8th December 2009

Removed some more railings from the South end of the veranda with the help of the working party so the new section can be tied in to the old. Cyril comes up with another good solution to beefing up this corner by extending the new handrail support timber right back to the longitudinal main beam and we've got a piece of timber that will do the job.

As there is a winter talk the working party is deployed to pass all the 5 metre oak out from the club room onto newly installed joists on the veranda extension. As there's probably 5 tonnes of oak it's getting a load test....of course nothing moves, not even a faint creak.

In the afternoon float the upper float under the ramp and wait for high tide. At the top of the tide the edge of the float is just touching the under side of the ramp and providing no lift at all. Stretch a rope down the access ramp and note that to bring it up to a constant slope the middle hinge needs to be lifted by 90cms. Though Walcon can adjust the freeboard of their pontoons using rods to drop the float downwards relative to the deck, I can't believe that they can be dropped almost a metre using that technique.

7th December 2009

Well the good news is that the ladder looks OK and so does the roof. The temporary support had been torn away, but as the roof was on three supports the other two held it up OK. Put the temporary support back in position and nail it in place. Breathe very large sigh of relief!

Back to the access ramp problem. Walcon think my proposal is too over engineered and will add too much weight to the ramp and exacerbate the problem. We look at the way the ramp is positioned at high tide and don't think that it'll float even with the upper float in place. Decide to position the float under the ramp tomorrow as the tide is rising to see if it picks up the ramp properly; before brackets are made. The good news is that Walcon are accepting that they need to solve our problems and they will get the brackets made ASAP.

6th December 2009

Sunday morning, I wake up and think **** I forgot to stow the ladder yesterday. Unfortunately I'm in Kent and the ladder has already been pushed up by the overnight high tide. Try to work out whether the ladder will be bent into a concertina or whether my lashing will have slid up the support post until it lifted the lean-to roof off its support. I think I'd rather the ladder was bent on the whole as the roof was thoroughly refurbished last year and I don't suppose the working party would fancy a replay this winter.

Ring Tam and let him know, he seems relatively relaxed, not to say slightly amused.

5th December 2009

It's Saturday morning and before I go to my Mother's 90th birthday party I draw up the proposed brackets, then realise that I'm not sure how we measured. I pop down to the club and check some measurements; use Tam's ladder to get down to the floating pontoon and safely tie the top of the ladder to a temporary support for the lean-to roof. Forget to retrive the ladder and stow it on the veranda.

Carry on home and draw up the proposal, scan it and send it to Walcon by email, not thinking about ladders at all.

4th December 2009

Turn up this morning to see that the access ramp has been installed....that's the good news! The bad news is that the float on the top section fouls the cross beam even though all the drawings were checked by Walcon. John Davis comes down for a consultation; between Cyril and ourselves we devise a proposed pair of brackets to shift the float a foot further up the ramp.

I ring Mike Jackson to see whether he has suitable steel in stock and how long it would take to make and galvanise it. Also ring Walcon to let them know we have a problem.

The ramp is installed with the float removed so at high tide the top section doesn't float and the lower section slopes UP from the midway hinge to the landing pontoon! Not quite as the designer intended.

2nd December 2009

Now the railings are removed Dave Wagstaff and I dismantle the river facing edge of the veranda, this is made from an oak joist about 7x2, some spacers then a 7x2 joist that's looking a bit soft then a 6x3 softwood backing plate about 10 feet long. The three are held together by a variety of threaded rod and nuts, stainless bolts, bracket etc etc, quite difficult to find clear places to saw through.

As we crowbar off the oak the joist behind which doesn't look too rotten, just crushes and release a lot of water......its just like a sponge really. All the debate yesterday as to whether we should replace it is resolved instantly. We make a temporary support for the mast as we've decided to get rid of all the old timber and replace with new.

At the end of the day the veranda is about a foot narrower and there's quite a big heap of extra timber near the bonfire site.

1st December 2009

With the help of the working party a start is made on dismantling the veranda. Temporary supports are made for the crows nest and for the lean to roof. The railings are removed and some pices of oak decking used to make temporary barriers between the door and the changing rooms. The railings sit on a piece of 3x3 timber, when I take this off I find rot near the oar store in the oak beam to which the swinging arms were attached. Over about a foot the rot has destroyed half the beam for the top 3 inches! However the rest of the beam looks relatively good.

