The long freight run to Cliff Island
Cliff Island sits at the far end of the Casco Bay route, and the freight boat reaches it less often than the inner islands. A Cliff Island order therefore gets booked around a specific sailing and quoted with that date attached. Because the Cliff Island run is long, we prefer to send a unit that will stay for months rather than a weekend. Pickups from Cliff Island ride the same limited schedule, so extensions are almost always the easier choice. Weather can cancel a Cliff Island sailing outright, and the order simply moves to the next available boat.
Small jobs and honest limits on Cliff Island
There is no industry on Cliff Island, and the work is cottage repairs, roofing, septic and the occasional new foundation. A Cliff Island job usually runs one standard unit and nothing else for the length of the project. Cliff Island crews come over for the week and stay, so the unit has to hold up between service passes. Sand, ledge and thin topsoil across Cliff Island mean the set needs a pad almost everywhere. Nobody on Cliff Island wants a unit parked in a view, so placement is agreed with the owner first.
Wharf and community work on Cliff Island
The Cliff Island wharf is the only real landing, and its float and piling repairs are the biggest public project most years. A Cliff Island wharf set goes up on the graveled apron above the ramp and out of the offload lane. The Cliff Island schoolhouse and community hall get painting and roof work during the summer. Cliff Island suppers and fundraisers take a single weekend unit if one is already on the island. Storm work on Cliff Island runs to washed gravel and downed limbs rather than anything structural.