Ossipee—August 16, 2019—Boaters entering or leaving the lake at Ossipee’s Pine River boat ramp on Route 25 for the past week were startled to see a large, colorful device on wheels adjacent to the docks.

The official name of the unit is the CD3 Watercraft Cleaning System, and Ossipee Lake was the first lake in the northeast to use it as part of a pilot test sponsored by Concord-based NH LAKES, with support from DES and the approval of N.H. Fish & Game, which controls the ramp.

The solar-powered CD3 offers boaters a waterless method of cleaning, draining, drying, and disposing of invasive weeds attached to boats and trailers.

The CD3 is equipped with hand tools to remove plants, and a wrench to help open drain plugs to remove trapped water that could contain plant fragments. A wet/dry vacuum allows boaters to remove standing water from bilges and storage compartments, and a blower can be used to dry out all wet areas. 

Large-print, clearly-written instructions on the side of the unit make it easy for boaters to use the CD3 on their own. But all last weekend, Lake Host Julie Lepkowicz of Ossipee eagerly demonstrated the device to interested boaters. The reaction, she said, was positive. 

From Ossipee, the CD3 will move this weekend to Newfound Lake, and then on to other ramps around the state, according to Ossipee Lake Alliance’s Roberta MacCarthy, who worked with NH LAKES to make the Pine River ramp the CD3’s first test site.

The pilot program will continue through mid-September, and NH Lakes hopes the tests will demonstrate to ramp owners the utility of waterless cleaning as an effective part of an overall plan of preventing the spread of invasives. More information on the CD3 may be found here.