30th November 2009

The barge has been moved back up river so that more braces can be installed. The hardwood that we have been using for the majority of the braces was bought from the pile suppliers as it had been intended as infill for railway level crossings but not required. We bought the timber cheap, and it is really strong but does have its disadvantages; its is difficult to drill and is so heavy that it requires the crane to hold it in place.

24th November 2009

The platform at the top of the ramp is starting to look fairly complete with the handrail support beam in place. Another improvement is made by using a spare top section of a pile to link the platform right back to the club by crossing both ranks of piles.

It was a shame that one of the greenheart piles was trimmed about 30mm short, the only one where this happened out of 29 piles and unforunately just about the only pile where this would be visible! So a pad is made to fit on the pile and John declares that this is not a problem from a structural perspective so we don't have to put another length of timber in its place.

23rd November 2009

Well the AGM went OK. We even still had access to the toilets which was probably just as well as Kevin had organised free coffee and biscuits. The free coffee and oportunity to see the rate of progress wasn't that attractive as we had about 33 members at the start of the meeting; with a quorum of 30!

Work continues on the bracing under the club, starting with the top platform that will provide access to the ramp down to the pontoons. It starts to look impressive; Cyril observes that the structure would provide a secure mooring for a medium sized container ship!

20th November 2009

The main beams that run out to the piles that support the access ramp are now in place after a bit of difficulty interpreting the drawings and a phone call to John Davis to clarify things. Then as it was a midday tide the access ramps themselves got loaded onto the lighter and moored on the river. It was intended to also load the joists but we ran out of water at Eversons. Eversons have been really good about storing our kit; we had hoped to have it all out of the way at the end of October so they'd have the yard back as a boat store but we've still got stuff in there 3 weeks later.

Tidied up a bit as it's the AGM tomorrow and I wanted to hold it in the Club so people could see progress made so far. Of course the Club is half full of timber and super size nuts and bolts so it won't be very convenient, however the pile of timber is about the right height for a seat so hopefully everyone will get in OK. If I'm lucky and 80 people turn up there definitely won't be enough room so that's probably what'll happen.

18th November 2009

The top halves of the greenheart piles are now bolted on. A hard job as the bolts must go right through the greenheart pile and emerge in the right place to match the hole in the splice plate on the opposite side, and there are 6 bolts on each plate that must all match. Some plates look a bit funny as the two bits of greenheart pile aren't the same size; they are supposed to be, but the cutting tolerance is quite large. Took down the new T plates, they didn't hold things up after all.

16th November 2009

30-40 knots of wind, plus rain mean that there's no work today. The next job is to install the top halves of the 4 greenheart piles that support the top of the access ramp, Tam and Cyril don't fancy a quarter of a tonne of timber waving around in the wind, a sensible decision I feel.

Friday 13th November 2009

The last main beam goes in at the southern end of the Club. As there was no support for the joists at the South East corner the new main bean was carried under the joists to give additional supoprt at the corner. It made an enormous difference as now I can jump on the corner without it feeling like a trampoline with strong springs. The new T plates were due back today from the galvanisers, however the galvanisers failed to collect them on the day they were supposed to so they are now due back next Tuesday. I'm a bit anxious that the delay won't hold up work.

Went off to order the joists; thats been another saga as its now difficult to get more than 6 metre lengths of timber that are of the correct grade, in fact most timber merchants couldn't supply the specified size in the correct grade at all, only Buildbase seemed able to supply us. I presume that we've chopped down all the decent size pine trees in Scandinavia now and we'll have to wait for the little ones to grow up a bit.

Spent some time in the loft at the Club getting flags and glasses down as its the Laying Up Supper tomorrow night. I need to write a speech later as there's no guest speaker and I probably ought to speak for a bit longer than last year. Its a good job that I don't have to worry about organising prizes thanks to Alison and Sue; or the catering thanks to Christine and her helpers. Not only that but Kevin is doing more than expected so it looks like everything will work out OK.

12th November 2009

Work progressing well on the main beams considering how difficult it is to get them all level, and once the pile is cut, replacing the top half won't be easy. It's possible to imagine the size of the new veranda; I start to get quite excited again, thinking how it'll change the nature of the sitting area quite radically once the dinghy racers stop getting tangled up with the feet of those sitting on the benches. There may be enough space that you can actually stop for a chat without getting in the way!

