Does your dock look like this?

Summer is officially here, and you spent the long holiday weekend on the lake. Was everything as great as you remembered?  Or was your lakeshore equipment looking a little old and warn out?   If it’s time for a new dock, lift, or rail system, stop in and talk to us.  We’ll work with you to get your shoreline looking new again.

It’s more than just looks, though.  It’s also safety and value.   Older docks–especially ones with wooden decks–can become weak after years on the water.  Splinters, loose nails, and rusted frames can result in injuries that can take the fun out of your time off.   A new aluminum or vinyl dock not only eliminates those problems, but stays in good repair far longer.

A new dock from ShoreStation or Wickcraft can also add value to your lakeside home.   A small investment now can mean a large return later on–and years of enjoyment in the mean time.

Did you know that Manke Enterprises sharpens blades for lawn mowers and chain saws?

We do!

Just drop off your lawnmower or chainsaw blades at our service counter, and we’ll have them sharpened and ready for you the next business day.  It’s just that simple.

It’s August, and that means it’s time to start thinking about removing your boat lift and dock for the season.

Whether you want to remove your lift and dock right after Labor Day, or leave them in the lake until late in the fall, now is still the time to call.

We’ll be adding a new service this year.  Now, as we remove your lakeshore equipment, our crews will be giving it a once-over to see if there’s any excessive wear, damage, or other items that should be serviced.  We’ll let you know what we find so you can decide what to do.   There are even more lift and dock services in the works.

Give us a call today and ask what we can do for you.

Geographic data for Wisconsin lakes

As promised, new maps have been uploaded to our site.

4 new maps have been added to our Maps Page. We now have available the Madison chain of lakes.  Mendota, Monona, Waubesa,  and Kegonsa.  You can view them online or download the KML/KMZ files to load into your own copy of Google Earth.  If you have a pro account with Google Earth–or other conversion software–you can even import them into your GPS unit and take them along when you’re on the water.

The new maps include:

• Lake hazards:  stumps, rock piles, and other obstacles.
• Channel makers: buoys marking safe channels and reference points for un-marked channels.
• Warning markers: buoys marking underwater hazards, restricted areas, and special zones such as mooring areas.
• Public access: boat landings, piers, fishing areas, and swimming areas
• Lakeside resources:  on-water gas stations & restaurants
• Rest and recreation areas:  Campsites, picnic areas, public restrooms

These maps are for general reference only.  Manke Enterprises makes guarantees of accuracy.   They’re meant to be an additional tool to give an overview of the lakes, but are no replacement for accurate tools, safe boating practices, and plain old common sense.

Help us improve the maps

You can help us to improve our maps.  If you know of a point of a lake hazard or point of interest that isn’t listed on our maps, or if you have more detailed information about any of the points that are listed, let us know!  We’ll add the information and post the updated map.   We’re not asking you to give away your secret fishing hole, just let us know if we’ve missed a stump, if there are restrictions on a boat landing, or if there’s something that other boaters should be aware of.

More to come

We have more maps coming.  In the next week or two, we’ll be adding Fox Lake, Lake Ripley, Beaver Dam Lake, and several smaller lakes.  And we’ll be updating the Lake Wisconsin maps–there’s so much information on Lake Wisconsin, we had to break it up into 3 separate maps:  Hazards, Channel Markers, and Public Access.

Neil has been busy with the GPS unit this spring charting over a dozen lakes in the area.  This means we’ll soon have new and updated lake maps available for Lake Wisconsin, Beaver Dam Lake, Lake Ripley, the Madison chain, and more.

These maps are built using Google Earth.  They can be viewed online or downloaded to view on your own copy of Google Earth.  OR… if you’ve subscribed to Google Earth Pro, you can import the data directly into your own GPS unit and take it with you when you’re out on the lake.

The maps include reference points for

• Lake hazards (stumps & rock piles)
• Warning buoys
• Navigational buoys
• Public access points (boat ramps, piers, fishing areas, & swimming areas)
• On-water gas stations
• Water-accessible restaurants
• Public restrooms
• Campsites and picnic areas

We’ll start posting the maps next week