Three years after applying for a state grant, then designing the project and splitting the construction and installation work into separate contracts to save money, the new float at Meyers Chuck is open for public use.

The borough was so successful in paring down the costs for the project that it was able to install 400 feet of float — the same length the community had before — instead of scaling back the new facility to 200 or 300 feet.

“They’re just about finished,” Wrangell Harbormaster Steve Miller said last week of the installation work by Pool Engineering. Substantial completion is scheduled for this week, though finished sections of the float already are open for public use, he said.

All that remains, Miller said, is installation of corrosion-prevention metal anodes on the steel pilings and the job will be done.

The total cost for the project is just under $1.5 million, he said. That includes engineering, float construction and installation, new pilings and inspection services — it’s far less than the original estimate of $2.35 million.

A state grant covered half the cost, with the borough covering the other half with funds from its port and harbors reserves account which is expected to end the fiscal year next June 30 at $3.2 million.

Much of the savings came from splitting the float construction and installation work into separate contracts, Miller said.

Several companies were interested in the float construction work, with the competition driving down the cost. Last fall, the borough awarded a $445,000 contract to Bellingham Marine Industries for the Washington state company to construct the new wooden-decked floats.

The old floats were “horrible,” Miller said. They were more than 40 years old and the floatation system had deteriorated so much that locals in Meyers Chuck were stuffing empty barrels underneath to keep the sections from sinking.

Divers would jump in every year to add more barrels, he said.

The demolition and installation contract went to Ketchikan-based Pool Engineering, at $775,000. In addition to removing the old floats and putting together the new sections, the job included all new steel pilings, connecting the floats to the onshore walkway and reinstalling the seaplane float that had been pulled out for the work.

The seaplane float, which gets a lot of use, Miller said, “was pretty new,” having been rebuilt a few years ago when contractors were eager for work during the worst of the COVID-19 shutdowns.

The new 50-foot-long dock sections were built in a North Carolina factory, then trucked to Seattle, where they caught a ride to Ketchikan on a barge chartered by Pool Engineering for another job, Miller said.

The sections were delivered to Meyers Chuck in mid-August and the contractor went to work to put it all together.

The new sections are “encapsulated tubs,” which elevate the wooden decking out of the water, he explained. The solid-core foam is sealed in polyethylene shells to protect the foam from deterioration.

“I’m feeling pretty happy about the project,” Miller said of the lower costs and on-time completion.

Meyers Chuck, a community of about a couple dozen year-round residents, became part of the Wrangell borough in 2008, when the city of Wrangell expanded to become a borough. The state turned over the harbor float to the borough in 2014.

The Cleveland Peninsula community, about 50 miles south of Wrangell, is a popular stopover for boaters, particularly yachts, traveling between Ketchikan and Wrangell.

The borough does not collect fees from users. “We haven’t found anybody to collect money for us,” Miller said, adding that borough officials continue looking for ways to collect some revenue from boaters who use the facility.