9th November

Work starts on installing the main beams that link the new piles back to the exisitning structure. There are 10 of them, running out from the existing veranda, across the top of the new piles. Its going to be time consuming at the start to make sure that the new deck is level with the exisiting deck, especially as the existing deck isn't flat, it rises in the centre and is lower at each end. Its very much a case of "measure twice and cut once" rather than the reverse. Dave Wagstaff's laser level proves invaluable in showing how far out of true the existing deck is. A start is made at the oar store end, Cyril finds that the existing main beam is not only about 50mm too short, so doesn't meet the pile, but the pile is too short so the tab joist hanger is sort of wedged in place with an offcut of softwood. The new beam is cut away to form a tongue that will go over the top of the pile and fill the gap there, when its all connected Tam will try and push the pile in a bit with the crane to close the gap between it and the main beam. If you are walking down to the Club (for the AGM for instance) you can see this at the river side of the oar store). Decide to get some additional steel T pieces made to tie the two main beams together and also tie them down to the pile. Go to the metal fabricator and sketch out the design on the back of an envelope!

6th November 2009

As all the piles are now in, the air hammer used for pile driving is taken back to the hire place in Lowestoft, so there's no action at the Club.

5th November 2009

Its probably a 'eureka!' moment today as all the pontoons are bolted in place as are the landing platforms and...they all slide up and down the piles without getting stuck halfway or anything dramatic like that. They are left attached for the time being to make sure they slide OK, however they will have to be detached again so the barge can be got close in to install the main beams.

3rd November 2009

At last, all piles are now driven and work starts to attach the top halves of the pontoon location piles. As the piles have bee driven to the required depth with the splices below mud level, this requires the mud to be dug out to get the coach screw inserted. The piles are aligned and held in place with a set of coach screws, the timber is so hard to screw into that Tam and Cyril decide to buy an air driven spanner (like they use in tyre places to tighten your wheel nuts so you can't undo them if you have a flat tyre!) as they have a more than adequate air compressor on the barge.

30th October 2009

By this afternoon the three piles that locate the landing platform were in place. The good news is that they all went 4metres into the mud with the top of the tubular splice just level with the mud as intended. Today is the last day when we were permitted to pile, however thereare still 2 piles to be driven. The Environment agency had said that they would be flexible if we didn't quite finish so we will be able to complete the last 2 piles next week.

28th October 2009

The access ramp 'landing platform' is now assembled on the water withthe quides that enable the platform to slide up and down the piles roughly in position to give more confidence that the piles that locate the platform are going to be in the right place. When I arrived and saw the platform in place I felt that we'd moved on a stage. However the platforms were removed so the piles could actually be driven so progress then seemed to go into reverse.

26th October 2009

Tam and Cyril attach top halves to the ramp support piles and seem to have quite a job getting them to stand vertically in the splices as the bottom halves started vertical but went off slightly when they bottomed out on the hard layer below the mud. Anglian Water turn up with a digger and sheet piling and go down over 2 metres before they find 2 old stop cocks buried in the river wall, one of which is leaking. "Why are there 2?" You might ask - that is a mystery especially as one pipe heads back towards the bandstand! Anyway, all is fixed by the end of the day.

23rd October 2009

Paul arrives, so does Tam's brother who also has a big chainsaw! However it needs 2 people to manhandle the timber and Tam wants it all done by midday so he can load the piles on the tide so 2 people on the job will just about get it done. The good news is that it's a fantastic day for woodwork in the open so all the piles get trimmed and pointed by the deadline. Anglian water arrive to fix a leak in our water supply pipe, right by the river wall path at the upstream end of the clubhouse. After 2 hours digging they can't get down to the leak so fill the hole in again, promising to come back on Monday with a digger to finish the job. I just discovered that even though the leak is the main side of our meter, Anglian Water's stop cock is by the public toilet and that's where their responsibility ends. As they had already promised to fix the leak at their expense they will honour that promise but beware anyone with a stop cock miles from their meter. I've just checked the Ofwat website and they are absolutely right, so be warned.

22nd October 2009

Now I need someone with a chainsaw to shorten the piles...no-one seems to want this job. Both Eversons and Tam reckon their saws are not powerful enough; the people who fitted the points and splices reckon that a chain will last about 6 cuts, and they use specially hardened teeth in their chains. Greenheart is seriously tough stuff! Paul Masters has a look and will have a go on Friday.

