Weirs docks pedal boats
 

The Sun has an article today announcing a new business at the Weirs docks.

Pedal boats will be rented off the interior docks with the inner area inside the footbridge reserved for kids.

Otherwise the inner dock will not be available I assume during the day but maybe the pedal boats will be docked at night. The article states it is too shallow for docking a powerboat there, inside the footbridge true as the water level drops.

Foot traffic will be prevented on the dock except for docked boaters or pedal boat renters.

Pro business, pro fun, pro variety, I get it.

My first thought is whether or not the pedal boats will be restricted to inside the Weirs docks or will adult users go outside the docks towards either the Mount or the channel. This summer the line was as long as 30 powerboats and jetskis to go through the channel.

It's not an idea it's happening.

I think Weirs will be changing dramatically with all the new housing units just above.


Any thoughts?

In addition to renting out two-seat or four-seat pedal boats, that will be an excellent location to rent out stand-up paddle boards and kayaks/canoes as well.

Four different pedal/paddle vessels: pedal boats, sups, kayaks, and canoes seem like a good use for that Lake Winnipesaukee location out front the Weirs Beach sandy beach, 250-yard long swim, rope line, lake location between the Laconia town docks and the busy Weirs channel.

The Town of Waterville Valley Recreation Dept runs a June thru October, paddle/pedal vessel rental business with a total of 24-vessels with four 4-seat pedal boats, sups, kayaks, and canoes for use on 7-acre Corcoran's Pond which is a dammed up, 10' deep, mucky resort pond with a well groomed sandy town beach, that is open to everyone for no charge. It is a very good place to go swimming. It costs about $15-20/hour to rent a vessel and includes a paddle and a pfd. Just like Weirs Beach it always gets posted with those orange cyanobacteria DES warning signs in late July or early August but that doesn't really interfere with small boat users who are on the water, but not in the water. Except for the pedal boats, all their different rental fleet sups, kayaks and canoes look like something purchased at Walmart for $200-450.

Ekal Activity Center in Meredith .... www.facebook.com/EkalActivityCenter/ ..... could be an excellent place to purchase very slightly used sups and kayaks at a low low price.

Looking at a Weirs Beach pedal/paddle rental biz, potential customers will see the boats from either the Weirs Beach sandy beach as a beach goer, or from the Lakeside Ave, Weirs boardwalk area and it would add one heck of an excellent activity, small boats, to the Weirs Beach-Lake Winnipesaukee waters.

Lake Winnipesaukee has a much larger area than 7-acre Corcoran's Pond that gets little to no motorboat use just out beyond the Weirs Beach sandy beach 250-yard rope line so's maybe that could become a happy co-existing pedal/paddle boat area that does not intercept the MS Mount Washington or the motorboat traffic, just outside the large swim area rope line. It seems like a good fit and a good use with people on the sandy beach able to walk the 300-yards down the shoreline to get to the pedal/paddle boat, sup, kayak, canoe rental business and then paddle it back along the outside water area along the beach rope line.
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Correction: The four seat pedal boats have seats for four adults and a small fifth seat for a young child that is between the two rear facing seats, so it is actually a five seat pedal boat.

The Laconia City Council strikes again! Now we are going to have Jetski's competing for boat dock space!

It is also not too shallow for small powerboats!

I have nothing against the business, I have a huge issue with the City Council taking away highly desirable public dock space.

Idiotic!

Woodsy

Do they charge for PWC/Skicraft parking?

Weirs Bay no wake?
 

Same as the Dive, the decisions are not made by people who use the resource. Some of it is false information no one takes the time to substantiate like water depth.

Old photos of the footbridge show long public benches and nonboaters would walk the docks and sit down there. The only benches now are on the top of the footbridge.

I think the change will need accomodations with a full Weirs Bay no wake zone similar to Meredith.

Everyone loves change as progressive. Weirs has had a tremendous resurgence with the music scene and Flightcraft. Imagine the bay as FLL suggests, as a very busy mixed use area of the beach, paddle craft, pedal craft, power boats, tiki boats, tour boats and powerboats. Powerboats will have to slow down or even go no wake to obey the headway speed law.

