For the first time in three months, a boat can be lowered off the Point Arena pier. The usually active pier, which serves as a lifeline for commercial fishermen and recreationalists, has been under renovations since last October. The improvement project, supposed to be completed by the end of November, experienced numerous manufacturing delays.
Plans to replace the hoist were made possible through the efforts of the Arena Cove Stewards, a nonprofit organization focused on restoring and maintaining Arena Cove. In 2023, the organization, in partnership with the City of Point Arena, secured a $485,000 grant from the California Coastal Conservancy. The grant, which prioritizes the pier’s resiliency, contained a provision for emergency repairs.
The advanced age of Point Arena’s boat hoist made it a primary recipient of the grant’s funds. The structure still contains parts from the pier’s 1987 reconstruction, and the winch itself is 15 years old. Winches, which are subject to high levels of wear and tear, are recommended to be replaced every 10 years.
Peter Boggdahn, a fisherman and former Point Arena harbormaster with welding expertise, was the obvious candidate to oversee the hoist’s repair and winch replacement.
“It was a really good thing that we did this because there was some catastrophic failure in the future,” said Boggdahn in an interview.
Boggdahn began the project with a close inspection. After disassembling the hoist, he saw that the head assembly, which connects the hoist’s arm with the winch, was significantly worn. The part needed replacement, as did the winch.
With the help of a local welding shop, he got to work building the new head assembly. Boggdahn and a small team then reassembled the part and attached it to the mast, painted it, put in new bearings, and welded cracks. By late November, the team had finished their side of the project, in time for the announced completion date. Now, all that was left was to wait for the hoist.
This part of the system had been outsourced to Yale Hoist, which has factories on the East Coast. The hoist was supposed to arrive in Point Arena on Nov. 15, yet the company kept delaying its completion.
The setback frustrated Boggdahn. “I was really surprised. It’s a company in North Carolina that has a really big name,” he said.
Searching for an explanation, Boggdahn contacted Yale Hoist. According to Boggdahn, the company told him that tariffs had been impeding the manufacturing process.
Virtually all U.S. manufacturing companies have experienced hikes in raw material prices driven by President Donald Trump’s aggressive trade policies. Since entering office, import taxes have been the President’s weapon of choice. The first wave of tariffs were imposed on Day One of his second term, and affected a slew of countries and industrial materials. Among them was a 50 percent global tariff on steel, aluminum and copper. Subsequent tariff policies have since followed an erratic schedule, some on, some off, then back on.
The unpredictable policies have left companies like Yale Hoist scrambling to adapt, leading to shipping delays and supply chain disruptions. The parent company of Yale Hoist, Columbus McKinnon Corporation, admitted in a 2025 investment report that “the current tariff environment…has remained volatile to date and may impact future supply chain costs and product availability.”
These delays have proved consequential to the fishermen of Point Arena, who anticipated being able to use the new hoist in time for dungeness crab season, which started Jan. 12.
Boggdahn estimated that during crab season, Point Arena fishermen earn $15,000 to $20,000 dollars a week per boat. Last year, Boggdahn said he took in 5,321 pounds of crab within the first two weeks of the season, and made $5.75 a pound.
Unfortunately, many local fishermen had to sit out the season’s opening.
“We weren’t able to participate at all. We were left high and dry,” said Boggdahn.
For the fishermen who did decide to participate in the beginning of crab season, traveling to alternative locations became part of their overhead. Throughout the closures, and during the earlier rockfish season as well, transportation costs associated with longer travel times became a constant added expense.
Fishermen were not the only parties to miss out. The City of Point Arena receives 15 cents per pound of catch landed at the pier, and $40 for a hoist. With thousands of pounds of fish coming through the pier in a week, an extra two months of suspended operations meant significant revenue loss.
On Jan. 27, the new hoist finally appeared in Point Arena, and installation went quickly. Despite the delay, the refurbished setup should be operational for years to come. As the rhythm of the cove resumes, fishermen look forward to sailing out of Point Arena again, and Boggdahn looks forward to his next project at the pier — the restoration of the floating dock.
This story originally appeared in The Mendocino Voice.