21st October 2009

Today the pontoons arrived from Walcon; it's raining hard and I discover that Di Tricker's rain gauge caught 30mm of rain during the day. 2 articulated lorries turned up and squeezed into Everson's yard stacked high with the pontoons and ramp. Some needed assembling so those were offloaded into the yard while those that were already assembled were craned straight onto the mud so they could be floated off as soon as the tide rose as 2 yachts were due to be craned out in the afternnon. With a draft of half a metre the pontoons would float well before the yachts could get anywhere near the crane. The pontoons look enormous as they are offloaded, it looks like they'll have at least a metre of freeboard so I'm really pleased when they float alonside the old pontoons and are the same freeboard to within an inch or 2. The metal pipe to which boats will be moored looks far too high but as this is the spot for safety boats they may be OK, I'm sure they'll get in the way if we use these pontoons for tenders. Some adjustment may still be needed though.

20th October 2009

The big day arrives, Tam positions the jib on his crane upriver of the first large pile, we drop the piling dolly into the top of the steel tube, and put a strop round the dolly. The load cell is connected between the crane hook and the strop round the pile using 2 enormous shackles and we're all ready. The crane applied loads of 0.5tonne to 1.5tonne in steps of 0.25tonne (the design load is 1 tonne). At each load we noted the pile deflection and then released the load on the pile and noted whether it has returned to its starting position. At 1.5 tonne it deflected 60mm under load and returned to around 8mm from its start position. John and Ken went into a little huddle and decided that was fine; I was mighty relieved! It was doughnuts all round to celebrate. Now we have passed the load test I can start to organise the shortening of the remaining pontoon piles to make sure the box splice gets driven into the mud.

19th October 2009

Went down to the club at high water but Tam already had his barge in position. He has a hydraulic winch and drum on his crane which he aims to use for the load test, seems like a good plan to me, I hope that John and Ken agree. Hoping that the load test will go ahead tomororw around low water at 8.00-8.30 ish. I do hope it's satisfactory as at the moment we have no costed or guaranteed fallback position and the alternatives would appear to be quite expensive.

Kevin rings to say that the keener sailors want to keep going with the winter series regardless; start to think about implications. Safety team are happy, but I'll need to secure the access to the veranda, probably still need a fire escape though so do some measurements to see if we can lash a section of railing across the south part of the veranda to keep the fire escape functional without anyone falling into the river. I gather that Woodbridge Cruising Club aren't keen on us using their changing rooms so it'll mean changing in the dinghy park or club room while the veranda is in pieces. Altogether I'm somewhat surprised that there's much demand under the circumstances.

18th October 2009

I was away for the weekend but went down to the club tonight when I got home and saw the barge wasn't in position so rang Ken and told him not to come tomorrow. Quite pleased as I was pretty tired and it meant I didn't need to get up at 7.00 in the morning.

16th October 2009

Took a bike ride to Mel Skeets today, all is looking good for Monday. The tug is now fixed and will be launched tomorrow, the barge will be towed down on Sunday or Monday. Tam has located a load cell to be used for the pile test, it is available to hire from Monday onwards from a local lifting company. There's a debate about how we apply load to the pile, Tam prefers to use his tug, but the engineers prefer an winch of some sort with the load applied from a static platform. Of course we have to do the test as specified by the engineers - so a static platform it is!

12th October 2009

This morning the good news was the barge was ready to go; but the the bad news was that parts required to repair the tug were incorrect and would need to be returned and the correct ones supplied. The other bad news was that the crane driver at Eversons was on holiday for 3 days, but as the tug was still out of commission this didn't seem to be too much of a problem.

9th October 2009

Tam went to start up his diesel that drives the hydraulic pumps on his barge this morning and it failed to start. It looks like some of the heavy rain last night got into the engine somehow and formed a hydraulic lock which then bent a con rod when the engine was started. As the tug was having work done on its hydraulic steering, Tam took his barge up the river using Mel Skeet's workboat with a 15HP engine. That's right, a 45foot barge and a 15HP workboat! Anyway, all was well and by late afternoon the engine was hanging from a crane at the yard, due to be repaired over the weekend.

8th October 2009

It was agreed to drive the first of the access ramp halfway support piles as far as possible to see if we could drive to the depth required for the pontoon piles. This pile was quite a good one to use as a test pile as it is identical to the pontoon piles, complete with the steel box section splice, however the box section doesn't need to be driven completely into the mud, just low enough to get below the access ramp. After half an hour of driving the pile has essentially stopped moving...the splice is sitting with its bottom section just above the mud, instead of the top of the splice just below the mud! The splice has gone just 4metres into the river bed instead of the required 5metres. I wished we'd cut a metre off the pile before we started! We then started thinking of what to do next as the options are limited to hiring a larger hammer, or boring a hole for the pile to be driven into. It is decided that before we do either of those options we will test load the pile and see if it will withstand its design load of a side pull of 1 tonne, plus a safety margin. Don't forget that the floating pontoons place no vertical load on their piles, only a side load and though the pile has reached a set and won't go in any further, it may not withstand the required side load.

