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Dredging in Seward Ak.

Lashlander

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Jan 4, 2007
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1,226
Location
Kodiak Ak.
Few more pics.
 

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Lashlander

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2007
Messages
1,226
Location
Kodiak Ak.
Still more.
 

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Lashlander

Senior Member
Joined
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1,226
Location
Kodiak Ak.
Have you had enough?
 

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stretch

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Mar 24, 2008
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Location
Southington, CT
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gopher
Lashlander, great pics...do you own the company or work for someone else?

I second what DigDug said.
 

DPete

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Feb 21, 2007
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1,677
Location
Central Ca.
Great pics Lash, do you guys ever dig anything up thats interesting, like gold nuggets?
 

Big Iron

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Oct 16, 2006
Messages
219
Location
Oregon
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Project Manager
Great photos Lashlander. Man when you get a nice sunny day up there its about as pretty as it gets ain't it! Good looking 518, your dead on about the simplicity of those cranes. I drilled many a conductor on the slope with our LS218A/watson 5000 and it was by far my favorite drilling crane.
 

HeyUvaVT

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Jan 18, 2007
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337
Location
Virginia
those mountains are nothing short of breath taking..i could look at pics of them all day
 

Lashlander

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Joined
Jan 4, 2007
Messages
1,226
Location
Kodiak Ak.
DigDug, the barge wasn't to slick with the mud on it. The mud seemed to be a little gritty. The barge had a concrete deck. It was a little strange operating the loader on a moving platform though.

Stretch, I don't own the company. I've worked for them for over 18 years now and the owners are trying to talk me into taking it over but I'm just a worker bee.

DPete, We dug up a lot of railroad track and wood piling on this job. The other operator did a little panning of the spoils when I was digging. Never found anything good though.

Big Iron, Seward is a beautiful place when the weather is decent. We've done a lot of work there. All our jobs have been in the fall to spring so we miss the tourist season. No crowds and friendly people. Its one of my favorite places to work.

Thanks for everyones comments. Heres the last of the pics.

A couple pics of off loading.

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Once we got away from the dock the material got a little sandy so we were able to get a decent load on the barge.
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Rather than spend the time to anchor up I chose to drive piling to moor the barges when we were off the end of the dock. This kept us from having to clam around our anchor lines.
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Lashlander

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Joined
Jan 4, 2007
Messages
1,226
Location
Kodiak Ak.
Running out of free board quickly!
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Breaking the clam loose.
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Fuel the loader up.
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Taking a load out.
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It was kinda funny. The tour boats are running out to Kenai Fjords National Park to see the Whales and other Sealife. Its where the glaciers are calving into the water. They come out of the Harbor and the first thing the tourists see is us dumping mud into the bay. We must have had a million pictures taken and as many dirty looks.
 

bear

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Mar 22, 2008
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South Central Kentucky
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Math, Physics, keeping out of trouble and doing od
Running out of free board quickly!

They come out of the Harbor and the first thing the tourists see is us dumping mud into the bay. We must have had a million pictures taken and as many dirty looks.

We had a crane like that to lift our I beams when I was building bridges, she had a 4 yard clam too for diggin down for the main pilings. We also had a newer link belt supposedly rated near the same but the old one was 3 times the crane of the new one. That stuff you were loading looks like poo. I'd say running out of freeboard like that made you want to unload faster :D :rolleyes: Nice stuff there, If they have that much confidence in you ya gotta be doing something right. Love the pics.
 

Big Iron

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Oct 16, 2006
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219
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Oregon
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Project Manager
a fitting end to a good job, nice weather, nice place to be. last time i was in Seward we stopped at a resturant right on the bay (can't remember the name) it was the last day it was open for the season. had a good meal, good wine and then some good whiskey, enjoyed the day. will get back there some day soon (like this summer). have a safe trip home!
 

RonG

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Dec 2, 2003
Messages
1,833
Location
Meriden ct
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heavy equipment operator
What a series of pics!!!!Thanks for sharing them with us.
When you are unloading the barge do you have to be concious of the way you do it so as to preserve the ballast properly?It would seem as though too much weight on one end could be dangerous.Thanks again for the great shots and commentary.Ron G
 

Lashlander

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Joined
Jan 4, 2007
Messages
1,226
Location
Kodiak Ak.
Hey Ron, thanks for the comments. This barge wasn't to bad. We did dig down the middle and leave some material on the bow to level up faster. Then work both ends. I commented on operating on a moving platform. We had an area we had to dump in so the tug was jogging within the boundaries. It was a strange sensation to be stopped dumping over the side and be spinning around at the same time. Also the loader with a bucket of mud would list the barge pretty good when you approached the edge to dump. I never wore my seatbelt!:eek:
 

Big Iron

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Oct 16, 2006
Messages
219
Location
Oregon
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Project Manager
Hey Big Iron, was it Rays. They have every fish I ever saw mounted on the walls. Excellent food.

That sounds right, remember it was 15 years ago and I have a hard time remembering yesterday on a good day! great food and:drinkup As I recall we wound up sleeping in the pickup that night. Seems it was to late to drive anywhere when we finished. They were closing down for the winter and we wound up with some of the locals and well, things went downhill from there.
 

