I am not familiar with Campbell River area and seek assistance with choosing a good launch for our upcoming visit. After reading a few threads on CR launch facilities it seems the best choice would be Discovery Marina. Comments appreciated on parking (need 4-5 nights), minimum tide levels for launch & retrieve, plus any other useful pointers. Our boat is a 25 footer on double axle 10,000# Thanks.
Campbell River Boat Area Launch
- Thread starter GGF
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gungadin
Well-Known Member
Discovery Marine: Costs about 15$ to launch, any tide and well protected. Daily charge for parking as well. Fuel dock, fish cleaning stations.
Big Rock Free to launch, can be crowded, don't know about parking
Browns Bay 12$ to launch (i think) Pay to park, Fish cleaning stations, fuel dock
Salmon point resort: 10 to launch, 8$/day parking
Pacific playground: 10$ to launch, don't know about cost of parking but there is quite a lot.
Both Salmon Pt and Pacific could present complications at very low tides.
Big Rock Free to launch, can be crowded, don't know about parking
Browns Bay 12$ to launch (i think) Pay to park, Fish cleaning stations, fuel dock
Salmon point resort: 10 to launch, 8$/day parking
Pacific playground: 10$ to launch, don't know about cost of parking but there is quite a lot.
Both Salmon Pt and Pacific could present complications at very low tides.
N2013
Well-Known Member
Don’t park overnight at Big Rock. Got my gas tank drilled & drained last March.
gungadin
Well-Known Member
if you need to store the truck and trailer, there are a couple of places in CR http://ironwoodstoragecentre.com/ and https://daiglestorage.ca/
ironwood is closest. still need a taxi though.
ironwood is closest. still need a taxi though.
Baxter
Well-Known Member
Salmon Point requires a 2M tide. (I know because I called them on Friday to see if it was possible to launch at the lowest tide of the decade. LOL). Needless to say my boat did not get launched there during the 0.2M tide! (Ended up launching at Comox, and even that was a bit sketchy, but doable)
gungadin
Well-Known Member
2M tide? 2ft maybe?
Baxter
Well-Known Member
The woman at Salmon Point that answered the phone told me you needed a 6' / 2m tide to launch there. I have never been to that launch, so I took her word for it.
gungadin
Well-Known Member
wow, not good at all, they need to do some dregging
Baxter
Well-Known Member
Ya, you would think a proper launch with a dock etc, could get away with lower tides, but I dunno. I know Pacific Playgrounds is pretty sketchy at lower tides also, but not sure what the lowest tide possible would be.
I went to launch at Kitty. (I was having a dumb day). Was about an hour before low tide, somewhere around a 0.4. Figured, "I bet I can still manage to get off the trailer". Well, once I laid eyes on the ramp I quickly realized that launching would have been impossible without a tank or something. At the end of the ramp, there was about 10-15' of seaweed covered rock, followed by around 20' of sand - just to get to the water - and even if you were dumb enough to try, the water was very shallow for a ways out past that.
So I called Salmon Point and Pacific Playgrounds from the Kitty launch. Salmon said no go (as I noted earlier) and Pacific said "maybe, but doubtful". I told her I have a draft of around 20" (I believe it is a little less actually). She said it might be possible, but not with any confidence. So they had water, but extremely shallow in the channel. So I just said F-it and drove back into Comox and launched there.
The Comox Launch was right at low tide (0.2m). The water was a few inches past the end of the ramp. End of the ramp was a big drop, maybe 10", and then the sand/mud sloped down at maybe a 45 degree angle. I figured, lets do it.
Slowly backed the trailer tires over the edge, got the boat in the water with zero problems. When I went to pull the empty trailer over the ledge, truck was in 4x4 and all 4 tires slipped a little, but got it over. Would not recommend retrieving a boat at that tide though!!!
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