2008 Spring Commisioning Reminders April 15, 2008
Dear Captain and First Mate, Spring is here again! And with the arrival of spring, comes all kinds of work on your boat. To ensure the smooth launching of your boat, we would like to bring your attention to the following items: NEW! The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protections has determined that the discharging of propylene glycol, the non-toxic antifreeze (the pink stuff), into the soil is a violation of art. 22a-430 of the Connecticut General Statutes. This violation carries a fine of up to $ 25,000.00 per day/event. When commissioning your vessel, please take the necessary steps to recapture the antifreeze for disposal at your home. Please check with the marina office for details. Reminder! This year we continue our participation in the Clean Marina Program. This means no open air sanding, grinding or bottom washing of any kind (wet sanding, washing with scrub brush, use of personal pressure washer etc.) If you have to grind, scrape, etc., tarps must be employed in order to collect paint chips and dust. Please keep the office informed. Fort Rachel Marine has six (6) Fein "Dustless Sanding" systems available for customer's use. The minimum rental fee for a half-day will be $ 40.00 and additional time $ 10.00 per hour. Sanding discs are available at the following rates: $1.50 for 100 grit and $2.00 for 80 and 60 grit. All items are taxable! Reminder! The Connecticut DEP considers anti-fouling paint, residual paint in cans, brushes, rollers, roller handles and paint trays to be Hazardous Waste. This means these items may NOT be disposed of in the trash containers. Ideally, these items will go home with the captain of the boat to be disposed of as their household waste. Fort Rachel Marine will be providing an assortment of barrels in order to capture those items not taken home. Paint cans must be air-dried prior to being placed in our barrels. Please note, that for the second year Fort Rachel Marine will absorb the cost of the disposal of this hazardous material. Reminder! In order to better monitor the compliance with our sanding & paint disposal policies, Fort Rachel Marine continues to offer the service of sanding and painting boat bottoms. The labor charge for a light sanding and application of one coat of bottom paint is $ 12.00 per foot. This fee includes the use of our dustless sanding system. Materials, such as paint brushes, rollers, trays, tape and the paint of your choice will be an additional charge. Please note that once our launching season starts in mid April, there will be only a limited amount of time we will be able to dedicate to this service. We advise anyone interested in having their boat bottom painted to schedule this early with the Marina Office. This will enable us to start the sanding process as soon as the weather allows. We kindly ask you to take note of the following reminders: 1. All accounts must be paid in full prior to launching. 2. In order to minimize confusion, please schedule your launch date and/or time with Marina office personnel ONLY. 3. Before scheduling a launch, don't forget to either inspect, tighten or repack the stuffing box; ensure that your bilge pump is operational and that your batteries are charged. We kindly ask you to issue the Marina office a key or combination to your boat or to inform us if you leave your companionway open. We check all boats for leaks. In addition, make sure that you leave enough bottom paint to touch-up the bottom of the keel and the spots where the boat sits on boat stands or boat cradle. Please assure that there are sufficient dock lines and fenders to secure boat. Remember, mast wiring on externally wired masts and tuning are the responsibility of the owner. 4. We would also like to bring the following to your attention regarding shrink-wrap disposal: A fee of $ 75.00 is charged to all owners of shrink-wrapped boats for the monitoring & disposal of the shrink-wrap material in an environmentally correct manner. This fee includes up to two bags for the recycling of the plastic. Doors, vents, and strapping must be separated from the shrink-wrap and may be disposed of in the dumpster. Additional bags, if needed, are available at the marina office for a nominal fee of $ 20.00. Please consider taking all other tarps home for proper disposal. 5. All vessels registered in Connecticut are required to have a current "CT" sticker applied to the hull prior to launching. All documented vessels need to have a current documentation certificate. Please note that the Department of Environmental Protection and the Revenue Department are actively checking all vessels in Connecticut waters for proper registration. 6. Please, clean up all debris around your vessel upon the completion of your workday. All cover support materials such as frames (metal, wood or plastic) and boat covers are to be removed from the premises before launching. 7. Two (2) days of dockage will be provided without charge to those boats that do not have a summer slip at Fort Rachel. Additional days of dockage, if available, will be charged @ $ 2.50/ft/day. 8. Again, we kindly ask our summerslip tenants to inform us of their departure and return dates when they leave for an extended cruise, so that we can assure that their slip is available upon their return. We would like to thank you for storing your boat with us this winter and wish you a pleasant summer with good times and fair weather. Have a great boating season! Sincerely, Fort Rachel Marine | 
