17th December 2009

Well the good news is that the standoffs arrive. The access ramp now can't be reached by a crane from the barge as the pontoons are in the way so we decide to put the standoffs on without the crane if we can. On a rising tide, just as the float starts to exert some upward pressure unbolt the float and use body weight to push it down and out to one side of the ramp. We quickly bolt on the standoffs on and try and get the float back under the access ramp, of course the float has to be pushed 300mm further into the water to get the standoffs in position; rather difficult but just possible by putting as much weight as possible on one side at a time. Once they are are in position we bolt them on and wait for the tide.

What a disappointment, this time the float sits much deeper, but doesn't have enough buoyancy to lift the access ramp. At the top of the tide the float is nearly submerged, just a couple of inches of freeboard, so a bigger float is needed, as well as being set even lower relative to the ramp.