2018 Work Trip

2018 Work Trip to Great Island Camp, South Core Banks

May 3-6, 2018

Tom Monaco

Each year the Core Banks Surf Fishing Club and the Davis Island Fishing Foundation jointly organize a work trip to south Core Banks (Davis Island) to assist the park service staff in maintenance of the cabins at Great Island Camp. We had a record number of 30 volunteers participating in the 2018 trip. The park service outlined four projects and we added a fifth. Painting exteriors of cabins is one chore we always tackle. Other projects requested by the park service included replacing the siding on the back of the volunteers cabin; replacing stairs at four cabins; and installing reflectors on bollards in the cabin roads. DIFF member John Reams noted that the hurricane straps on the porch of the bathhouse were completely rusted and broken in places so we added their replacement to the list.

The work parties were broken up into five teams with a crew leader assigned for each team. Roy Byrd headed up the painting team. Dale Gizewksi and a new recruit Matt Lemons were the spray handlers while Roy, Kent Wiggins and Joe Gaughran handled the paint caddy. Other team members included the window covering and uncovering crew. Wayne Brooks, Richard Lemons. Jim Lemons, Jimmy Wade, Ellis Edwards and Jerry Fowler made up that crew. The paint team painted cabins 8, 9, 10 the bathhouse and most of the volunteer cabin. Two coats of paint were applied to all the cabins and the bathhouse received three coats.

Larry and Bill Parham led the siding replacement team and team members consisted of Kyle Buchanan, Ralph Lassiter, Pat Ragan, Alvin Tans and Fisher Rodgers. Removing the bad siding was extremely difficult as it was almost completely decayed and only came off in small pieces. Additionally, the replacement project grew since siding on more than the rear of the cabin had to be replaced. Many of the wall studs were also decayed and had to be replaced. Remarkably the project which began on Thursday afternoon was completed by Friday afternoon including painting the new siding.

The stair replacement team was led by Mike Matthews and they were tasked with replacing steps at four cabins. His teams members were Brian Trotter, Mike Kirn and Lance Brown. This group replaced the steps at cabins 4 and 8 Thursday afternoon and steps at cabin 10 and 13 Friday morning. Mike Kirn a CBSFC member did not know the three DIFF members on this team and by the end of the project he formed a strange bond with the leader of the team Mike Matthews which led to Mike Kirn catching his first ever big drum Thursday being coached by Mike Matthews and Lance Brown!

Ann Beeson led the reflector installation team which consisted of David Watts, Christy Watts, and Phillip Beeson. In addition to installing 40 reflectors they also conducted a trash pickup of the entire camp and some detailed painting of missed spots on the bathhouse and some of the other cabins.

John Reams headed up the hurricane strap replacement team which consisted of Robin and Lee Hege. Lee picked up the straps from Lowes on his way to Davis since the park service did not have any on hand.

Tom Monaco served as camp cook and all meals were provided in cabin 9. Cost of the food was covered by both clubs. Our thanks to Steve Sabol and his staff for having all building and painting supplies on hand and for their assistance and support with all the projects. Thanks also to Jill Jaworski chief ranger for securing the cabins for the club at no cost to us. Thanks also to both ferry services for providing vehicle and passenger transportation to the island. Lastly a big thanks to all the volunteers from both clubs for their donation of time and talent to accomplish an amazing amount of work in a relatively short period of time. Approximately 300 work hours were involved in completing all the work assignments.