Interesting.

No, there's no charge to dock a boat or a jetski or any recreational vessel at the Laconia-Weirs Beach town docks. Maybe, there's a 3-hour time limit, or something?

This is the same Laconia-Weirs Beach town docks where The Dive, a 62'x22', 2.5 story tall floating bar & restaurant built on a construction barge was docked, spuds down, in either the summer of 2020 or 2021 thru a lease agreement with the City of Laconia.

restricted area?
 

I agree with Woodsy that the area behind the footbridge is still good docking for small boats and ski craft. Hate to lose that space and subsequently lose space on the outside for other larger boats.
Rental SUP's around the Meredith docks scare me as they conflict with regular dock use and there is a greater likelihood of somebody losing their balance. In fairness, I haven't heard of a problem, but it still scares me when I go to Meredith. Paddle boats are pretty stable and visible, so that should not be a problem.
Will paddle boats head for the Naswa or the Ice cream place at the south end of the channel? That should be interesting entertainment when they try to return against the current or the prevailing NW wind, and navigate around the rental boat traffic in the area.

This what the City Council leased out.... They could have just rented the red circled area....

Woodsy

Those docks are way past their usefulness. They are long overdue for a rebuild/expansion!

100% AGREED! However, the Laconia City Council treats the Weirs like a red headed step kid! The best hope was when they leased to the Dive (Dive was supposed to start/fund the redo process) and we all know how that turned out.

Woodsy

What is missing or just does not show in this aerial photo is the swimmer's rope line that separates the swim area from the boating area. The rope line is estimated by me to be 250-yards long, has many floats attached to it and the water depth under the swim rope line is about six to seven feet deep with a very smooth sandy bottom. Just inside the 250-yard swim line is like an excellent place to practice swimming, alone, what with the floating rope line right there in case you have a problem.

The entry/exit Weirs channel buoy markers for the nearby Weirs channel are located well out beyond the swimmer's rope line so this area just beyond the rope line has always been a relatively safe place for sups and kayaks because the motorboats tend to not go there much, at all. The motorboats travel within the channel markers without circling around and stopping just out beyond the swimmer's rope line does not seem to happen.

It seems that pedal boats, sups, and kayaks canoes in use by paddlers and pedalers, just out beyond the swim rope line is a good welcome use because these small vessels are all human powered, without motors.

And maybe someday, the City of Laconia will once again be able to hire lifeguards to occupy the two vacant, unoccupied lifeguard high look-out seats that still exist on the sandy beach. Just because many of the beach visiters on the Weirs sandy beach ... http://www.laconianh.gov/1034/Weirs-...cott-Rock-Park ..... are Hispanic who come from the Lowell and Lawrence area in Massachusetts was not much of a reason for Laconia to discontinue their lifeguards, there. "Lifeguards ...... what lifeguards ..... we don't need no lifeguards at that Weirs Beach ..... everyone over there comes from Lowell and Lawrence ...... while people from Laconia all go to Bond Beach on Lake Opechee" ...... which has lifeguards and swimming lessons and .... www.laconianh.gov/1035/Bond-Beach ..... amenities.

"Ningun Salvavidas en Servico Nadar a Su" is Spanish for "No Lifeguards - SWIM AT YOUR OWN RISK"

Adding a pedal, paddle, small vessel rental venue to the Weirs town docks will collect customers from both the beach users, and the people walking along the Lakeside Ave boardwalk area who see the small boats out on the water just beyond the swim rope line and think ..... hey, just look at these little pedal/paddle boats ... out there!

Great idea! Lets have a bunch of pedal boats and/or paddle boats drifting out into one of the craziest areas on the lake. Should make for some interesting viewing come next summer!

Weren't those docks supposed to be replaced this coming year before the season to make them wider and longer?

Nothing should be added there until the docks are replaced to actually fit more than one boat. and Personally with the wakes and waves that come into that place, its no place for a pedal boat, but I am all for businesses and ideas.

Weirs docks pedal boats
 

The whole concept of pedal boats and SUPs, mixed ages, and it all being (basically) rental, just seems to me like a recipe for serious problems. I can see it now, SUP jousting matches, pedal boat drag racing, all with no safety in mind. There is a reason I don't go to the Weirs, and this is part of it.

