Perrin Wharf has been reconfigured to provide additional spots where local watermen can tie up their boats to load, unload or leave them for the night.

Harrison Bresee, regional economic planner for the Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission, said during a tour of the property Sept. 12 that the first phase of upgrades at the property, located at the end of Perrin Wharf Road in Guinea, was completed recently.

That phase included installation of nine mostly perpendicular slips, with three finger piers, where boats can have a more protected berth than the handful of spots still available parallel to the pier. Health department regulations forbid anyone from staying aboard a boat tied up at the wharf overnight.

A handicapped ramp is to be built and a portable toilet brought in this fall, Bresee said, and improvements to the parking lot should be made next spring.

Watermen will pay a fee to reserve one of the slips, Bresee said, with the rate still being finalized. Several ...