A few projects I have done recently

[joe--h]

Lunch if you like roast beef is just next door.

You think that grey stuff they put in their sandwiches is beef?

Joe H

 

[CM1995]

Lunch if you like roast beef is just next door.

You think that grey stuff they put in their sandwiches is beef?

Joe H

No idea - haven't ate there in years and have no future plans to.

 

[willie59]

As usual the curbs guys took longer than their time on the schedule and we played chase around. I hate that ****.

View attachment 291470

You're way more polite than me, I would have sent at least a couple of fingers of dirt right up to their forms just to let them know "hey, you're holding me up". LoL

 

[CM1995]

So our 20th anniversary is this year so the better 1/2 and I decided to go to the British Virgins Islands for a few days, specifically Virgin Gorda via the US Virgin Islands. This trip involved trains (ATL airport), planes, boats and automobiles all in the same day.

Flew from ATL to the US Virgin Islands then took a speed boat to Tortola BVI in order to go through customs then on to Virgin Gorda. Total trip on the boat was 1 HR 45 min. It was awesome.

Headed out of Vessup Bay St Thomas US Virgin Islands.



Headed towards St John and Tortolla.



Pulling up at British customs on Tortolla. Captain Marvin took care of all the immigration and customs paper work and we did not have to leave the boat. Which was good since there was a cooler nicely stocked with barley soda's and plenty of ice.



Pulling into Virgin Gorda. There was a "yacht" anchored in the cove adjacent to the resort. More on that ship later.

 

[CM1995]

This is one of the nicest beach resorts we have ever stayed.

Pulling up to the dock on the first day.



This is the main dining pavilion. Thatched roof with a massive timber frame. These structures survived hurricane Irma.



Pretty impressive engineering involved in creating and building this pavilion. Hard to imagine the moment forces all in balance not only to keep it standing but withstand a hurricane that destroyed so many other buildings on the island.



Wife snapped a pic of one of the 25 sea turtles that call the bay home. We snorkeled with a small one the same bay. Pretty damn cool.

 

[CM1995]

Took an afternoon boat trip to snorkel at The Baths.



There are pockets of private beaches around the island. It's like a scene out of 007's Dr No.



Wife and I spent an afternoon at this beach. Snorkeled around the rocks which was amazing and enjoyed the beach to ourselves.




The sand is course various stages of crushed sea shells. I'm used to the sugar sand beaches of Alabama and the Central Gulf Coast.

 

[CM1995]

The ship, yacht, boat whatever you want to call it was impressive. Heard 3 different stories of who the owner was. The two stories on the island were a Russian billionaire owned it and another a Saudi Prince.

Friend of mine that was down a month before heard a New Zealand aluminum magnate bought it from the Russian. Who knows.

Anchored next to the resort we were at.



It pulled anchor a few days before we left then we found it anchored outside Tortolla near the British customs.






It has it's own helicopter.. nuts!

 

[DGODGR]

I've been through the same customs process at that port of entry as well. We came from St John, and had to stop at customs to then proceed to the RMS Rhone. If you scuba dive, I'd highly recommend diving it. Since it's in the carribean, the water has almost no turbidity (you can see a long way). The dive is 80 or 100', IIRC. As you begin your decent down the mouring line, you can see the whole debris field (like a bird's eye view). The farthe rdown you go, the more details the wreck reveals. It gets pretty real when you get to the bottom and see silverware, and shoes, etc.. It's a steal hull and much of it remains and one can even swim through it. I did the dive with no exposure suit (even though it' that deep). Another blessing when diving in the carribean is warm water. Give it a shot if you have time and are certified. It's worth it!

 

[DGODGR]

Wow - we have never gotten 900 hours on a set of teeth, the most we have ever gotten has been around 250.