No one thought this thru...
 

They can say they did, but no one really thought this ALL the way through. Aside of running pedal boats in the middle of the busiest place on the lake... And losing good dock space for boats / waverunners... And the city leasing public property to a private entity... :rolleye2: I can't imagine going out in a giant duck, or unicorn, or whatever they are supposed to resemble and enjoying it!? You're going to be out there fighting wind and waves from the boat traffic, pedaling your legs off trying to have a "relaxing" time while bobbing up and down like an empty detergent bottle. Weirs on a weekend is like the scene in Caddyshack at the yacht club anyway, now add in this? Sadly, more than an anchor is going to get scratched, someone is going to get hurt.

I've seen small bowriders get swamped there on busy weekends. These people renting paddle boats don't know what they are in for! :eek:

That would just bring on a call for more Marine Patrol as boats travelled faster than headway speed.

It is one of those things that non-motorized users are a captured market.
It isn't like they are going to pedal to Meredith Bay for lunch/dinner and shopping... and Wolfeboro... those would be some strong legs.

We use to battle over industrial development... but that isn't expanding in NH.

The commercial battle was largely ignored until the Laconia Downtown lost consumers to Gilford and Belmont (then from Belmont to Tilton).

So this tourism battle is heating up. And everyone wants a captured market.

This will be interesting to watch. From a boating POV, it doesn't strike me a as a great location. Paugus Bay or Meredith where there is protection from the prevailing winds would be better, but adding an attraction to the Weirs may be good.
Is there a City Councilor who owns and operates a boat on Winnipesaukee? How often does s/he go to the Weirs by boat?

What this Weirs Beach town docks business location hopefully has are paying tourist customers, who will rent a pedal/paddle boat for maybe one or two hours. Beach-goers on the sandy Weirs public beach, and people walking/driving along the Lakeside Ave boardwalk area will see the small pedal/paddle boats out there, close to the swim rope line, and possibly want to give it a go, themselves.

Most important item for a rental pedal/paddle Lake Winnipesaukee venue is a waterfront situation that is doable in every way: safety, parking, neighbors, money, local acceptance ..... basically, an impossible situation.

Will a rental pedal/paddle boat business work in that location or will it be a one year wonder like The Dive, a bar and restaurant built on a 60' construction barge, which had a lease with the City for the same Weirs public dock spot in corona virus summer-2021 ....... ???

What do you think? Will it survive and be a positive summer tourist oriented rental pedal/paddle boat business in that location?
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The M/S Mount Washington cost $48.50/passenger, year-2022, for a 2.5-hour narrated scenic daytime cruise around the big lake, no food included.

When you are looking for something that will lead to a captured market... it is the right thing to do.

Paugus doesn't really have the commercial potential for a captured market to add to them; and Meredith could see them added to the SUP rentals should they become a hit.

When any municipality joins the tourism/second home competition, it has to be ready for this type of thing to add value.

Powerboats because they can traverse the lake in a reasonable amount of time will never have that captured market impact.

The business owners don't really care the means of access to their establishment, just that the establishment stays full to optimum profitability.

Here's a good photograph ...... http://www.nhstateparks.org/visit/st...-historic-site ..... that shows the Weirs channel on the right, the rock jetty, and the Weirs sandy beach.

As everyone knows, pedal/paddle boats usually stay close to shore while the motorboats usually head out to deeper waters, and all Lake Winnipesaukee boaters are totally copacetic.
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Lake Winnipesaukee factoid: By the year 1695 all the native American indigenous people had been forcibly run out of their Weirs waterfront settlement. They all left the area and moved to what is now Fryeburg, Maine, so the indian portrayed by the statue atop Endicott Rock got forced out about 327 years ago.

no wake
 

Any bets after 1 year of operation, they will petition to expand the no wake zone further past the end of the channel, maybe out to the black spar?????

A bigger NWZ there (not all the way to FL1, but maybe another 800 feet north to extend the NWZ past the public docks) actually makes more sense than the absurdly over-sized NWZ in Meredith, IMO.

