When I was a kid, the Chappy ferry ramps were made of a dozen thick wooden planks bolted to a couple of cross pieces that formed the shape of a bold letter H. They were suspended between two tall pilings on a piece of wire. They were raised and lowered by a winch with a big brass wheel. The ferry captain was always delighted when we volunteered to spin that wheel for him. At low tide, so that you could see the ramp, you would drive forward onto the ferry and back up to get off of the ferry. At high tide, it was the opposite. You backed up the ramp to board the ferry and then drove forward to get off. The City of Chappaquiddick and the first On Time were single ended motorized barges, so they turned around every trip. They always landed bow into the slip, except in special circumstances, like when a vehicle was towing a trailer and then only with a fair wind and current. There were no handrails on the ramps, no non-skid surfaces, no counter weights and no big trucks. The wooden plank ramps were not hinged to the land. They had to be jostled around so that the high end wouldn’t be sticking up and getting caught on the underside of the vehicles. The open areas in the middle of the H shape allowed your transmission and differential to pass through when the ramp was at a steep angle. They were only about half the length of the current ramps and so it was usually at twice the incline that you drive up or down nowadays.

Gradually over the years, the ramps have gotten stronger, longer, wider and more complicated. Various ramp deck materials have been used to address the many different issues involved in loading the ferry. From withstanding the concentrated weight of a concrete mixer to providing a surface compatible with walking in spiked high heels to keeping ice and snow from accumulating, there is no single perfect surface to accommodate all of these conflicting requirements. After three quarters of a century of experimenting, we have come full circle to the realization that the old wooden plank configuration coupled with a steel girder frame is the best compromise.

The current ramps are now twenty-six years old. They have served their purpose very well. They have undergone many repairs over the years to replace the steel that has rusted away due to exposure to salt water. They have been repainted, reinforced and rewelded in an effort to extend their working life. It is nearly impossible to clean rusty steel sufficiently in such close proximity to the ocean that paint will stick to it. We have found that less rust occurs on bare steel than on steel that has a coat of loosening paint trapping salty moisture against it.

Six years ago, Ralph Packer had the fuel storage tanks in Vineyard Haven professionally sandblasted and epoxy coated. I was very impressed with the work and asked the crew doing that work to give me an estimate on doing the same to the Chappy Ferry ramps and counterweight frames. They said that it would cost $80,000. They would have to abide by EPA regulations that require recapturing blasting sand and paint dust. They would interrupt the flow of traffic on a daily basis for several weeks. They wouldn’t guarantee the new coating on the steel that gets immersed twice a day. They honestly pointed out that we would be spending lots of money on steel that really was no longer worth painting. I agreed with them. Last winter we concluded that it is no longer cost effective to continue to repair the current ramps. Last summer we bought brand new steel to replace all of that rusty steel that you see down at the ferry. It all cost less than $20,000. We have begun fabrication of a new pair of ramps. They will be prepared and coated using state-of-the-art technology for protecting steel. Each will require a portion of a day to install. We will announce those days as soon as we can predict them.