Construct'O

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SW Iowa
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Dozerwork,tiling plus many more!!!!!!!
Lashlander first off super pictures !!!!!!!

I have a few questions,how are you keeping track of where you have dug and how are you measuring the depth.Are you using GPS or anything,or just doing it manual with cable and weight then measure it when it hits bottom?

I was always amazed watching dragline cleaning ponds with the water in them.How they decided when it was time to move over.One thing about the water it hides your work :D.

As soupy at it is do you have to over dig so that some of the slop will even out as you go and to reach your target (planned)depth.

Also is it cold enough that you have it freeze on the barge or are you working two shift(night shift)?I would think if it was freezing that it would build up enough to loose some of your capacity?

The loader job doesn't look like a place for a beginner or trainee!I noticed that one end of the loader barge looked to be riding low in the water ,but you covered the subject good already.

Again awesome pictures!!!!!! Thanks for sharing :notworthy:usa
 

Construct'O

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Couple more questions,will the barges move on there own power or do you have to have the tug there all the time to move them with?

Also noitced the 5 and line on you clam, i take that is the 5 yards mark? With the mud heaped in the picture above the line thats how you decid you have 6 yards ?

Thanks
 

Lashlander

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Joined
Jan 4, 2007
Messages
1,226
Location
Kodiak Ak.
Hey there Construct'O, we still do it the old fashioned way. This particular cut was 1000' long by 110' wide. They like a 2 to 1 slope on the cut. No one has ever pushed the 2 to 1 though. I always take an extra bite wide and let the material unravel its self. The barges were 115' wide when side by side so it as easy to keep the outside boundary. We measured out the end of the dock and dropped buoys to establish the end of the cut.
If you notice the chain on the first pic on the last set I posted you'll see the paint marks on the chain. This is how we control depth. We establish elevation on the dock and place a tide board. Then the tide elevation is figured into the cut. I like to paint my footage marks different colors so its quick to figure out where you are on the chain. We dig the width of the cut then close the clam and set it at depth, then swing it though the cut. if its clean we go on. If we bump bottom we take a bite. Most dredging jobs will pay to over dig one foot. This job they payed for 2 feet. The bid was for a minimum cut of minus 36' I shot for a minimum of minus 37'. Usually anything over that is free but their paying to minus 38'. The yardage is determined by underwater surveys done by a third party firm before and after the job. The bid was for 20,000 yards. We haven't got the end survey back yet so don't know what was actually dug. I know we went over though. Hopefully not to far.
The 5 line on the clam is feet with the clam closed. The clam is 4 yards struck so I was guessing on the 6 yard comment in the beginning.
It was freezing pretty hard at night. We had a little trouble with the mud freezing around the cleats, but the mud on deck would thaw out from the material we were adding to the load.
I haven't done a lot of draglining but the ones I have been around they have established depth the same way. They will paint the hoisting line on the machine at the depth they want to cut. Some operators will paint it at the waterline. I've seen some paint it on the wire along side the cab so they can see it better. Then they dig until they get to the line, then move on. You're correct about the water hiding your work. Right up until they bring out the underwater mapping computer with the GPS. They can see every divit and drag mark you have put in the mud. Its always amazed me what that thing will pick up.
The barges don't have any power. We move them around with the power skiffs that we have on board or a tug.
 

AtlasRob

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West Sussex UK
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Awesome :notworthy:notworthy:notworthy
An amazing set of pictures, both work and scenic. And very informative.
Lashlander, 18yrs, and they want you to consider taking over.!!!!! DONT do a list of "whys" ! Do a list of "why nots". I bet it will be shorter :cool2.
In my book the longer list wins, :thumbsup Good luck.
 

Construct'O

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Lashlander thanks for taking the time to post the info for my questions.Tricks to all trades are there!!!!!!!!:notworthy

Been busy with work,so didn't get on here until today.

GPS is changing how things are done for sure,but the old school stuff has been around for a long time and still prove it can be done.

On a different note what is hidden under the water work!

They dregded a local small lake and the guys doing the dredging was in for a surprise,when they started dredging!The lake bottom had more then they thought?Old CCC camp built lake.

It had large oak stumps under the water:eek:,so water hides lots of things.They had one hick of a time trying to dregde with the stumps .They couldn't do the typical sweep with the dredging head because of the stumps.

They had to have the water to float the dredge,but drained it when they got done and you couldn't believe the stumps.So needless to say the GPS didn't work to good on that job.

Bet they was glad to get out of there and bet the next job time they bid things with this i mind or checks thing out better?High dollar earning curve for sure.Blow the engine in the dredge and took close to 2 months extra time to get the job done!!!!!!!!! Was getting it plugged ,plus breaking stuff on the head.

They pumped the spoils about a 1/2 to a 1/4 mile away into a holding pond for the silt to settle in.Also it was dry ,so they wasn't sure they was going to have enough water for the drege to float before they got done.

A different job,but it was interesting.Thanks again:usa
 
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