Nwz
 

Governor's bridge to Eagle to Marker I to the Pier/Flightcraft.

People will really get steamed if they extend the NWZ... as it is now it can take over 1/2 hour to navigate the 1.5 mile channel on a normal saturday.

Woodsy

Wait until one of the paddle boats goes down the Weirs Channel in the spring and then tries to paddle back against the current.

Even if they are told not to go there, you know they will.

This could get interesting!:)

Excerpt from the Laconia Daily Sun, Dec 6, 2022 ...... 'Pedal boat business will set up ship at the Weirs' ...... by Catherine McLaughlin:

"A small motorized chase vessel will be on the water to ensure all abide by the time limits, stay safely out of the way of incoming dock traffic and able to return to the dock." so's their rental boat safety launch could go tow a rental pedal boat that got in trouble back up the current in the Weirs Channel, or something. After that happens just once, management will probably tell all their renters to stay the heck out of the channel because it has a current and a gazillion angry motor boats in that super crowded parade of NH-boats moving in two directions in the very crowded Weirs channel.

It also says "Weirs Beach Pedal boats will have six five-person pedal boats for adults: two shaped like ducks, two like swans and two like dragons. In the semi-enclosed space inside the footbridge will be an area for kiddie boats."

Renting a pedal boat could maybe be a big popular hit with beach goers there, on the sandy beach, who could pedal their pedal boat just outside the swim rope line. One pedal boat can hold up to five people and I believe it actually has four sets of pedals for four people to pedal it along through the Winnipesaukee-Weirs Beach waters, so it becomes a fun group pedal, water, activity with the fifth seat designed to hold a young child. Beach goers sitting on the nearby sandy beach could be engaged to go rent a pedal boat for one hour after they watch these boats slowly move across the lake, out front of the swim area.

Lots of small boat visibility from the beach and from the Lakeside Ave-boardwalk with the big water view should help this new business find customers and add a welcome new boat experience to the Weirs waterfront as they get pedaled across the beautiful Lake Winnipesaukee waters.

I'm sure. It's a shame they changed the NH headway speed definition from 6 MPH to as slow as you can possibly go. A 5 MPH speed limit would be ideal in there, IMO. Slow enough to keep wakes tiny, but fast enough to maintain decent control and traffic flow. 3MPH (30 minutes for 1.5 miles) is too slow for most boats and it's mentally exhausting to maintain a course at that speed.

We often take a ride on the Annisquam River/Blynman Canal, which is not far (by water, it's a long car ride) from Hampton Beach where we keep our boat. It's a NWZ, for the most part, but people tend to cruise at 6 to 7 MPH so it's easy to maintain control. There are definitely wakes present, but they are not terrible. It's about 4 miles from the start to the end of the NWZ, and there's a drawbridge we typically have to wait for, so it can take an hour to get through, but like the Weirs channel, there's a lot to look at so it's interesting and fun. The NWZ does not seem to extend to the Blynman Bridge (or it's completely ignored). People really rip it up through that bridge opening. There are youtube videos of this that make Weirs channel look like utter tranquility.

Really sucks...
 

That area behind the docks is (now was) perfectly fine for shallow draft boats including my tritoon.

I live behind those docks for a good part of the season as it is near impossible to get a front spot on a busy day, and even if there is a front spot I try to leave those for those who can only park out front.

If they actually did some research PRIOR to making decisions, photos of the docks on weekends would show that there are (now were) always 'toons and jetskis parked back there in the above 'yellow zone".

Prior to adding additional users to the existing docks, make sure you can support the current users... :(

Such a bad idea, if anything why not allow them to rent them off the beach area closest to the docks, but in general what a bad idea to put bodies in the water outside the swim lines (its there for a reason) within the busiest section of the lake, if someone was personally operating these items that's one thing, but for the town to invite it is, its like chuming for sharks

Woodsy, thanks for the detailed picture showing the zone requested to keep the new business's watercraft. It also shows a possible alternative space closer to the arcade and fuel dock.

Is there an exit/entry point out into the lake somewhere in that zone? If so, that might alleviate some of the issues mentioned in this thread.