7th October 2009

The second pair of piles that support the top of the access ramp were pushed in and driven to a set today; then the barge was moved ready to drive the piles that support the access ramp halfway down. I was relieved that the larger piles are going in to roughly the same depth as the smaller piles that support the veranda, however they aren't going in the to depth specified for the pontoon piles which is a bit of a worry.

6th October 2009

Drizzle again today, Tam and Cyril drove the next 2 greenheart piles at the top of the access walkway. I started to discuss the length of the pontoon piles with John Davis as I believe that they are too long to be driven so the splice will below mud level. Agree to cut a metre off one and see how it goes - seems quite high risk, but we've driven a lot of piles now and none have gone more than 5metres into the river bed!

5th October 2009

What a horrible day for piling! We've been lucky so far with lovely sunny days but it was too good to last. There was drizzle interspersed with heavy rain that lasted most of the day. A start was made on the larger greenheart piles that support the top of the access ramp and locate the floating pontoons. These are greenheart, a South American hardwood that is very heavy, about twice the strength of oak and more dense than water. We were fortunate as we were able to buy this timber from a certified sustainable source using a Dutch company called Wijma with a UK yard at Woolpit.
I drove two piles to start the construction of the extension of the dinghy launching ramp before the planning permission expires. My efforts were curtailed by the rising tide, as the water level rose the mud got softer and working got more and more difficult. The piles have markers that will show above high water but people will need to take care until we can get some deck in place. I discovered that if the sledgehammer gets muddy then when you hit the post a fine spray of mud gets thrown up to coat your glasses and make visibility quite poor for subsequent hits of the pile.

2nd October 2009

A marathon day for the pilers, started work at 6.30 am and finished at 6.00pm. The first problem was that a thief had climbed on to club veranda and used a ladder to get to Tam's dory from which they stole the outboard. Once the dory had been retrieved from the marsh near the cut the 2 upstream piles were driven to a set which occurred when they were about a metre further in then the others. When the tide rose the barge was moved down to the downstream end of the club to drive the last of the smaller veranda piles.

1st October 2009

Now the outer rank of veranda piles is going in starting at the upstream end of the Club. Glad to say that the piles are reaching their set earlier again so only the bottom section needs to be driven with the air hammer. Progress is good, I'm starting to relax about the veranda piles, but starting to worry about the larger pontoon piles!

29th September 2009

Stayed at home this morning, loading the larger splice plates into the car and waiting for a call from the fixing supplier. Eventually rang them at just past twelve and the screws had just arrived. Drove to get the screws with the back of the car on the stops and the front wheels just touching the ground. The guy at SIG fixings looked at the car when he helped load the screws and felt around the top of the rear wheel as he didn't believe that I could drive with so much load in the back! Got down to the club and was encouraged to see the first three piles on the outer rank were standing up in the mud ready for the air hammer. Once again the up river pile didn't reach a set (jargon buster: the required set is when the pile moves down by less than 4mm per hit of the air hammer) but the other two did. As the set is now measured from the barge Tam can measure from the barge deck and I don't need to climb around under the club. Took the drastic step of washing my boiler suit tonight - hope it's not premature.

28th September 2009

P10, the last pile of the rank near the Club was pushed in with the crane, then the air hammer was placed on top. As usual the pile sank a couple of metres under the weight of the air hammer (it weighs 2.7 tons). Then Cyril turned the air hammer on, we were expecting the pile to stop moving before the top reached the mud level, but in this case the pile kept going and very nearly disappeared into the mud. Not too bad as about half a metre was still visible and not too much digging was needed to install the splice plate. Really need the stainless coach crews now but they weren't ordered 'till this morning and are due in tomorrow at mid-day. Tam uses the time to start setting out the next rank of piles using a set of chest high waders to plod around the mud and bang in some stakes at each corner.

25th September 2009

I'm pleased that Tam and Cyril have got into a rhythm. The sequence is to drive 2 or 3 piles to a set, then as the tide rises, bolt on some top sections. As the set is achieved before the bottom section disappears into the mud, the tops just need bolting on. John Davis has relaxed his requirement for bolts so now each section has 2 bolts, placed at 90 degrees, the remainder of the fixings are coach screws. So I beetle off to SIG fixings to order coach crews. As the weekend arrives progress is becoming obvious with 6 piles now complete.

