From wood to PVC – navigational buoys spend winter in the ice

Marine Patrol phased out the use of wooden navigational buoys in the early 2000s, and now uses markers they make out of PVC pipe. (Adam Drapcho/The Laconia Daily Sun)

By ADAM DRAPCHO, LACONIA DAILY SUN

GILFORD — When boaters first launch their vessels each summer, they can count on marked buoys to help them safely navigate Lake Winnipesaukee. There are just under 1,000 of the navigational markers on the big lake – and 2,100 across the state. Now that the boating season is slowing down, and people are thinking about pulling out their boats and docks, what about all of those markers? Do they just stay out in the lake, with all of the ice and snow?

Yes, it turns out. Though that wasn't always the case.

"For a number of years, we were using wooden buoys. We would install them in the spring time, and remove them in the fall," said Lt. Crystal McLain of Marine Patrol. It took Marine Patrol officers weeks each fall to haul in each marker, including its chain and concrete anchor, and then a few weeks each spring to put them back in place.

In the early 2000s, though, Marine Patrol began switching to buoys that could stay out year-round.

"It's really cut down on the man-hours for dedicated buoy time," McLain said.

The buoys in use today are made from lengths of PVC pipe, about seven feet long, with a weight at one end to keep the signal end, with its reflective markers, sticking vertically out of the water. They are tethered to an anchor with a stainless steel cable.

The only thing that Marine Patrol will take in this fall is the top of the lighted, numbered buoys. They can simply detach the electronic component and leave the rest of the buoy in the lake.

Each year, about 100 of the markers will sustain damage, either from being struck by a boat or snowmobile, or by drifting ice. But, that work is a fraction of the task of pulling in each buoy before winter. Marine Patrol constructs the buoys in-house, using readily available materials.

"We've adapted over time as technology has advanced," said McLain.