2023 May June Marina World
The magazine for the marina industry
The magazine for the marina industry
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DRYSTACK STORAGE<br />
First phase drystack<br />
opens in Charleston<br />
Family-owned company Ross Marine has opened a 160-slip drystack at newlybuilt<br />
Clark Island <strong>Marina</strong>. The facility delivers desperately needed boat storage<br />
just a short drive from the vibrant US city of Charleston in South Carolina.<br />
Charlotte Niemiec reports.<br />
Phase one of the project, which<br />
opened in April, aims to provide a<br />
solution to the dearth of storage space<br />
in and around the city. Ross Marine<br />
general manager, Paul Speights<br />
Jr, explains: “There’s a big need for<br />
drystack here,” he says. “If you go to<br />
any public boat ramp in Charleston –<br />
especially the south side on a busy<br />
weekend – you can hardly get into the<br />
boat ramp to launch your boat, it’s a<br />
logjam. So we’ve looked at ways to<br />
provide residents with another option.”<br />
The project is being developed<br />
Left & below left: Boats are transferred to<br />
and from the water by a Marine Travelift<br />
machine. Below right: Plans for the marina<br />
site, which should see double the number of<br />
drystack spaces.<br />
over two phases. The first phase, now<br />
complete, comprises 160 drystack<br />
spaces installed by local company SJ<br />
Hamill. Using a Marine Travelift, the<br />
marina can haul and launch up to 35ft<br />
(11m) outboard boats. Phase two will<br />
seek to double the number of drystack<br />
spaces available, Speights confirms. “If<br />
it fills up like everyone’s telling me it will,<br />
phase two will come quickly!” he adds.<br />
“So far, we’re ahead of expectations<br />
and we’re starting to put boats under<br />
annual contracts for dry storage. We<br />
have about 12 exclusive wet slips<br />
as well, which we’ll also rent under<br />
annual contracts.” Over the next ten<br />
years, Speights envisions a full, 300-<br />
slip bustling marina with a ship store<br />
and amenity centre, hosting plenty of<br />
community events.<br />
40 years of repair experience<br />
Ross Marine is a well-known shipyard<br />
operated by the same family for 65<br />
years. Speights’ grandfather purchased<br />
Clark Island in the late 1960s and ran<br />
a sandblasting contractor business<br />
that eventually became an army/navy<br />
contractor shipyard. “In the 1980s,<br />
after the navy left town, the shipyard<br />
business became less lucrative and the<br />
family started Ross Marine in 1986,”<br />
Speights explains. “This is our core<br />
business, offering private yacht repair,<br />
refits, storage, engine repairs at a full<br />
service boatyard, with a 70-ton Marine<br />
Travelift, where we can haul up to 75ft<br />
(23m) boats.”<br />
The company’s extensive repair<br />
history helps separate it from other<br />
drystacks in the area, Speights says.<br />
“You drystack with us and there’s<br />
34 www.marinaworld.com – <strong>May</strong>/<strong>June</strong> <strong>2023</strong>