use the boat again due to the high water but at least she is safe.

Good thing to remember.
I have seen the same thing happen on our lake a couple of times.
I have also seen our lake so low that people can't get their boats out because, either, the cables are too short to reach the water or there is no water under the boat.

BobL, where are you located? It's hard to imagine the magnitude of the La flooding. We lived in BR for for over 20 years and can't believe how bad this flood was. Places you would never ever imagine flooding had major devastation. So many families and friends of ours had no flood insurance and have lost everything.

TDJ2591 wrote:BobL, where are you located?

I live in south Baton Rouge (Highland Road area) but have a camp on False River. East Baton Rouge, Ascension, Livingston parish received the bulk of the flooding due to heavy rains and resulting river rises with Amite and Comite rivers (and streams/bayous/creeks that feed them). New Roads (Pointe Coupee Parish) received 12.5" of rain from Friday morning to Saturday evening so that all dumped into False River. We had close to an 8' plus rise in water over 48-72 hours.

If you go to WBRZ.com, WAFB.com, theadvocate.com, and look at the pictures, you will be amazed. The national news really did not cover it that much.

BobL wrote:It may seem obvious but thought I would offer this public service announcement.

If you expect high water, do not raise the lift all the way up as you need to leave enough room to float your boat out in case you experience some 500 year flood event. I have recently experienced the Louisiana flooding first hand. Went to our camp this past Friday morning and put the bimini top in travel position (all the way down) and removed the cover poles then raised the boat up but left about 12 inches from the rafters and the boat. You guessed it, I had to swim the boat out Sunday evening and tie if off between piers. Lots of boats have crushed fences, chairs, consoles, and lift damage.

Going to be a while before I can use the boat again due to the high water but at least she is safe.

Just a thought, isn't the boat going to rise with the water either way if it is on the boat lift or not? If you have the lift all the way up or if you only put it half way up, the water level is what it is, correct? If you don't put it all the way up and the water rises, won't the boat float from the lift? Maybe I am just not understanding the problem.

Our lake on the Tennessee River cannot rise much over normal pool before water would be running over Wilson Dam's 33 spillways that are 3500' wide side by side.

Our boathouse ceiling's 13' above normal pool, so we're fortunately safe from flooding problems.

Times this Spring, they did have all the spillways wide open--putting out a wall over water 10' high into Pickwick Lake and flooding a city park in water.

When it rains heavily in the Smokies, incredible amounts of water run 650 miles downstream into the Ohio and eventually Mississippi Rivers. By the time the waters get to Memphis, it floods 10 miles of farmland across from downtown.

You can still see Kingfish politics from the 1920's in Louisiana because graft and corruption got levees built on the Louisiana side of the Mississippi River where SW Mississippi has none. They see massive farmland flooding regularly in Mississippi.

Scott1 wrote:Just a thought, isn't the boat going to rise with the water either way if it is on the boat lift or not? If you have the lift all the way up or if you only put it half way up, the water level is what it is, correct? If you don't put it all the way up and the water rises, won't the boat float from the lift? Maybe I am just not understanding the problem.

I did not raise it all the way up at first hoping the water would not rise enough to float the boat. As it kept coming up, I rose it again but gave my self enough room (again, hoping it would never get high enough to float the boat). The rise occurred over 48 hours and no one assumed it would ever get as high as it did so we all kept raising our lifts.

The path of least resistance was to keep it on the lift. If you take it off and tie it off outside the lift (between piers/pilings) then you have to deal with adjusting lines as the water level drops. Since I don't live there full time, it would be a pain in the butt going back and forth to adjust lines.

If you run the boat lift as far up as you can (lets say x" from the rafters) and it takes x" plus 8"-10" to float the back of the boat off the lift you don't have any room left (and you also have to account for your chairs, console, etc.). I assisted a few people with attempts to get their boats out from under their boat house/lift but could not due to not enough room.

BobL wrote:

TDJ2591 wrote:BobL, where are you located?

I live in south Baton Rouge (Highland Road area) but have a camp on False River. East Baton Rouge, Ascension, Livingston parish received the bulk of the flooding due to heavy rains and resulting river rises with Amite and Comite rivers (and streams/bayous/creeks that feed them). New Roads (Pointe Coupee Parish) received 12.5" of rain from Friday morning to Saturday evening so that all dumped into False River. We had close to an 8' plus rise in water over 48-72 hours.

If you go to WBRZ.com, WAFB.com, theadvocate.com, and look at the pictures, you will be amazed. The national news really did not cover it that much.

I downloaded the WAFB app over the weekend, watched every video we could find and viewed tons of on-line photos. We lived in the Woodlawn area during a flood in the late 70s and the '83 flood, but those were nothing compared to the devastation from this monster flood. It's unbelievable. An 8' rise at False River is also unprecedented and hard to imagine.

Wife grew up in Highland Lakes, off Highland Road near the CCL, and we spent many weekends at False River. We sure miss the fresh seafood and Cajun dishes. We're looking forward to taking the family to the LSU/MSU game in about a month. It's hard to get excited about ball game when you think about all that has happened this past week and what families are going thru. My prayers are with the community.

TDJ2591, here are the latest statistics....

40,000 houses damaged

Some 86,000 people have applied for federal disaster aid in the wake of the disaster

The disaster area stretches over 20 parishes

Some 30,000 people were rescued

Source = http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/ ... ing-crisis

TDJ2591 wrote:

BobL wrote:

TDJ2591 wrote:BobL, where are you located?