I checked with my local Cat dealer, just to verify my recollection. The only teeth that I have purchased for the 325Ng are the (6) that I currently have in the garage (waiting to be installed when the others finally wear out). The machine now has about 950 hours on it. To be fair, they are not all "bucket" hours. In addition to the 48" bucket (which sees the most use), I have a 24" bucket, a hammer, and a crusher bucket. I doubt if I have 20 hours on the crusher bucket, and similar with the 24" bucket. I probably have +/-200 hours on the hammer (mounted to that machine anyway). Even if I assume a conservative 700 hours of use for the 48" bucket, I'm certainly impressed by the tooth life, especially since we work with so much rock.

 

[CM1995]

I've been through the same customs process at that port of entry as well. We came from St John, and had to stop at customs to then proceed to the RMS Rhone. If you scuba dive, I'd highly recommend diving it. Since it's in the carribean, the water has almost no turbidity (you can see a long way). The dive is 80 or 100', IIRC. As you begin your decent down the mouring line, you can see the whole debris field (like a bird's eye view). The farthe rdown you go, the more details the wreck reveals. It gets pretty real when you get to the bottom and see silverware, and shoes, etc.. It's a steal hull and much of it remains and one can even swim through it. I did the dive with no exposure suit (even though it' that deep). Another blessing when diving in the carribean is warm water. Give it a shot if you have time and are certified. It's worth it!

Thats awesome! Wife and I are not divers but we did enjoy the snorkeling. The water down there is so clear it's amazing.

Were the US Customs and Immigration officers on St John Cruz Bay rude as hell to you? They treated us so badly but what are you going to do...

 

[CM1995]

I checked with my local Cat dealer, just to verify my recollection. The only teeth that I have purchased for the 325Ng are the (6) that I currently have in the garage (waiting to be installed when the others finally wear out). The machine now has about 950 hours on it. To be fair, they are not all "bucket" hours. In addition to the 48" bucket (which sees the most use), I have a 24" bucket, a hammer, and a crusher bucket. I doubt if I have 20 hours on the crusher bucket, and similar with the 24" bucket. I probably have +/-200 hours on the hammer (mounted to that machine anyway). Even if I assume a conservative 700 hours of use for the 48" bucket, I'm certainly impressed by the tooth life, especially since we work with so much rock.

Dropping the 325FL off at the dealer tomorrow to have QC taken off and installed on the 325. Then Sitech is going to measure up our 2 buckets on the machine. Should have the new 325 set up next week.

 

[DGODGR]

Thats awesome! Wife and I are not divers but we did enjoy the snorkeling. The water down there is so clear it's amazing.

Were the US Customs and Immigration officers on St John Cruz Bay rude as hell to you? They treated us so badly but what are you going to do...

My then wife (divorced for about 10 yrs now) and I got certified on our first trip to the USVI. We signed up with a school down there, prior to the trip, and they sent us all the book work, and study material. We did that part at home, and when we arrived in the USVI we took the written test, and then did the practical testing there (OMG!!..the female half of the couple who owned the dive shop was possibly the most beautiful creature I've ever seen!. Tall, blond, tan, an athletic build, and as nice and [ersonable as the day is long. She was Dutch, and married a very average American guy.). The testing took about a 1/2 day during our time there. The second half of the day we were diving. I recommend it over snorkeling. You get to see a lot more, and can spend much more time under the water in places most can't really reach with a snorkel. The experience is not what I thought it would be. I think it's much more like flying than swimming.
I don't recall going through customs when we returned. Maybe because were only in the BVI for a few hours, we didn't have to go through US customs? Maybe I just don't recall. Sorry that you had a bad experience with that part. The part that I didn't really like was the ground transportation. If you don't rent a car (renting a car is difficult when you are island hopping), one must rely on taxis (at least when I was last there -pre UBER). I always felt as though I was being taken advantage of.
I have yet to spend time on an actual island in the BVI. I would like to and will likely do so next time I'm down that way. I've heard that it's much cleaner and prettier than the USVI. I've stayed on St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John. St. John being the nicest, St. Thomas is a lot like being in a big US city with very high humidity, and an ocean view, and on St. Croix I observed a lot of poverty (and great big refinery as well).

Dropping the 325FL off at the dealer tomorrow to have QC taken off and installed on the 325. Then Sitech is going to measure up our 2 buckets on the machine. Should have the new 325 set up next week.

