Leader Creek creates new boat storage and repair yard
For Bristol Bay fishing vessels and tenders looking for more space to store or repair boats in, there’s a new spot in Naknek. In fact, it may be the Northern and western most boatyard in Alaska that can deal with vessels 100 feet and larger.
Leader Creek Seafoods is making available boat storage and repair space in the 8 acres from it’s waterfront to its processing plant.
Norm Van Vactor is the manager of Leader Creek Seafoods’s Naknek plant. He said that while the plant owns the space, they expect to source repairmen locally.
The provisional boat yard was Leader Creek founder John Lowrance’s idea and project of many years. It consists of a long concrete boat ramp with an electric winch at the top. The winch can haul out boats up to 150 by 54 feet in length and breadth and 600 tons worth in weight.
Van Vactor explained that “bunks”—which are essentially heavy duty, narrow trailer beds—can be linked up into trains to haul ever-larger boats.
As per the claim to being the Northern and western most large boat boatyard in Alaska, Van Vactor acknowledges that Kodiak does have a large marine lift that can take boats with deeper keels.
Last winter was the first time the yard was used. Van Vactor said to date, the facility’s cornerstone customer is Crowley Maritime barge services.
To sign up to get hauled out for storage or repair, interested fishermen can visit the Leader Creek Fisheries main office, where there is also a list of available local repairmen.