I live in south Baton Rouge (Highland Road area) but have a camp on False River. East Baton Rouge, Ascension, Livingston parish received the bulk of the flooding due to heavy rains and resulting river rises with Amite and Comite rivers (and streams/bayous/creeks that feed them). New Roads (Pointe Coupee Parish) received 12.5" of rain from Friday morning to Saturday evening so that all dumped into False River. We had close to an 8' plus rise in water over 48-72 hours.

If you go to WBRZ.com, WAFB.com, theadvocate.com, and look at the pictures, you will be amazed. The national news really did not cover it that much.

I downloaded the WAFB app over the weekend, watched every video we could find and viewed tons of on-line photos. We lived in the Woodlawn area during a flood in the late 70s and the '83 flood, but those were nothing compared to the devastation from this monster flood. It's unbelievable. An 8' rise at False River is also unprecedented and hard to imagine.

Wife grew up in Highland Lakes, off Highland Road near the CCL, and we spent many weekends at False River. We sure miss the fresh seafood and Cajun dishes. We're looking forward to taking the family to the LSU/MSU game in about a month. It's hard to get excited about ball game when you think about all that has happened this past week and what families are going thru. My prayers are with the community.

Hi there...I was reading the thread and saw you mention that your wife grew up in Highland Lakes. Small world. My wife and I moved into the neighborhood 4 years ago and love it! We think it's Baton Rouge's best kept secret....

BobL wrote:

TDJ2591 wrote:BobL, where are you located?

I live in south Baton Rouge (Highland Road area) but have a camp on False River. East Baton Rouge, Ascension, Livingston parish received the bulk of the flooding due to heavy rains and resulting river rises with Amite and Comite rivers (and streams/bayous/creeks that feed them). New Roads (Pointe Coupee Parish) received 12.5" of rain from Friday morning to Saturday evening so that all dumped into False River. We had close to an 8' plus rise in water over 48-72 hours.

If you go to WBRZ.com, WAFB.com, theadvocate.com, and look at the pictures, you will be amazed. The national news really did not cover it that much.

Hi BobL.

I see that your toon is on False River. Ours too!. Wife and I also live in Baton Rouge and have camp on False River...very close to Sandbar. Where are you? Unfortunately I was out of town for some National Guard training during the last two weeks but had some friends take care of our pontoon on False River....according to your post. They had to remove it prior to the level rising too much before it became "trapped" underneath the boat lift ceiling.

Cant' wait till river is open again so we can enjoy our toon...until they drain the lake in September...or whenever it goes down...lol

I hope your camp stayed dry.

Mitch

CajunCoach23 wrote:Hi BobL.

I see that your toon is on False River. Ours too!. Wife and I also live in Baton Rouge and have camp on False River...very close to Sandbar. Where are you? Unfortunately I was out of town for some National Guard training during the last two weeks but had some friends take care of our pontoon on False River....according to your post. They had to remove it prior to the level rising too much before it became "trapped" underneath the boat lift ceiling.

Cant' wait till river is open again so we can enjoy our toon...until they drain the lake in September...or whenever it goes down...lol

I hope your camp stayed dry.

Mitch

Hello Mitch...I know the Sandbar all too well. We also frequent Bueche's as well. We are on the island side about 0.8 miles past Bueche's (heading towards New Roads). We bought a camp 10 years ago (the 1950's style box) then tore it down and put a trailer on it for a few years. Just built a permanent camp last year. We are caddy corner from the Light House canal (where everything drains out) and the camp is aqua colored, peach shutters/trim, and silver metal roof.

They are back to getting 3" of water out a day so assuming no hurricanes or bad rain storms, the river should be opened back up in about 15-20 days.

BobL wrote:

CajunCoach23 wrote:Hi BobL.

I see that your toon is on False River. Ours too!. Wife and I also live in Baton Rouge and have camp on False River...very close to Sandbar. Where are you? Unfortunately I was out of town for some National Guard training during the last two weeks but had some friends take care of our pontoon on False River....according to your post. They had to remove it prior to the level rising too much before it became "trapped" underneath the boat lift ceiling.

Cant' wait till river is open again so we can enjoy our toon...until they drain the lake in September...or whenever it goes down...lol

I hope your camp stayed dry.

Mitch

Hello Mitch...I know the Sandbar all too well. We also frequent Bueche's as well. We are on the island side about 0.8 miles past Bueche's (heading towards New Roads). We bought a camp 10 years ago (the 1950's style box) then tore it down and put a trailer on it for a few years. Just built a permanent camp last year. We are caddy corner from the Light House canal (where everything drains out) and the camp is aqua colored, peach shutters/trim, and silver metal roof.

They are back to getting 3" of water out a day so assuming no hurricanes or bad rain storms, the river should be opened back up in about 15-20 days.

Yep, I was figuring about 3.5" a day also. As soon as it gets back to normal, they are gonna start the drawdown...lol.

I think I know your camp. Every time we pass it, my wife comments on how much she loves the color scheme! I am 4 camps down from Sandbar, towards New Roads. Green camp, with large open area underneath. Maybe we'll run into each other one day...figuratively! lol I have a tan/maroon Coach 23C tri-toon with Honda 150.