Things haven't been quite right in the coastal town of Carnarvon since the main waterway became choked up with silt about two years ago.

A sandbar formed across the entrance to the waterway that connects the boating community to the ocean.

Instantly the yacht club marina became landlocked, and a flash $3-million community boat ramp built with Royalties for Regions funding was inaccessible.

Carnarvon Yacht Club general manager Jim Williams said the impact on the town, and tourism, had been "terrible".

"Visiting yachts and people on trailer boats haven't been able to get to the town, to say nothing of locals who are denied their enjoyment of the ocean because of this," Mr Williams said.

"It's really affected the social life of the club because usually we'd have visiting yachties, who would be here and contributing to the life of the club.

"And it has had a dramatic impact on the town because we haven't got people reprovisioning here, we haven't got people with the trailer boats coming to spend money in town, to stay in accommodation and that's had a big impact overall."

Owners caught out

When Carnarvon's yacht club became landlocked by a build-up in the waterway, general manager Jim Williams and the community turned to a creative solution. ( ABC North West: Karen Michelmore )

The sandbar grew so quickly a number of locals off cruising in their vessels were not able to return to the marina.

"By the time they were ready to come home the entrance had well and truly closed," Mr Williams said.

Other boat owners were caught on the other side of the blockage — and their vessels were stranded next to the town.

The community was desperate for answers.

But a 1995 agreement between the WA Government and the Shire of Carnarvon handed responsibility for maintaining the waterway to the shire.

"The price for dredging the fascine was estimated to be anything up to $1.5 million and the Shire of Carnarvon didn't have that kind of money," Mr Williams said.

"That was quite devastating at the time, when the Department of Transport were not able to help us and the Shire of Carnarvon were not in a position to assist."

Carnarvon Yacht Club treasurer Ray Smith has a lifelong love of dredgers, which came in handy when his community became cut off from the ocean. ( ABC North West: Karen Michelmore )

A bargain — 1,000km away

Some enterprising locals started working on their own creative solution.

Carnarvon Yacht Club life member and treasurer Ray Smith happens to have a fascination — and decades of experience — with dredgers. So, he thought, why shouldn't the community build their own?

"People get a fixation on things. Some people like horses, some people like dogs. I like dredgers," Mr Smith said.

Then he spotted a bargain — a disused dredger for sale in a field in Busselton — more than 1,000km away.

"I studied all the photos of it and I thought, well, I think this is a possibility," he said.

"A couple of us went down to Busselton and had a look at it. It hadn't been used for a number of years. It was sitting up in a farmyard.

"And we had a good look at it and we decided, yeah, we can make something of this."

'Community Spirit' arrives

The disused dredger was found in a farm yard in Busselton and trucked to Carnarvon. ( Supplied: Carnarvon Yacht Club )

Five semi-trailers transported the pieces of the dredger to the town. And a small group of volunteers spent thousands of hours, over more than a year, restoring the dredger — painting, repairing and reassembling the parts.

Mr Williams said the whole community had been involved in supporting the project, from cash donations to providing food for the workers.

Appropriately, the dredger has been named 'Community Spirit'.

"People said it was going to be impossible but we were so excited when she passed the Australian Maritime Safety Authority inspection," Mr Williams said.

"She has been named Community Spirit in recognition of the fact that this is not just a Carnarvon Yacht Club project, the whole town has gotten behind this."

The Shire of Carnarvon has kicked in $50,000 for a dredging trial and, under the helm of dredge master Ray Smith, started carving a channel through the silt last year.

All going well, it's expected that Carnarvon will again be reconnected to the ocean within the next few months.