Trellis Bay Market and Grill goes modern; explores floating dock

Three months after Hurricane Irma destroyed a wooden dock belonging to Trellis Bay Market and Grill, the culinary establishment has kicked tradition to the curb and gone modern with a brand new 80-foot versadock.

The dock which took a “few hours” to install, is made of plastic and has the ability to take on any shape, width or length.

Each one of the 148 floating units used to create the dock, measures one-meter-by-four-feet and is held in place by pins and knots and supported by small poles drilled into the seabed, Jamie Hooper, a representative of Marine IPL Ltd, a United Kingdom company who specializes in the product explained.

“It doesn’t need any machinery to put it in, it is delivered in a few pallets basically and it’s done in a few hours,” he said.

Efficient and effective

In the meantime, owner of Trellis Bay Market and Grill, Ephraim Penn stated their reason for going down the modern route.

“Basically the reason was the effect of Irma after the total destruction of the wooden dock and we wanted to get up and running quickly. We were trying to see what was the most effective and efficient way to get going again.”

Penn admitted that when a friend gave him the information and he conducted his research, he was “a bit nervous.”

“But I felt that it was something that could work here. So I contacted them and one thing led to the other,” he said.

“So it’s basically getting over the impact of the hurricane and how going forward, if something like that happens again you can take this dock up, secure it somewhere and after the storm replace it.”

He also noted that unlike the traditional method of wood, steel, and cement, “It’s quicker because you make a phone call, it’s already made. It comes broken down. Their only delay was getting it here. It got here last night and it is already installed.”

He said it will be a multipurpose dock to service the business and ferries since “we are on the water here and most of our business comes from the sea. So we want to make it easy access. The first thing anybody asks you know is “do you have a dock?”

Penn added that there is only one other private dock and the government dock in operation in an area.

The company was the second in the territory to use the versadock. Bitter End Yacht Club was the first.