Monday, November 08, 2010

Bad Engineering number 2

I said in yesterday’s blog “ IF that isn’t bad enough – you should see how they built it, even I think I could do better…!”

So here is a bit about how it is built. Italics are part of BWs response:

In order to put the pontoon in “The original bank has been reinstated with tubular piles and stone which has eroded over the years as a result of  boaters pushing up against the bank to turn

Here is the bank with the tubular piles and "Since the timber  fender has been installed on top of the piles it has made it look worse but it is just the one pile slightly shifted. “

07112010178

Looks like 6 piles have shifted to me, and I don’t think they are ‘slightly shifted’ at all, but rather extravagantly shifted.

Lets look at how the wood was put on top. There is a block of wood in the tubular pile to which the wood is fastened:

07112010180_1

But not on all the tubular piles

07112010181_1

and if you look carefully at the first picture again you can see that where the boards join there is no support, I have drawn a pretty red arrow to make it clear:

testpile

Construction? This is NOT construction, it is terrible.

BW say “The new bank protection does look like its failing, but what has actually happened is that when the stone backfill was placed one of the piles moved slightly, we didn’t remove all the stone and start again but we have agreed with Land & Water to keep an eye on it.  Since the timber  fender has been installed on top of the piles it has made it look worse but it is just the one pile slightly shifted.

5 Comments:

Blogger Brian and Diana on NB Harnser said...

Surly this is the bit in BW own words
"as a result of boaters pushing up against the bank to turn”
So they had to be against the bankto turn, how will they do that now there is a walkway in the way.

2:18 PM  
Blogger MortimerBones said...

they can't, and this is one of the reasons it is so dangerous. With a flow a boat who tried to turn will end up on the posts in the middle of the channel, stuck, and unable to go anywhere.
Boats are already having trouble and the place is like a mill pond. Any flow and there is going to be an accident which is why we really want BW to do something about it! They seem to claim that the consulted people, but those people say the final result is NOTHING like that which they were told would be there, and they say it is dangerous.

2:27 PM  
Blogger John Witts said...

I have this incredibly strong mental image of a visiting BW representative with duct tape over his mouth, and a spear lodged in his chest, and a bat up his ass while he is on fire.......

Seriously, they've mucked this up good and proper, haven't they....

Lets hope it gets put to rights before someone gets badly hurt.

7:46 PM  
Blogger MortimerBones said...

I think they have mucked up good and proper, but that doesn't mean I am right.

9:08 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

You are wrong John duct tape is used for other things like the tops of pilings.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8GlWYXT9zzg/TM7nOGcImBI/AAAAAAAAFWk/SeviCr0CI-o/s1600-h/DSCF8785%5B1%5D.jpg

1:35 AM  

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