The one that goes the other way.

What you can launch here

Short answer: anything you can tow. This is a ramp on open water, not a canal lot, and that changes the question completely.

Nothing is over you on the way out. The ramp opens into the Northwest Spreader and Matlacha Pass. The low crossing people think of here, Burnt Store Road South over Shadroe Canal at 5.6 ft and one of the three lowest in the city, sits inland of the ramp rather than between it and the Pass.

Air draft decides things at an address, not at a ramp. If the boat lives on your own dock, every fixed crossing between your canal and the river is in play, and the lowest of them is your ceiling for as long as you own the house. They start at 5.5 ft. We publish the clearance for all 157 canal crossings we map, filterable by your air draft, and the canal map settles it for one specific address.

Getting out

No one publishes a mileage for this ramp, so this page gives none. Direction is what matters here anyway.

The direction is the whole point. Rosen and Horton are Caloosahatchee ramps: you run east and south down the river toward the Causeway and San Carlos Bay. Burnt Store launches on the opposite side of the city into Matlacha Pass, which opens north toward Charlotte Harbour and west through Matlacha toward Pine Island Sound. If your fishing is up that way, this is a much shorter tow than driving round to the river.

The trade is that the north west water is shallower and more tidal than the river, and the route out is less obvious to someone who has not run it. That is local knowledge rather than a published fact, so treat it as a reason to ask rather than a figure to plan on.

What it means if you are buying nearby

A public ramp inside the neighbourhood changes what a house is worth to a boat owner, and it changes it in both directions.

In your favour: you can own a boat here without owning a dock or a lift to keep it on. That is a large amount of money not spent, and it opens up the dry lots a few streets back from the water (which are cheaper than the canal-front houses and, for a trailer boater, no less useful).

Against: ramp traffic is real. Trailers, early mornings, and a weekend queue are part of the address. Some buyers want to be two streets away from that rather than on the approach road, and it is worth driving the route on a Saturday before you decide which you are.

The thing we would check either way is the water itself. Gulf access in Cape Coral is not one thing: some canals reach open water with nothing over them, others are bridged and cap your air draft for good. That is settled per address on the canal map, not in the listing copy, and never by the phrase “Gulf access” on its own. Our guide to freshwater versus Gulf access covers why the distinction costs people money.

If you don't already own a dock, ask what adding one would take, including the seawall it and a lift would need. Our seawalls, docks and lifts guide covers permits, likely cost and who is responsible for repairs.

The other three city ramps

Burnt Store Boat Ramp is one of four public ramps the city runs. Here is how the other three compare; the full table with all four side by side is on the boat ramps page.

Paying, permits and the practical bits

Trailer parking is what the $15 pays for, through the Passport app, Passport’s mobile site, or by phone on (239) 424-9459. You can also buy in person at the Parks & Recreation counter in City Hall.

The annual and two-year decals are Cape Coral residents and Cape Coral-based businesses only. If you are buying here and plan to launch regularly, that decal is one of the small practical arguments for a Cape Coral address over an address just outside the city line.

Because the city keeps no page for this ramp, there is no official source for its hours, its condition, or whether work is going on. If you are towing a long way to use it, the city’s boat ramps page and its news feed are the only places a closure would be announced.