Boat Landing Stages - 1st March 2018
by: David M
Much of our work this autumn/winter has been at Fords Wharf,
Ryeford, about 80m long, where the towpath was narrow and very uneven, and
erosion had taken much of the material below the coping stones, to the extent
that some were falling into the canal.
Nothing but a fresh start was needed, so all the coping stones were
taken off with our HIAB crane, set by the side and many of them
pressure-washed.
To stabilise the bank we pushed in interlocking galvanised sheet
steel piles 4m long, about 60cm further out to widen the towpath. With our ¼ ton piling hammer and 100Psi air
pressure, some piles still took 20 minutes or more to go down. Every second pile was tied back with steel
threaded rod back to angle irons, and then the whole assembly filled with 36m3
of concrete. This was done by pumping
from the road above, starting at the far end and removing sections of pipe one
by one as the work drew nearer the top.
The job of replacing coping stones could then begin, each
selected for depth, using most of a mixer-load of cement and a combination of
crane and sling, levers and general persuasion.
The level of the edge is slightly higher than before, so behind the
stones was a void about 25cm deep which is backfilled with brick rubble, then
Type 1 aggregate, with brick pavers set in a bed of sharp sand, and compacted
down. We took the opportunity to pave
below the bridge wing wall and under the bridge, probably the first time this
has ever been done at Ryeford. The bridge
brickwork needed some TLC so we cut out the old mortar and repointed.
Finishing up in February and March involves resetting coping
stones and paving near the swing bridge, and repairing the steep bank nearby
where old piles were encroaching the offside.
The team will move on to build two new landing stages at Harpers Field,
and then on to Ebley, and Lodgemore.
