Got a New toy

The following Sunday I concentrated on getting a bucket width down to level







This showed just how much material we had to move and a lack of time to achieve it.
We have a grand opening of Devils Hole Lock planned for mid April.

With this in mind, assistance in the way of a 10t tracked dumper and Zaxis 130 complete with gimpy bucket were brought in for a week.

WoW, Rob this is a GREAT thread i have enjoyed the entire post. and i question for u how long do u think the entire rebuild will take ??? and when can i come over there and help u guys LoL i would if i could for sure. tks

As many who play with muck will be only too aware, its always a problem finding somewhere to loose it



Luckily these dumpers will go places a man can hardly walk



But at a £1000 a week it had to go

And we resorted to our own fleet

View attachment 59119


With the poor little Hanix struggling to keep the tip clear for the dumper.

diggerdave1958 said:

how long do u think the entire rebuild will take ??? and when can i come over there and help u guys LoL i would if i could for sure.

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Glad you like it Dave, you are welcome anytime, no need to even bring a shovel, we have plenty spare.

There are 10 locks to be rebuilt from scratch between this next one that we are almost finished on and the summit at Dunsfold. Thats the area where Top Gear is filmed with the Stig.
They have to be rebuilt from scratch as originally built of brick, they were dismantled and the bricks reused for other things. Who said recycling is a new thing :Banghead
If we managed to build a lock every 2 years, that will take us another 20yrs Its a long term project

We are in the proccess of applying for planning permission for the next lock which is Southlands and the cap is out to raise the funds required. Estimated at £300,000

The last figures I have seen put the cost of the Devils Hole Lock alterations at £80,000 which includes £38,000 for the gates.

Nice work Rob.

Looks like ya found a bit of a mudhole there fella. :yup

Is that a Hitachi CG45 dumper?

ATCOEQUIP said:

Looks like ya found a bit of a mudhole there fella.
Is that a Hitachi CG45 dumper?

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Hi Atcoequip, sorry for the late reply I am away all week and although I have net access its via a mobile and deadly slow loading this site due to the colour and ads etc, so I get a little look but have to be desperate to post

That mudhole is our tip the dumper had no problem but you can see what happened to the little Hanix

Cant tell you the model of the dumper I'm afraid. First one I have ever got to play in and must say I was impressed, bloody expensive but gets the muck where you wouldnt get it otherwise.

The new gates went on last week.

Nice looking work Rob.

That place is going to look amazing when you guys are done.

Rob thank you for posting this thread. I have followed it as well as spent sometime on the Canal website, very interesting stuff. What you all are doing is very impressive and I like the construction techniques. The craftsmanship of the excavation, masonry and wood work is impressive. Keep up the good work and I hope to get to visit it one day.:drinkup

ATCOEQUIP said:

That place is going to look amazing when you guys are done.

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I wonder if I will live long enough to see it completed, some how I dont think so :dizzy

CM1995 said:

thank you for posting this thread. I have followed it as well as spent sometime on the Canal website, very interesting stuff. ................... Keep up the good work and I hope to get to visit it one day.

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Its my pleasure CM just glad folk like it. I am a big believer in the more it is talked about the more chance there is of just the right person ( multi millionaire maybe ) getting to hear about it.

I do hope if you get the chance to visit the UK that it might be a possible stop off point for a boat trip or stroll in the countryside. :beerchug

Today we have been building a quay / dock / landing stage area for the trip boats to stop at for folk to embark / disembark.
These are regurgatated plastic, panels that look rather like cast iron :cool2 about 2"x10"x80" long bolted to a piece of galvanised steel 3" angle iron to create panels 10 wide.
Each end panel has a 6ft threaded rod that goes back to a buried retaining pad. In front of the pad we have driven 3ft lengths of scaffold tube into the ground to help as an anchor.

First panel placed last weekend.



Swinging in another panel, note retaining bar which was subsequently removed during placement for safety reasons.



View along the excavation during tightening.



Out of time, so rough backfill to keep everything safe.
The intention is to compact a couple of layers of clay along the front to aid retention.

Nice looking job on the Lock Rob.:thumbsup

The quality of the wooden gates look exceptional in the pics and should hopefully provide some long service.