That's good that the machine is getting "pre- delivered". Not much longer and you can start wearing out the seat (and teeth).
While they are measuring things, have them measure the breaker as well. You may not be using your hammer the way that I do, but knowing the depth of the tool can be very handy if breaking to a specific grade (like for a building pad). I know that the point will wear, and change the accuracy (bucket teeth do as well), but a good operator can "out think" the system by going a bit below indicated grade when the tool is not as long as when it was measured. Of course, you could always re-measure each morning that you will be using it, but I don't know anyone who does this, even for the bucket. That being said, I'd recommend having them train you how to do it so you aren't dependent upon CAT to perform this every time.

 

[sfrs4]

@DGODGR I like that analogy, I have used the same analogy to friends of mine, I was very lucky some 27 years ago while traveling around Australia I was gifted the opportunity to have a day on a dive boat to the barrier reef, part of this was a buddy dive with a qualified instructor, it was without doubt one of the most amazing experiences of my life. the size of some of the fish, and the vibrant colours of everything...wow
When we got back in the boat, the instructor looked at me and said that I was the reason he loved doing his job, he then said I should of drowned, the smile on face was that big the whole time, water should of been rushing past the respirator. It's an experience I would recommend anyone to do if you get the chance.

 

[CM1995]

I would like to give diving a try but I doubt the better 1/2 would. From what I saw from the surface can only imagine what deeper depths look like.

Had to go through British and US customs as we did stay on Virgin Gorda. As far as ground transport goes wife had a private car (van) set up to take us from the St Thomas airport to the dock which was a 30-40 min drive to other side of the island. IIRC it was around $100, not cheap but she was waiting for us at baggage claim.

We only went off resort on Virgin Gorda twice and took a private car negotiated through the hotel to take and pick up. Coco Maya on Virgin Gorda is a great beachside bar and restaurant serving island inspired tapas dishes.

This was marinated chicken thighs with a tomato and cucumber salsa.

 

[CM1995]

That's good that the machine is getting "pre- delivered". Not much longer and you can start wearing out the seat (and teeth).
While they are measuring things, have them measure the breaker as well. You may not be using your hammer the way that I do, but knowing the depth of the tool can be very handy if breaking to a specific grade (like for a building pad). I know that the point will wear, and change the accuracy (bucket teeth do as well), but a good operator can "out think" the system by going a bit below indicated grade when the tool is not as long as when it was measured. Of course, you could always re-measure each morning that you will be using it, but I don't know anyone who does this, even for the bucket. That being said, I'd recommend having them train you how to do it so you aren't dependent upon CAT to perform this every time.

Good idea on the hammer - thanks for the advice!

Our Sitech guys are pretty accessible and helpful when we need them. They do provide good service after the sale. Haven't used the hammer in a while but we have phase 2 of our downtown project scheduled for the end of Sept.

 

[Ollie]

Good idea on the hammer - thanks for the advice!

Our Sitech guys are pretty accessible and helpful when we need them. They do provide good service after the sale. Haven't used the hammer in a while but we have phase 2 of our downtown project scheduled for the end of Sept.

We set are hoepac up on gps too for pitrun backfill of trench’s works well

 

[CM1995]

Dropped the small bucket off today for it be measured up. SiTech has not started installation on the new 325 however dealer has fitted up our QC and 48" bucket.



And no the bucket is not touching the cab as it was the first thing I inspected. It's close, very close but not touching. Otherwise they would be ordering a new front panel.

 

[skyking1]

I ran a 235 that could touch itself when I worked for Tucci. That was a PITA.
That sigtech stuff sounds really cool. This is as close as I will get to it

 

[WaterDoc]

I saw that Yacht in King's Wharf Bermuda last summer. We got the owned by a Russian Vodka magnate story about it.

 

[CM1995]

I saw that Yacht in King's Wharf Bermuda last summer. We got the owned by a Russian Vodka magnate story about it.

I wonder what the real story is? It's one hell of a ship!