Bass River Public Boat Ramp — Local services in Bass River Township

I’d LOVE to give this place 5 stars, but I can’t. I’m a resident of Bass River and have lived here for the past 12 years. I have used this primitive ramp since I moved to town for both work and play a lot. I appreciate the fact that we have free access to our local waterways — one of which is considered the most pristine in the entire northeast, but this area has been destroyed by our local government.

This site is (or was) a great place to view the saltmarsh and access our coastal waters, but the new (in early 2019) bulkhead and ramp (summer 2019) are a huge waste of County tax dollars.

The large bulkhead, which cost over $150,000, was put in to “stabilize” the ramp. The bulkhead provides no such stabilization as it was built way above the high tide line and replaced a small pebble covered beach, which was not eroding away. The new bulkhead will simply cause waves that hit it to reverberate and cause more erosion. Instead of giving people access to the water, it simply blocks the view of anyone who visits this location. From what I’ve seen this summer, people simply park next to it so they can sit in their car and still view the water and marsh!

The new ramp. I don’t even know how much this cost but it’s terrible. The drop in elevation is not enough to drop in your boat without getting parts of your tow vehicle wet with brackish water, especially at high tide. Also, the surface of the concrete slabs are very very slick! You can now easily slip and fall. If you don’t slip and fall on the surface of the blocks, then you might sprain your ankle if you step in between the blocks! Before it was a nice and steep primitive ramp with natural stones as the bed of the ramp.

Lastly, the one thing that could have really helped make launching an actual boat much easier would have been a couple pilings and a floating dock and ramp. If you don’t have someone to help you or mind ramming your boat onto the edge of the marsh or shoreline, I’m sure this would have cost the least out of all the other additions that are there now.

It’s obvious to me that no one who planned or designed this has ever used...

Be very careful using the boat ramp. I was there 5/21/22 and noticed some sort of boulder of part of the concrete ramp sticking up on the ramp about a foot underwater at low tide. Well, when my son and I went to retrieve the boat that evening at low tide my axle must have hooked onto that obstruction and was pushed all the way to the rear of my trailer. Luckily, there were some amazing people that swooped right in and helped my son and I jerry-rig the axle back onto the trailer to get it off the ramp. Had to be towed and repaired. Twp. said they had no liability and the public ramps are “Use at your own risk”. So, I’m warning you to check before backing your trailer too far onto that ramp. Also, the gravel has been washed away on the ramp and the gaps between the pegs are so wide trailer tires fit all the way in the gaps. Be careful with skinny...

Very nice ramp and dock that they set up here. They even have a jet ski dock that you can temporarily park on while you go park/retrieve your vehicle. I just wish they would have widened and extended the parking area. You can't get a whole lot of trucks with...