The load of lumber arrives on the barge. The plywood was not shipped!
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First Shipment
Two days before the first shipment date, Stephen and Kevin decided what they needed shipped over at
this stage of construction on their two sites. A large order was placed from
Dick's Lumber to be taken to Horseshoe Bay from where the barge loads. Dan went
to meet the shipment but it did not arrive until 2 hours late. Fortunately,
Mercury Barges were very forgiving and waited until 6:15 p.m. when the order
arrived. Dan noted that the 160 sheets of plywood ordered did not appear to be
included in the shipment.
At 4:30 a.m. on June 29 the barge reception committee got up to meet them when they arrived at 5:00 a.m.
The load of lumber arrives on the barge. The plywood was not shipped!
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then use your browser's back button to return to this page.)
Kevin and Stephen receive the first part of the shipment.
The barge has put down part of the load and is moving further forward for the balance.
The barge has its own diesel motor for power. The photo below shows the controls for its hoist/winch arrangement.
The barge's hoist control
The last load of lumber is set down with the help of Kevin and Josh.
Then the only task left was to move all this lumber up the 80 feet (24 m) to the building site! It was a busy day with the hoist, but we did not quite finish. About three hoist loads were passed up to the first ledge by hand. Lumber is much easier to pass than bags of cement! Before any of the lumber was moved though, the photo below shows the barge headed off into the dawn to deliver more lumber somewhere else, together with two boat trailers. It was 5:30 a.m. when the barge left.
The barge leaves Passage Island in the early dawn.
Second Shipment
As several items were missing on the first shipment, a second shipment was scheduled for
July 7. This shipment
included all the plywood missed from the first! 160 sheets of it! On the second shipment
three loads were put
straight up onto the top level, but this was the absolute limit of the crane's reach. Only three loads (2000 lbs; 900 kg
each) were put up to that level. The sheets of plywood and some of the other lumber was then sent to the top[ using the winch.
The balance was passed up by hand to the first level for transportation upwards at a later date.
160 sheets of plywood and some other lumber arrives. (Photo: Mike Ukrainetz)
First load to the ledge above the beach area. (Photo: Mike Ukrainetz)
Three loads of lumber were placed on the ledge. It saved a lot of time AND effort!
Stephen's lumber yard! "Green" wood behind, dry wood in
front. (Photo: Mike Ukrainetz)
Third Shipment
A really difficult shipment with rain ("heavy at times") all day. Of course, on top of that, the tides were not that good either and
the barge could not arrive before 12:30 pm. (The water depth has to be about 9 feet for a barge to arrive.) Also,
the wind was blowing on shore so it was only possible to put two loads of wood at the top of the first rock level. At
1:30 the barge left and then began the hard grind of moving some of the lumber up
from the beach with the hoist, while the rest was moved clear
of the high tide line by hand. After 5 1/2 hours the task was completed. Anyone who would like to volunteer for a similar
move in the future please contact Stephen by e-mail!
30,600 lbs (13,900 kg) of lumber arrives for the third shipment.
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