23 September 2009

Down at the Club at 7.00 again. It's becoming apparent that drilling through the pile to bolt the splice plates on is quite time consuming as its difficult to get all three holes aligned. Talk to John Davis about the possibility of using coach screws instead of bolts. Used the air hammer to drive the piles to a 'set'. The piles are reaching their set when only about 4 metres below the mud level instead of the anticipated 6 metres so the piles are plenty long enough, thank goodness!

22 September 2009

7.00 at the Club, and Tam & Cyril have started at 6.00 preparing the air hammer. It looks massive as it is lifted off the deck, the crane looks pretty tiny alongside it. The air compressor is connected up to the hammer, then started up. Its not too early now which is a relief as I imagine there's going to be plenty of noise when we start hammering the piles. The air hammer is lifted onto the first pile and Cyril turns the air on. It's difficult for Tam to lower the air hammer at the same speed as the pile descends, sometimes the pile moves so quickly that the crane can't lower quickly enough, then the pile hits a harder bit and the crane has lowered too much and the hammer cants over and hits the pile at an angle. Tam first tightens the jaws on the driver then, when this doesn't fix the problem, welds some angle steel onto the jaws to keep the air hammer in line with the pile. Now the second pile...the air hammer works much better and the second pile goes in in a few minutes. In fact by the time the top of the first section is about 4 feet from the mud it seems to be getting quite firm. Once the barge is floating, more timber is loaded and the barge is moved downriver so that the downriver corner pile can be driven.

Simon Shaw

21 September 2009

Go down to the Club at 7.00am and Tam & Cyril have started clamping temporary frames to the existing Club pile to help position the new pile. The new pile is lifted into position and gently pushed into the mud with the crane. Quite difficult to get the pile to go in just the right place, but after a couple of goes Tam gets it right and pushes the pile into the mud with the crane. We hear it crunch through some gravel, then it sinks under its own weight again. Another push and its in about 2metres and fairly stable. The process is repeated and by the end of the day there are 4 piles pushed into the mud.

Simon Shaw

20 September 2009

The good news is that I return from a sail to see the barge moored in front of the Club complete with functioning hydraulics; I'm starting to get quite excited again. I speak to Tam and the bad news is that he is going to start work at 6.00am tomorrow when the barge is aground as it's low water at about 8.00am.

Simon Shaw

18 September 2009

Ken Weeks rings to ask whether Tam will start piling; confirm that is the case. 2 minutes later I get a call from Tam to say that a brand new hydraulic pump that he has just installed isn't working and needs repair or replacement. Call Ken and reach him before he has left for Woodbridge. I feel disappointed that we aren't going to start until Monday. Tam will bring his barge down on Sunday ready to start piling on Monday. Have a sudden thought that the race on Sunday will probably finish just as Tam manoevres his barge in front of the Club, ring the OOD to ask him to finish the race downriver as its the Methersgate series.

Simon Shaw

17 September 2009

Drop by Mel Skeet's yard to see Tam and check that all is going OK for a start to piling tomorrow. Tam is collecting the air hammer from Lowestoft but there's a guy there craning a large looking air compressor onto Tam's barge which is looking very smart with a new deck in place. Just about to leave when Tam arrives with the air hammer and confirms that he will bring his barge down to the DYC on the high tide tomorrow morning.

Simon Shaw

16 September 2009

Tam has a problem with one of his hydraulic cranes that needs to be fixed so piling won't start today. It may start tomorrow unless Tam has to go and move a ship. I'm getting very keen to start piling as I reckon it's only once we've got a few piles in will we know how difficult it's all going to be. The next load of timber is due today at 2.00, check that's OK with Eversons as they have a boat to move sometime this week and we can't do both jobs at the same time. Friends keep asking after my piles; unfortunately I can't give them any definite news as yet!

Simon Shaw

15 September 2009

Get down to the Club about 8.30 so I can try and check the delivery to make sure everything is there that should be there. Help load the first 10 piles onto Tam's small barge, then go to the club and get the plates for the pile joints and the nuts and bolts. Though its quite a small pile of metal it seems to weigh a ton, or several, and I resolve that the next lot needs to get straight from my garage to Tam's barge without any intermediate stops. Tam goes off to organise the air hammer and I have a paddle in the mud in front of the club to remove all the brick ends and hard bits that might damage the barge.

