Dredging Progress
by: Andrew Rendell
The week had been hard in the open stretch of the Stone bridge to Griffin Mill lock.
The Buoyancy tank that the dry dredging team craned out on the excavator and Chris P. welded up, has made so much difference. we no longer nearly flood the starboard side of the cabin.
The Buoyancy tank that the dry dredging team craned out on the excavator and Chris P. welded up, has made so much difference. we no longer nearly flood the starboard side of the cabin.
Final spot dredging on the wharf walls were done and large rocks were removed early in the week
John and Andrew had time to use Jasper to ferry items, this was good to make use of.
The dry dredging team finally expertly landscaped the offside bank and left that side and returned over the Bund at Griffin Mill Lock.
The time had come and the decision was made after agreement of both Wet and Dry teams discussed method of removal of Bund.
The long reach stacked some planks and gently rowed up on them so able to remove the offside section of the Bund.
Now to push a hopper through, success!
Followed by the dredger no5 and Annette2 but we had to dig the channel wider and slowly pulled her through.
Whilst doing that dug the offside up to the wing wall.
We tried to find the king pin without success so will try again this coming week.
Now to check the lock is empty of large items. Slowly the dredger being pushed by Annette2 slewed the bucket port and starboard near at depth. All seemed fine.
Came back out to fill the lock for the weekend. towpath lower gate was stiff but with a concerted effort it was shut. started to fill and not water gushing out under it. We opened the gate and nudged the dredger in. Using the trusty Keb, Andrew used his well known searching skills and in no time found a length of 8ft scaffolding pole. No wonder the gate didn’t shut.
This coming week we hope to go up to the next pound for 2 weeks to clear the weed and any silt to allow passage of Alan Jones’ vessels to repair Ham Mill wall.