Never come accross those panels before and I would be interested in a rough cost per panel?
It would be interesting to compare against plastic piles which are easy to use and could be topped off with a concrete plinth.

Just curious as to how it all gets funded? Usual mix of donations and grants I assume?
All great work and plenty around this area needing attention!

Eddiebackblade said:

Never come accross those panels before and I would be interested in a rough cost per panel?

Just curious as to how it all gets funded? Usual mix of donations and grants I assume?

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Hi Eddie, Sorry I completely forgot about your request.
The planks come from Bournemouth.
Clicking a few links will bring up a full list price but it will be slow to load so I have print page and cropped half the page to give you an idea.

http://www.reformedplastics.co.uk/recycled-plastic-products.php

http://www.reformedplastics.co.uk/ReformedPlasticsPriceList.pdf



You are quite correct on the funding, all by voluntary contribution, fund raising, profit from the boat trips and a little from IWA.

Yesterday, 17th April 2010 was the official grand opening of the Devils Hole Lock and the stretch of water between it and the New Lock.

This lock as I may have already mentioned was damaged by Royal Canadian Engineers in WW11 during testing of explosives prior to the Dieppe landings.

With this in mind, it was decided to extend an invitation to the Canadian High Commission in London to see if they wished to partake in the official reopening.

I am very pleased to say they sent a Colonel and two Lieutenant Colonels in full military attire to join us in the celebrations.
We even had good weather

Due to a shortage of time the new quay we had built did not get used as we had not got rid of the muck that I had generated. It all got shaped back to canal profile to get the boat through.

As a result we built a temporary landing stage that worked just as well.

The other slight disappointment was due to a technical problem last weekend and into the week a lot of water was lost. There was insufficient time to back pump and draw enough water from the river to flood the short section I had bunded off above the lock.
As a result the stop planks were installed at the head of the lock to allow the top gates to be opened during the ceremony.
Once the big boat had returned to Loxwood it was deemed worth the risk to drop the lock water level and reflood it with a couple of small boats in.

I've pinched these off the canal web site.

Josias Jessop leads Zachariah Keppel departing New Lock on their way to DHL



Small boats in DHL after the opening.





Colonel Paul Rutherford conducting the official reopening of Devils Hole Lock.

Those pictures look great. Excellent work! Cheers to all of you!:drinkup:drinkup

Thanks for the list on the plastic planking Rob.
I have to keep looking at the recycled alternatives for obvious reasons when looking at solutions in this Environmental work.
Having just discovered that some really smart looking Bog Mats are now being produced in recycled plastic with many benefits over their timber alternatives, I am keen to purchase 3 (all I usually need to walk the machine about) to give a good workout.
Apparently Murphys have used them on a pipeline with up to 60 tonne crawler cranes, so the Kubota shouldn't trouble them.
However they are 5m x 1m x 90mm and only weigh 300kg, so should be strong and light to handle.

As for the Lock and the opening, I can only give all concerned the highest praise for all their efforts and what a fantastic touch to link back into the story of the Canadians who originally blew her up.
I wish the brave lads who were preparing to face that horror when they blew her up could have been there to push the gates back open theselves, but I'm certain they would approve of your efforts.

Will an information board or plaque be installed to tell the full story?

Congratulations on a job well job well done Rob, I realise this is only a small section of a much larger project, but it is a credit to all of you. I bet the biggest thrill was watching the water flow into the newly constructed canal and lock, for the first time.

RnR.

This thread is awesome! Really enjoyed reading it!

Just wondering what will be happening to the CX130 when theres no more work for it on the canal? Will you sell it or keep it and hire it out?

Glad that was off use Eddie. Those mats sound amazing and I will watch with intrest any further comments you have on them.

Thanks to everybody for your positive comments.

Actually got to work this weekend so no canal.

JoeS1989 said:

Just wondering what will be happening to the CX130 when theres no more work for it on the canal?

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Dont worry Joe, there is far more canal work to be done than the CX130 is likely to manage. I dont think it will ever get sold off, maybe traded in in a few years time if we get real lucky. on the other hand it could still be active in another 10yrs with a bit of love and attention :drinkup

ah thats good then! They are apparently very good little machines! Wouldnt mind getting into something like this myself in a few years time to be honest!