Simon Shaw

Nuts, bolts & washers arrive, today 15th in pouring rain and darn heavy. Really good exercise for our commodore though as my job is just taking the Pics.

(ok so I did help)

Dave Wagstaff

14 September 2009

The bulk of the timber for the piles is due today. Everson's are ready to crane the wood off the lorry into their yard, the crane driver finishes work at 4.00pm so I've asked the supplier to make sure that its delivered by 2.00 to allow time for unloading before 4.00. Get a call to say that loading is slower than expected but the lorry should arrive at about 3.00. Everson's reckon that won't be a problem. Between 3 and 4pm I wander round Kingston Road and Cherry Tree Road looking for a lost lorry driver..eventually he arrives at about 3.55 in an enormous low loader. Geoff Sinton says "that's not all yours is it" .... unfortunately it is. Then it starts to rain again so we get wet through unloading, which takes over an hour. Very grateful to Derek and Geoff for staying till the job was done.

Simon Shaw

1 - 10 September 2009

1st September - working party meets to remove all tenders from the pontoons so Tam Grundy has a clear area to work in. It’s a hot day and I start to feel pretty tired by the end. Permanently close gates to pontoons and attach pukka safety signs courtesy of Dave Wagstaff.

2nd & 3rd September - Tam Grundy removes pontoons and steel cantilever arms

4th September - Meet John Davis and David Poole to discuss what can be done to start the ramp before the 6th October planning deadline. I decide that I should buy treated softwood for piles so that Tam G can drive them in during his time on site. John’s test bore finds only 4metres of mud before firm ground so the ramp piles only need to be 5metres long. Look at drawings of existing ramp and find the piles are 1.5metres long so its no wonder the ramp is sinking into the mud. Find its quite difficult to get hold of 5metre long 6 inch square piles but get two from Buildbase. They are 6metre long but I’m hopeful that they may get cut down to form 2 piles from each length.

7th September – Go to collect Nuts and Bolts quite a large pile of bags and boxes; probably too heavy for the car so opt to get them delivered direct to Eversons next week.

10th September - Went to DYC to accept delivery of the 2 softwood piles for the dinghy launching ramp. Thought I’d take a carload of Stainless steel plates down as well. About a quarter of the steel seemed to have the back of the car more or less down to road level. It’s now spread around the DYC veranda to make sure I don’t exceed the floor loading in one place by too much. This stuff is far too heavy to keep moving from one place to another! Decide to hang onto the rest until it can be loaded straight onto Tam’s barge. Took one look at the wood piles, they are big…fortunately the crane driver was still at Eversons so the timber got craned off the lorry and left in their yard.

Simon Shaw

August 2009

9th August Start Mirror week – break my gooseneck on Monday – end Mirror week. Spend the time re-checking nuts and bolts.

13th August - invade Pat and Pam Morgan’s yacht complete with drawings and spreadsheets, persuade Pat to check my numbers. It takes 3 hours, not the half hour I’d suggested! Never mind, several errors were discovered and corrected.

20th August – get last quote for Nuts and bolts, decide on SIG fixings as they are close to any other price and are local, on Ransomes Europark, so if we need some more items at short notice we can easily collect. Order Nuts and bolts…over £2,000 worth!

27th August – Hire a drop side lorry to collect galvanised steel from fabricator, put the smaller bits in my garage but take the 7 large box sections to be fitted onto the piles by a company, Martin Childs, who are at Brandon and normally make lock gates and other large structures. Each box weighs about 130Kg so its either a crane or forklift for loading and unloading. Just out of interest thought I’d try and lift one, decided it was a bad idea when it seemed to be glued to the floor and stopped trying before I damaged anything.

28th August – Was due to sail in the OK nationals at West Mersea, but the wind was gusting 40 knots so racing was cancelled for the day and I came home. Just as well as the stainless plates were delivered to my house in the late afternoon and I helped to unload them into my garage. There must be a ton of steel, it certainly felt that way and the driver was pleased he got a hand to unload it.

Simon Shaw

July 2009

13th July - order stainless steel for the Clubhouse pile splices, these are 4 plates and won’t be buried in the mud so are much more likely to corrode.

Start looking through the drawings counting nuts and bolts and noting sizes, yet another spreadsheet. Need to pester John Davis as sometimes I can’t work out how things fit together.

Start writing Club’s method statement which details how the Club will operate during the period when the contractor is working.

