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Just some work pics

kshansen

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Mar 11, 2012
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11,127
Location
Central New York, USA
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Retired Mechanic in Stone Quarry
The other item was a pallet with unknown working condition chainfalls. 1 1/2 ton to 5 ton. Supposedly 25 of them on the pallet, but they were all in a pile on the pallet. Do any of you realize how much fun it is to untangle 27 chain falls? That means 54 chains with 1/2 of them being continuous loops, and they are all snarled together. Its one huge ball of chain. We have 2 of them pulled out.View attachment 215762

Looks like "fun" !
 

Welder Dave

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Joined
Oct 11, 2014
Messages
12,257
Location
Canada
What would look cool is if you got them untangled and made it look like you were using all of the them for a complicated heavy lift.
 

kenh

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Joined
Aug 12, 2010
Messages
264
Location
bonners ferry,id
After staring at that mess for about 10 minutes I wou be reaching for a "metal Cutting Device.
Or, an ad: "chain falls, heavily discounted, you pick and carry"
 

Welder Dave

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Oct 11, 2014
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12,257
Location
Canada
I spent the weekend making lift plans and rigging plans. I had them down to 5 shackles to attach in 80' of water. Coast guard, NTSB, State patrol (who used to be the water patrol), fire/ water rescue from the county. All kinds of agency's. And everyone needed their boxes checked off.

The barge guy is a boat transporter that I do some work with, I provided the rigging and lift plan.

We offloaded it at the storage facility, from the trailer that the barge loaded it on.

It was kind of hard to guess how it would pick- the weight of the engine and tranny is all up front, and I didn't want the front strap coming out of the wheel well half way up (if it was nose heavy). I told them I would try to make it pick nose high by a foot or so- I was close, it ended up being a couple feet high on the front, but that helped roll the water out the back.


Pictures are from the local news station.


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Just saw on the news the operator, Ripley Entertainment was charged for not relaying pertinent weather info to the captain. Captain was not held responsible.
 

oarwhat

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Joined
Dec 14, 2009
Messages
822
Location
buffalo,n.y.
Just saw on the news the operator, Ripley Entertainment was charged for not relaying pertinent weather info to the captain. Captain was not held responsible.

About what post number was this story from? I thought I've read all our post but I missed the one about the Duck recovery thanks
 

crane operator

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Mar 27, 2009
Messages
8,273
Location
sw missouri
I only read a summary of the report. It read like they threw quite a bit over onto the Coast Guard, for not implementing some changes, making requirements for the canopy removals, and adding some more bouyancy to a vehicle without a very high side board.

Its still a sad event. If you look at the accident report, the lake was dead calm and with no wind when they went into the water. They are in the lake for only like 15 minutes or so, and its pretty unusual for the lake to get that rough that fast.

My personal take on the whole event has been - that if I'm 80 feet from shore in 80 degree water, and the ship is taking on water- you don't have to tell me to abandon ship. I sure wouldn't ride it down. My buddy says "life jackets would have been shooting our of that duck like a skeet thrower- and I'd have been right behind them" if he was on the boat.

But if you're 70 years old, climbing over the side- at shoulder height - from a school bus seat- in a hurry with waves braking over the side in a sudden storm, isn't on everyone's agenda. The ducks in historical accident numbers are really really safe. Far safer than your car, or greyhound, or a tour bus, or probably bicycles. But likely they will never run again on the lake, because I don't know who would insure them.
 

DMiller

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Feb 21, 2010
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Hermann, Missouri
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Cheap "old" Geezer
The one thing I could not understand, I do not believe the banks in that area are severely steep below water, it is a truck with wheels and tires underneath so the pilot could have made for shallow and beached or at least settled into less depth anyway. Know the storm blew up quick, knew the operator was not fore warned, but the first consideration is not to get back to a ramp but to maximize safety of the passengers.
 

John C.

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Jun 11, 2007
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Location
Northwest
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Machinery & Equipment Appraiser
The duck boat company in this area had a horrible accident a couple years ago that killed several people in a traffic accident. The issue was a broken steering axle while on a high bridge that pulled the duck into the opposing lane of traffic hitting a couple of cars. After all the stuff has settled the company went out of business.

The vehicles were made for war time activities with projected lives in use being a matter of days before being lost in war time adventures. They were never designed for decades of heavy use and maintenance would have needed to be critical for safe operation. I never saw any reason for their use in a for profit civilian business. I don't understand how they got insured for civilian use in the first place.
 

mitch504

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Feb 27, 2010
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5,776
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Andrews SC
Actually, while a lot of them are surplus, a lot of them nowadays were built just for that. One company builds them on F550 chassis.
 

crane operator

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Mar 27, 2009
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8,273
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sw missouri
The one thing I could not understand, I do not believe the banks in that area are severely steep below water,

It actually gets pretty deep pretty quick in that area of the lake. They launched right by where the branson belle showboat docks, it drafts quite a bit of water. One of the deepest parts of the lake is just off that point, I think its over 200' in there. The duck was in over 80' of water, not real far off shore, but I think it rolled down the floor of the lake a ways.

The duck boat company in this area had a horrible accident a couple years ago that killed several people in a traffic accident. The issue was a broken steering axle while on a high bridge that pulled the duck into the opposing lane of traffic hitting a couple of cars. After all the stuff has settled the company went out of business.

The vehicles were made for war time activities with projected lives in use being a matter of days before being lost in war time adventures. They were never designed for decades of heavy use and maintenance would have needed to be critical for safe operation. I never saw any reason for their use in a for profit civilian business. I don't understand how they got insured for civilian use in the first place.

Actually, while a lot of them are surplus, a lot of them nowadays were built just for that. One company builds them on F550 chassis.

As far as the age of the ducks they were using- The only thing left of the original ducks is the title. They were essentially a whole new vehicle for the current tours. New hulls, big block GM's and allison transmissions. The axles were from newer surplus army trucks that they would buy and part out for the running gear.

Would I feel safe in one? Yes, their safety record is still amazing. They ran for over 30 years here in town without a incident. Would I ride one to the bottom in a storm? Nope- I know how to put on a lifejacket and climb over the side. I tend to believe yet in some measure of personal responsibility.

They had three really bad incidents in a short period of time, the seattle accident, one went down in Philly when it got struck by a barge, and the accident here in Branson. But right around the same time as the duck went down, a tour bus or greyhound went down with a bunch of people killed, and no one bats a eye at their safety record. I spent a while looking at their records, and the worst ones are church vans. They get in accidents all the time and nobody says a word- those things just happen.

The way the report read, if they want to redesign them a little, the NTSB would have no problem with the ducks being recertified. I just don't know who would insure them. I think in a year or two they may be back running here in town.

On the axle that went bad in seattle. The front axles were prone to breaking in those things from the weight and the constant launching and coming back out of the water. I think when they would hit the ramp too hard coming out of the water is when they would tend to crack. They actually had a reinforcing ring they would weld to the axle housings- to keep them from stress cracking. I think it was kind of a issue when that steering axle broke. The duck boats there and san fransico and philly were all built here in town, the tour groups were all affliated with one another- some of them were "franchisee's" of the one here in town.

My mechanic used to work at their shop here in town.
 

DMiller

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Feb 21, 2010
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Hermann, Missouri
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Cheap "old" Geezer
Still remember the DUKW on Display at Knox when I was there some decades ago, was not near as big as these and had often wondered where/when these were built as could not remember ever seeing later Ducks in Military dress,
 

John C.

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The accident in Seattle was not the first. Only the most publicized. They had been having issues for years and still stayed in business. The lawsuits on the big accident was the straw that broke the camel's back.
 
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