CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Boaters are moving from some areas of the Ala Wai Boat Harbor because metal supports in the concrete docks are unsteady.
Dock rust displaces
Ala Wai boatersUnsafe conditions will leave
104 of 750 slips vacant
at the harbor
Thirty-four boats at the Ala Wai Boat Harbor are being moved from their docks, which have been declared unsafe.
Rusting metal support cables in 17 concrete docks have deteriorated to the point that they could give way under their own weight at any time, said Steve Thompson, Oahu district manager for the state Division of Boating & Ocean Recreation. Each dock is shared by two boats, one on either side.
After the boats are relocated this weekend, 104, or 14 percent, of the 750 slips at the Ala Wai will be vacant because of unsafe docks.
"It's a shame that the docks are falling down," said Reg White, who has lived in a 67-foot sailboat in the harbor for six years.
"It's not the fault of anybody in the present administration," White said. "They inherited a broken system to begin with."
The state does not have an estimate of the cost to replace the most recently condemned docks, which are on the state-run small boat harbor's 700 row, Thompson said. But it expects to spend $750,000 next year to replace the vacant F dock, which has 70 slips.
Replacing F dock already has been funded, Thompson said, but any cost to replace the affected slips in the 700 row would have to be put into the division's capital spending request to the Legislature next year.
Boaters have been gradually moved off the F dock over the past six months, Thompson said, as spaces became available for them elsewhere in the harbor. Boaters using slips 756 to 787 were cautioned in mid-October to limit the number of people on their docks to five at a time.
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
A slab on F dock has started to turn over while signs posted at gates warn people against entering.
A Nov. 4 letter from the state was more blunt, requiring boaters to "immediately relocate your vessel."
The decision to move boaters was made after state engineers reviewed a $25,000 study of the 100 and 700 row docks by structural engineers Nishimura, Katayama and Oki Inc., Thompson said. It was a follow-up to an earlier study that recommended they be checked periodically.
The exact age of the affected docks is uncertain, but they date from the building of the harbor in the 1950s, Thompson said.
Most have been patched numerous times, but now even the patches have failed. "It's like a used car that you've been fixing over the years" -- and it is finally time to get a new one, Thompson said.
Some boat owners have asked the state to consider whether the owners could finance the $14,000 to $18,000 per boat they estimate it would take to fix each two-boat dock, then credit the owners for future slip fees, White said.
On Monday, consulting engineers will meet with state boating officials to discuss whether there might be a safe, cost-effective temporary fix for the 700 row until a permanent replacement can be financed.
Several boaters told the Star-Bulletin they are inconvenienced by the move but not surprised.
"I'm not thrilled about it," said Phil Abbott. "But it isn't safe, and I see why they're doing it."
To make room for all the boaters displaced by the unsafe docks, the harbor has asked 30 boats that were moored in short-term rental slips to find moorings at other harbors. And the 550 boaters on the waiting list for Ala Wai Harbor will have to keep waiting.
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
The state has deemed some docks at Ala Wai Boat Harbor unsafe, and boaters are being told to move. The deteriorating F dock has been cleared of boats and cordoned off.
In October 2002 the state Department of Land & Natural Resources, which oversees the Boating Division, held public hearings on the first proposed slip fee increases for its small boat harbors since 1994.
Boaters loudly protested the state's plan for a 185 percent fee increase at Ala Wai Harbor, a 100 percent increase in Lahaina Harbor, a 35 percent increases at other state harbors and an increase in fees for boat ramp use. The proposed increases, which have not been implemented, were projected to raise money to repair ailing facilities.
In an April 2001 report on state boating facilities, state auditor Marion Higa wrote that "many facilities need major repairs and face permanent closure if not addressed." The criticism repeated those made in 1993 and 1998 audits of state recreational harbors.
The 2001 report noted that portions of the Waianae, Keehi Lagoon and Kailua-Kona harbors also were closed because of safety hazards.
