You Can’t Get There From Here

That’s a Maine saying, indicating that the road to somewhere is non-existent. And it applies to the offshore lighthouses, too. You’ve bought your lighthouse from the government, the money’s been paid, deeds have been issued, etc. You’re ready to start the restoration and make it into your summer home. Except your lighthouse is five miles offshore. Okay no problem, we’ve got a beautiful boat we can use to transport materials. Or we can hire that offshore construction company and their barge to transport materials. Well, maybe. There are a few more issues to deal with that you haven’t actually foreseen. Not the least of which is The Wait.

Besides the interminable wait (eight to twelve months) for the necessary permits and easements, once you have those in hand you have to face another interminable wait for contractors, and someone to transport the materials. That has been one of the major problems faced by Michael Gabriel, the Nevada attorney who owns several offshore lighthouses.

The biggest cost in restoration of an offshore lighthouse is the problem of getting materials over to the site. Barges are needed and they are not always available for renting when needed and the same can be said about docking facilities. Only a 1 /2 miles from Bloody Point is a commercial dock but when we wanted to use it to put a barge it was peak season and not available requiring parking the barge about 30 miles away on the other side of the island.

No Barge? Buy Your Own

One way to solve the problem of no transportation (although it doesn’t help with the lack of docking facilities) is to buy your own. That’s exactly what Mr. Gabriel ended up doing. Of course, that has just added considerably to the cost of your “cheap” lighthouse.

I have bought a 45 foot, 45000 lb tug boat from the State of Ohio which I am rebuilding as a support boat for the lighthouses so I would not have the transport problem. After probably spending over 100 hours on design for 14 Foot we have the plans and approvals to go forward with its restoration and hoped to start in Sept otherwise the weather may delay us until Spring. The big issue is putting on the elevator lifts for people and boats which require good weather. After that restoration would be fairly quick.

As an aside to this, Mr. Gabriel has stated to Lighthouse News that once he’s got the tug in order and can start moving materials to rebuild his lighthouses, he intends to offer the tug and barge to non-profit lighthouse groups to aid them in their restorations.”The raising of money for nonprofits is difficult which is why many cannot maintain lighthouse. Once I complete my tug boat I will make it available to help the local nonprofit lighthouse associations with their restorations as simply getting materials to offshore lights is among the most important part of a restoration project,” he stated.

The Cost of the Restoration

No discussion of the high, hidden cost of lighthouse restoration would be complete without a mention of the actual costs. Think you can do the work yourself? Possibly, but you still need to follow the guidelines of the historic commissions (federal and state) and exact materials do not come cheap. Several hundred thousands of dollars, in fact, according to Mr. Gabriel and Gary Zaremba, who bought Lubec Channel Lighthouse in Maine last year.

Why so much? Well, you can’t slap vinyl siding on a lighthouse and call it a restoration. The same types of materials must be used, even to the type of mortar that holds the bricks together. If not, you risk having further problems down the line, when incompatible materials may interact with each other and cause further breakdowns.

Mr. Zaremba has also been delayed in getting started, in part because of the weather, and in part because of the studies and estimates needed to start work. “It runs into six figures very, very quickly,” he stated. And the insurance costs, if you can even find insurance, are out of sight. Mr. Zaremba said it hasn’t been easy finding insurance, and in fact is still searching.

As a side note, non-profits have trouble finding insurance also. There are probably only one or two companies willing to insure offshore properties, especially lighthouses. It’s extremely difficult, if not impossible, for island home owners here in Maine to get homeowner’s property insurance, so one can only imagine how much harder it is to find a company willing to insure what surely must be considered an “attractive nuisance.”

Mother Nature

Both Mr. Zaremba and Mr. Gabriel have repeatedly mentioned the weather as playing a part in plans going awry. Lighthouses are built in the worst possible sites, and rehabilitation is completely dependent on the weather. Storms, waves, snow, ice, and more. The ability to transport your materials is severely hampered when waves are 20 feet. And just try getting your contractors to work in that type of situation. A previous article in Lighthouse News talks about the difficulties faced by the owners of Middle Ground Lighthouse in Chesapeake Bay. But nothing says bad weather like this photo below.

Still want to buy a lighthouse? The sales are done for this year, but for sure the lighthouses that were offered this year to non-profits but went begging will be up for sale to the general public next year. Think long and hard before you think you can get a good deal on one of these lighthouses. It will end up costing you several times more in both money and time as the purchase price.

Photo Credits:

• Full Steam Ahead (Tug and Barge) Originally uploaded by SqueakyMarmot. All rights reserved.
• Storm in Petoskey by Odalaigh. Some rights reserved.
• Featured Image: Lighthouse 2 by thanos tsimekas. Some rights reserved

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