GCD Yacht Club tears out old docks for new ones

The Grand Coulee Dam Yacht Club has been working on tearing out its aging docks at Eden Harbor over the last three weeks to make way for new ones.

Keith St. Jeor said Friday, while pulling the old docks apart, that the club had determined it made sense to replace them. They were installed in 1981-82.

The club has purchased used docks from a Lake Pend Oreille marina that suffered damage in a wind storm. About 10 members drove up there in pickups and trailers to pick them up last August. Now that the water on Lake Roosevelt has been lowered they're working on tearing them out in preparation to install the new ones, probably in June.

St. Jeor said the used docks would have a value, if new, of about $120,000. They are made of A-frame steel, with redwood decking. The docks will have 14 slips along two main docks to hold 28 boats and will be spaced further apart than the old docks to allow for better navigation between them.

On Friday, club members were unbolting the timbers of the old docks. Their floatation devices, tires stuffed with Styrofoam, were lined up on the lake bed, waiting to be hauled off.

St. Joer said the club would offer the good parts for sale to help raise money to pay off debt on the new docks, purchased with the help of some "very large donations" by club members and financing the rest.

St. Jeor said the club is seeking new members. Annual dues are $350, $100 of which goes to the National Park Service, which authorizes the club's operation of the community facility on the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area.