Low water levels on Vermont’s Lake Champlain have challenged boat dealers and marinas that are trying to pull boats and winterize them and have left some boats stranded as some ramps have dried up.
The lake sits at 94.17 feet, a half-foot below average, and 6 feet lower than it was in April.
At The Moorings, crews planned ahead to avoid trouble now.
“We anticipated low water. You could kind of see it coming in August, so we tried to get the deep-draft boats out while we could. We pull them out earlier,” general manager Sean Gowland told ABC 22 in Vermont. “It was a necessity in trying to get the boats out and ensuring we could, in fact, get them out.”
It’s not just getting out of the water that’s challenging for boaters. There are also new challenges on the water because of the low lake level.
“Any rocks that are hidden in the spring are out, are now either just below the surface or are out of the lake,” so boaters have to pay close attention, Gowland said.
The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum said that when the water gets this low, some old shipwrecks can become visible again.
The lowest level recorded in October was 92.80 feet in 1908.