22nd July - Meet scaffolder to discuss quote for temporary handrail and either a safety net or floor under the veranda area.

Simon Shaw

June 2009

Discover a Dutch company Wijma with a depot at Woolpit that specialise in large timber for marine use. They have stocks of certified Greenheart at their yard. Arrange to inspect the timber with Ken to see if it is straight enough for floating pontoons; if it isn’t pretty straight there’s a risk the pontoons will jam on the piles!

Need to decide how long the piles need to be…we have a test bore done, there’s 6metres of mud before we find any hard ground. In addition John Davis stirs the mud with a giant porridge stirrer to find out how stiff it is and therefore how much support it’ll give the piles; answer: not a lot! Add 4metres from the mud to the veranda, but the piles must go a couple of metres into the hard ground so that makes 12metres long, but the piles can’t be driven to a precise height, they must be over length and cut to the right height so we need 13metre piles. This causes 2 problems, our contractor can only handle 8 metre piles and 13metre timber may need a special shipment from the Guyana where the timber is sourced.

We decide to buy the piles in 2 lengths joined by a steel box section. John calculates the length for this at 1.5metres and specifies a fabricated Stainless steel box. This will cost over £1,500 per pile! As this is necessary only for the pontoon piles the steel box must lie below the mud level so the pontoons can easily slide up and down. John Davis does some research and confirms what everyone says, that there’s no wood rot and little corrosion below mud level as there’s no oxygen there. Decide that therefore we can use mild steel box section, drilled and then galvanised, only £500 per box!!

26th June - Order Galvanised steel from Mike Jackson who gave us the best quote and has supplied the extra railing by the side gate and the strengthening beam on the veranda.

29th June - Go sailing for 2 weeks, planned trip to Holland, even took my CEVNI qualification; in the event it was a foggy week so ended up going to Itchenor

Simon Shaw

May 2009

The order for replacement pontoons was placed with Walcon Marine as they had a 12 week lead time. Discover that the pontoons need assembly on site, but persuade Walcon to assemble them before shipment.

Feeling very nervous about my ability to manage a project of this nature so appeal in the DYC newsletter for help from people with suitable experience. Get a reply from Ken Weeks who has managed large projects in Tilbury Dock, Southampton Dock and is quite comfortable with managing pile driving. Meet with Ken and start to feel much more comfortable about things.

Simon Shaw

Background to the project

When Kay Yuill was Commodore back in 2002 she started to undertake strategic planning for the Club, surveying the members to identify whether the Club’s facilities should be developed and if so how. At a similar time it was becoming apparent that the stresses caused by the floating pontoons being cantilevered off the Club were causing the veranda to become distorted and its structural integrity reduced. The result of the exercise was two planning applications:

1. For an extension to the Clubhouse platform 3m towards the river and 10m south with an expanded set of changing rooms and an additional club lounge. New pontoons located by piles plus a new access ramp were also incorporated.


2. A replacement dinghy launching ramp, 2.5metres wider than the existing ramp.

Both applications were granted in October 2006. Tenders were sought for the work detailed in the planning permission and resulted in responses of around £600k for the complete work, way beyond the Club’s reserves. In order to reduce the outlay it was decide to complete the project in phases:

1. Extend the veranda 3metres toward the river and install marina pontoons located by piles to reduce the stresses on the Club
   
2. Replace and extend the dinghy launching ramp
   
3. Improve the changing rooms
   
4. Extend the Club veranda south by 10metres.
   

The planning rules are that a project must be started within 3 years of the grant of planning permission or the permission will lapse. However once started the planning permission will extend indefinitely. It was important to start the veranda extension and the launching ramp replacement by October 2009 when the planning permission would lapse.

Fixed price tenders received in 2008 even for the Club veranda extension plus pontoons were around £250,000; beyond the Club’s financial reserves. Grant applications were made to the Foundation for Sport and the Arts and Sport England; neither was successful. The Committee felt that the only viable way to proceed was for the Club to employ a local contractor, Tam Grundy, to undertake the piling and some of the heavier joinery using Working Party labour to complete the veranda.

There was therefore a great deal more work to be done by Club members as all the materials would be specified and bought by the Club rather than a contractor. In February 2009 the Committee authorised the spending of £130,000 on the first phase of the project, the extension of the veranda by 3metres towards the river, plus pontoon piles and some replacement pontoons, with work to start in September 2009 before the planning permission expired.

All systems go then, spreadsheets were refined with new quotes for large items, and a source of good large size timber was sought.

Simon Shaw