You might want to take a look at http://www.hrwa.org/articles/annsville_creek.html
for some idea of what has been done elsewhere.

That's a pretty neat set up there. There is a local park here with a
launch on the river that consists of a U shaped "harbor" consisting of
steps made from rail road cross ties, the steps are the height of the
X-ties and about twice as deep. The space between the X-tie at the
front of the step and the next step is filled with pea gravel. THe 5
or 6 different steps accomodate different river levels.

You can float your boat parallel to the steps and board or set the
boat on a step and do a sideways seal launch. The X-ties haven't
gotten slippery and are pretty friendly to hulls.

Scott

(Bob May) wrote in message . com...
You might want to take a look at http://www.hrwa.org/articles/annsville_creek.html
for some idea of what has been done elsewhere.

Scott Broam ) writes:

.. The space between the X-tie at the
front of the step and the next step is filled with pea gravel.

the only thing I have against sand is it gets in teh boat - but it is cheap
I've read that crushed lava is nice.

... THe 5
or 6 different steps accomodate different river levels.

like a floating dock always dry, but cheaper and easier to maintain.

there's a local park which has blocks of limestone for a terraced
river bank. its good for launching. no maintenance. there is lots of
limestone in the area and a cheap supply from construction sites.

we also have those wire chain link cages full of broken rock along
riverbanks to stop erosion. they make good launch sites.

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