Classic AquaSport
General Aquasport Forums => Chum => Topic started by: SaltH2OHokie on January 16, 2013, 08:40:41 AM
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I do commercial construction for a living. That's really not terribly relevant since we seldom do anything that involves a residential style pier, bulkhead, etc...but it makes it seem slightly less nuts (to me anyway) that I bought a pile driver on a whim.
I'm always game for a good weekend hustle (build a deck, change a motor, etc.) and have a buddy that is also similarly inclined. In that vein, I jokingly forwarded an ad on craigslist for a marine construction business to him and fast-forward 3 weeks...we now own a 20' barge, with a rudimentary hydraulic winch based pile driving system mounted to it, a wash pump with pipes for washing in piles in sand, a 18' jon-boat with a high thrust Honda 4stroke outboard that was being used as the push boat, and about 30 minutes of instruction on how to drive a pile. We paid next to nothing (at least to my way of thinking) so we don't have much to lose if we never use it...can either resell it, or just scrap it and likely get a good chunk of our money back.
So I'm thinking long-term, get the appropriate licenses, insurance, etc. Learn on small projects (carpentry is something I do know, as a result of my profession, so the deck portion is good...the driving of piles, while straightforward in concept, is not something I have practice with) and then maybe make a go of it in a few years.
In the meanwhile, I'll likely hear about the fact that I own a big rusty barge from my family (WIFE) up to, and probably beyond, the day that it pays for itself.
Just thought I'd share with a group of people who at least might understand since they buy hulls that most think are destined for the dump and turn them into $20k+ flats fishing machines. :mrgreen:
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Thats cool! I know you could make a mint with that thing down here.
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Hastily dissembled (boom and jib taken off, motors shuffled around) and set down on our trailer using the travel lift.
My truck has a healthy amount of grunt, and this thing made her work on the trip home.
(http://www.classicaquasport.com/gallery/data//500/2013-01-11_14-35-42_398.jpg) (http://www.classicaquasport.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=6430&title=barge-on-trailer&cat=500)
Also, I wish I had a picture of it up and running beside the dock the guy just built before selling because in that picture I now realize it just looks like a big hunk of rust (and the boats in the background aren't helping make it look any better). Dock he just finished is a double horseshoe with a lift in the "U" of each horseshoe. Beautiful.
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Bruce is right, Ryan. Still lots of money along the gulf coast here. Plus you only have to drive piles into sand. Don't exactly know how you'd do it if the underlying material is rock... :scratch:
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Nice looking super Duty tow rig you have there! I'm guessing it is an 02 with a 7.3?
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Nice looking super Duty tow rig you have there! I'm guessing it is an 02 with a 7.3?
Good eye, and thank you. It is indeed an 02 with a 7.3L backed by a zf6 manual transmission custom ordered in a Lariat truck with buckets front and rear. Really tickles my...you know...so while I might buy another truck, I doubt if I'll ever sell that one. 230k+ miles and beyond some hiccups with wear items (and most recently a flywheel ringgear) I can't complain [said while knocking on wooden desk].
My wife is 5'-1" and has a terrible time driving it because the clutch throw is long enough that she ends up riding about 2" away from the steering wheel...that's the only real downside. Means if we drive the truck, I'm automotically the DD :drunken:
I've had a 10,000lb load behind it before and while it wasn't like nothing was there, it wasn't terrible (managed to gain 7mph going up a fairly steep bridge, just to prove I could do it). With that barge back there (weight unknown) I was having to give it throttle to get going in granny gear...which is geared so low that without a load, you can hold the brake on wet pavement, dump the clutch with no throttle and the tires will just spin rather than stall the truck <----- long story on how I figured that out.
I've figured out a good, easy and best of all FREE way to get barnacles off since bringing that barge home: My hounds love em :shock: Its becoming a full-time chore to keep the dogs from eating the nasty things when they're out in the yard. :puker:
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I am jealous!!
With that barge you can haul and set moorings, pick up old growth sunk logs, or get into the salvage biz.. So Cool!!
Just be sure to grow a little paint on her if you end up doing something silly like getting on "Axmen" :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
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Ryan, I thought that was a 02. Same as mine but I have the automatic. I also ordered my truck to my exact specs. I have just over 160K on the clock and I plan on keeping it for a long time.
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Ryan, I thought that was a 02. Same as mine but I have the automatic. I also ordered my truck to my exact specs. I have just over 160K on the clock and I plan on keeping it for a long time.
But you haven't changed your spark plugs... :wink: :wink:
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Way cool toy.
One of my clients is a 25000 sq ft medical building in Fashion Island, Newport Beach.
(Bob you may know Fashion Island)
We bought a bucket lift truck, for some maintenance work we do there.
it is an awesome toy.
It's kinda hard to drive places.
Funny how the yuppies A holes in the Mercedes, Porsche's and BMW's who wont let you over, I let the blinker go 3 flashes then start merging. they get out of the way real fast.
Too funny
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Ryan, I thought that was a 02. Same as mine but I have the automatic. I also ordered my truck to my exact specs. I have just over 160K on the clock and I plan on keeping it for a long time.
