Coast Guard Unveils New Boat House in Eaton's Neck

Maintenance workers kissed wind-whipped faces and numb fingers goodbye with the unveiling of a new state-of-the-art boat maintenance building at the on Wednesday, featuring climate-controlled enclosures and centralized storage for tools and equipment.

"In the winter time or when it was raining if we had to do something on the boats, we couldn't," said Machinery Technician First Class Roberto Bobonis. "Now it'll make it a lot easier for those things to be done. Instead of walking from one building to the next getting tools, everything's going to be in one spot now. Boats will be fixed and ready to be back out on the water faster."

Workers who had to work outside for the past three years under all weather conditions are happy to escape the tough winter ahead now that the 10,900 square foot boat house has replaced the old one, which burned down on Christmas Day in 2008 after a fire spread from an oil-burning furnace.

Construction was finished exactly one year to the day of breaking ground and came in at a cost of $7.8 million, paid for by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The building features CMU block, metal roofing, flame resistant siding and room barriers, drought-tolerant landscaping which eliminates the need for a permanent irrigation system, and a high-efficiency HVAC system. Design-Build Company Haskell Corporation worked closely with the New York Department of Environmental Conservation to mind fish and breeding areas during construction and incorporated recycled and recyclable, local-sourced, materials to satisfy green building requirements for a LEED Silver certification.  

The new boat house was occupied by one 25-foot response boat on Wednesday, but can fit two, and will be able to accommodate other, bigger boats, as needed. "Anything that can fit on the highway can fit in here," said Commanding Officer Stephen Pollock.

When Eaton's Neck and Asharoken were cut off , the Coast Guard worked with police and fire rescue to coordinate a medical ferry service to local hospitals and patrol the waters for boats or people in distress. The Eaton's Neck Coast Guard station will be getting two more boats within the year at $2.2 million dollars each, said Pollock.

All these investments in the community a sign that the Eaton's Neck Coast Guard is here to stay.

"When you give the coast guard money for something, you'll know that we're going to build it wisely and get a lot of life out of it," said Pollock. "This building, I promise you will be here and in use in a hundred years."