17. The Lodge of Four Seasons Marina

Dustless Sanding Increases Productivity Environmental change

Environmental change

This Missouri marina converted from conventional sanders to dustless vacuum sanders.

The inland lake resort marina

Lake of the Ozarks, in central Missouri, is an inland private lake owned by the Union Electric Company. More than 70,000 boats are docked around the lake, and there are two state parks.

The Lodge of Four Seasons Marina has 25 full-time and 5 part-time employees during the boating season (March through November) and 10 full-time employees year-round. This private commercial business is a full-service marina/boatyard considered a home port by its customers. The marina has 148 covered and 71 uncovered slips, with an average berth size of 44 feet. Over 90% of the slips were leased for the 1995 season, with boats remaining year-round in water. About 20% of the boats are sailboats and 80% powerboats, and they range in size from 21 feet up to 54 feet, with 146 vessels in the 41- to 50-foot size range. On a busy summer weekend, up to 40% of the boats are in use or occupied, with about 35% occupied overnight.

In addition to slips, the marina offers transient dockage for visitors from around the 95-mile-long lake. The boatyard does haulout and launching; full-service repairs to fiberglass, hulls, and engines; sail rigging; painting; electronics; and welding. Boats are moved with a travel lift, hydraulic trailer, and forklift.

On a no-discharge lake, Four Seasons has a pumpout on the fuel dock that was used about 1,000 times during the 1995 summer. Pumping is done by marina staff. Within a 2-mile radius of Four Seasons, there are four other marinas that also offer fuel and pumpout. There are about 3,000 recreational boats in the area.

On the retail side, the marina's profit centers include boat rental/charters, used boat brokerage, retail store, bait and tackle, fuel, food, drinks, and ice. The marina is part of the Lodge of Four Seasons resort, which also has 4 restaurants, a hotel conference center, a campground, 4 pools, a swimming beach, 3 golf courses, 23 tennis courts, a bass fishing guide, parasailing, a racket club with fitness center, and other amenities common to a major resort.

Management measures

The Lodge of Four Seasons Marina provides for the collection of solid waste, and complies with the marina management measures for shoreline stabilization, fueling station design, sewage facility, maintenance of sewage facilities, liquid materials, petroleum control, boat cleaning, and public education.

Cost/benefits

The marina invested $3,724 to convert from conventional sanding to a dustless vacuum sanding system. The new system captures over 99% of the dust and has increased productivity of bottom work, lowered material cost, and decreased cleanup labor by 30%. The dustless hull maintenance service brings $20,000 of annual gross revenue to the marina, and saves $6,050 annually in materials and labor costs compared to the marina's past sanding practices. Net income from the hull services is estimated at almost $12,000 per year.

Environmental improvements

"Spring bottom painting is an important profit center at Lodge of Four Seasons Marina, responsible for about 6% of its annual boat repair income. No private outside contractors or do-it-yourselfers are allowed to do bottom work here as part of the contract signed by our customers. Because of national concern about clean water," said marina manager Clay Huntress, "I was concerned about the amount of dust getting into the atmosphere, land, and eventually the lake during hull sanding."

"In the spring of 1995, we bought two portable Fein dustless sanders, which allow four sanders to work at the same time," Huntress explained. "The two electric machines cost $3,724 plus filters. I was amazed at how well they worked. Over 99% of all the dust is vacuumed up and never gets into the environment. We can run two sanders at the same time off each vacuum unit."

"In fact, we are doing each boat faster, cutting 30% off the time typically spent doing the bottom in the past," said Clay. When the machines first arrived, Clay and his yard foreman set up a side-by-side comparison bottom sanding test using two identical 52-foot Bluewater cruiser-type houseboats. One hull was sanded the traditional way with rotary sander and dust flying about; the other was done with the dustless sander. "The old style sanding job took 18 hours of labor, while the new sander took 12 hours of labor," said the foreman. The marina has now found that it saves about $205 per average boat bottom painted and fills about one filter bag per boat. Clay did add, "Boats here don't need to repaint their bottoms every year or two, as on saltwater. We only need to haul and paint ours about every 3 or 4 years." (Note: Zebra mussels are not in the Lake of the Ozarks-yet.)

"Without any dust we have a cleaner, safer working environment," Clay added. "Very little paint dust is left in the painting bay when the job is complete. My workers don't have to wear full coverall suits with respirators, and they work quicker with fewer breaks. Lighter clothing can be worn, with just goggles and masks required to do the job. The employees really like this equipment. This way it's easier to keep good health; it could possibly reduce workers' compensation claims."

"Since most sanding and painting is done indoors, we also save labor costs by not having to cover/uncover the boat to keep the topside clean. The average boat takes 2 to 4 hours to cover. The customers like having cleaner boats, too. I estimate 90% labor saving in area (ground) cleanup," said Huntress.

Marina workers sand the bottom of a powerboat with dustless sander. (photo by Lodge of Four Seasons Marina)

"Another cost saving comes from using fewer sanding disk pads. Reviewing other jobs over the past 2 years of sanding and painting reflected an average use of old style disks at 43 per job, while the new style averages 38 disks. Since the vacuum pulls cool outside air into the holes in the center of the random orbital rotating disk, the sandpaper stays cooler, does not melt the paint or gelcoat (common with other spinning sanders), slows pad build-up, and lasts longer. I just couldn't recommend dustless sanding highly enough."

The marina contracts out to a private company, Safety Kleen (a nationwide service), to pick up its used solvents and oil, and maintain the parts washer, for about $135 per month. "With hazardous waste disposal a long-term problem for all of us, I wanted to go with a respectable national company for this service. They keep all our records of disposal at a reasonable fee to the marina."

"Our fuel dock has six pumps, with four for gasoline and two for diesel. We sold 150,000 gallons during the 1995 boating season," said Huntress. "We have a written spill prevention, control and countermeasure (SPCC) plan developed for us by a registered environmental engineer. In addition, we automatically put oil-absorbing pads in any bilge of any boat when we see the need."

Dustless sanding, hazardous waste removal, fuel SPCC, and bilge oil pads help the Lodge of Four Seasons comply with its NPDES permit.

Equipment sources

• Dustless sander: Fein-Vac I, 10-gallon; Fein Power Tools, Inc., 3019 West Carson Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15204.

• Hazardous waste removal: Safety Kleen, Inc., 1000 North Randall Road, Elgin, IL 60123-7857.