But you haven't changed your spark plugs... :wink: :wink:
(http://www.theaquasportboatclub.com/images/smilies/rollinglaugh.gif)
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When I was pulling that barge home (about an hour of driving) my buddy was following me in his 2500 Suburban. I couldn't see him and he said he stayed about 4-5 car lengths off of the barge (the boom was hanging off the back of the trailer by about 5ft). He said in the span of that hour trip he lost count of how many people cut between he and I for no particular reason, or how many people would see my turn signal on the trailer and either speed up to cut me off or move INTO the lane I was aiming for, rather than out of it.
Even with the tow mirrors extended, I honestly couldn't see any of this going on so I just let the blinker blink for a few seconds and then like you say, I just started comin on over. I didn't care about the people behind me, I was more worried about the folks cutting in front of me. That was a tough rig to get slowed up in a hurry...
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Aaron, you're gonna get in trouble... :lol: :lol:
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Man I could watch that cartoon bounce all day long.... :roll:
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Man I could watch that cartoon bounce all day long.... :roll:
Kinda mesmerizing, ain't it Bruce? :lol:
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Not to distract anyone from the bouncing booby cartoon...BUT...any suggestions on dealing with the rust blisters from the waterline on up that does not entail opening the proverbial can-o-worms?
Below the waterline isn't rusted as bad and I think I feel pretty good hitting that with either an abrasive blaster or maybe just a wire wheel...but above is oxidized far worse and might need a different course of action (or maybe it needs to be ignored and painted over).
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Hell Ryan, I'd just take a wheel to the blisters, to the whole barge if you'd like, throw some rust converter on there, then prime and paint. Don't know the plate thickness the hull was made from, but given the effort the 1 ton had to pull her, I'd say pretty damn thick. So you should be good from a structural aspect regarding "oxidation"...read that rust!!
And I can't believe Aaron hasn't gotten in trouble yet!!
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Hell Ryan, I'd just take a wheel to the blisters, to the whole barge if you'd like, throw some rust converter on there, then prime and paint. Don't know the plate thickness the hull was made from, but given the effort the 1 ton had to pull her, I'd say pretty damn thick. So you should be good from a structural aspect regarding "oxidation"...read that rust!!
And I can't believe Aaron hasn't gotten in trouble yet!!
Plate's pretty thick. At the bottom we drilled and got over an inch of clean metal (looked like plate on angle iron on plate). Up high we got about 3/8" or more in a "bad" spot.
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Turns out that without a travel lift, its pretty freaking hard to remove a plate steel barge from a trailer and set it down on railroad ties in your driveway. We started at 9:30am, and while we weren't setting the world on fire, our plans were working like we'd hoped. We stopped at 2pm for lunch with the barge still partially on the trailer, partially off. I was starving and at that point really had a taste for a beer...we get into town, and I realize I've forgotten my wallet. First thing she asks after I scan the tap handles and make my choice: "Can I see some ID?" :cry: Day went south from there. Ate, drank my sweet tea, rode back to the house.
We'd been using 4 high lift jacks, 2 12-ton jack stands, 2 6-ton jack stands, rail road ties, cut off pieces of railroad ties and ratchet straps to our truck bumpers...and we were having decent luck until lunch. After lunch we managed to drop it off of the jacks 3 times, once from about waist high straight down onto my concrete driveway (glad I opted for the 4,500psi mix and added wire). Finally got it down safe and stable onto railroad ties right around dark and decided to stand the mast and boom.
Stood the mast/boom without much fanfare, but realized we had it 180deg out. Turning it, for reasons still not 100% clear, was a giant headache. At that point a cold beer didn't stand a chance, and we stopped and drank a beer by the fire barrel. Finally got it turned around, guyed temporarily and smiled. Looks like something other than a rusty hunk of trash...now it looks like something Huck Finn would be pround of.
I took pictures along the way, but I left my camera in my bibs and I'm too tired to go get em. When my wife got home at 9:15pm, she asked how long we'd been working, and I told her since 9:30am. Then she asked what we ate for dinner...that's when we both realized that we'd skipped that detail. I was all of the sudden starving. At that point I shut all three garage doors, told my buddy I'd holler at him tomorrow and ran up here where I'm enjoying something out of the microwave with a side of something else out of the microwave as I type.
All-in-all a productive day, but I bet my back hurts tomorrow as a result. Railroad ties are freaking heavy!
We're modifying a different trailer which will set lower, so that'll help in getting it back on the trailer and we're proabably going to build a pair of gantry frames and use chainfall's to eliminate the stability issues we were fighting today.
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May I suggest a small boom or jib crane truck, Ryan? You must have access to one of those...
And just how young do you look to not be served beer in an establishment? Oh yeah, right, Virginia... :wink:
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Same logo that's on my business card is on the boom of 3 Cat excavators, 5 Cat all-terrain forklifts and 1 100-ton Linkbelt crane.
Turns out I'm too far down the totem pole to just summon one of those to my house. :roll: But believe me, I just kept picturing how simple it'd have been for me to just put a spreader bar and two slings on the hook of our crane and just ease her right off the trailer...but alas, couldn't be that simple.
Plus, now we know that our way sucked. :lol: