Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations The Pond Barge Saga

Dwight: not unless they stole the pic from me! I made the tool to cut out the damaged section of the beam and filler plate out of bits and pieces of buggo and Harris torch parts. It was on one of my bridge repair jobs for ODOT. We run into tears in beams pretty often caused by vehicle impacts.

Here's the fit up


Here's another bridge on the same contract that we straightened
Before:


After:

Ryan Freeze - Wow! Now wonder people get killed in auto accidents. The concept of a torn bridge I-beam never occurred to me.

Maybe I saw your art in another of your posts and that is why it looked familiar.

There will be a delay in pond barge progress as I am, �going up nort fishin�.

Current State:

Crappies were on the rampage �up nort fishin�!

This live-well video was common place the whole week. Crappie

I finished up tack welding the top side of the barge frame.



It takes a lot of clamps to do this kind of work.



This is the beginnings of the battery box.



Next Steps:

1. Weld up the battery box, drill cooling and drain holes, and mount it between the frame rails near the center of the barge frame.
2. Figure out how to tip the frame over to weld the bottom side. The frame is 8 feet wide and the ceiling is less than that, so I will have to move it outside, tip it over and move it back inside. I may need some help!
3. Tip the frame over again to finish welding the top side.

I am waiting to see the ramming device. Will it be a traditional Greek ram , a civil war era torpedo ram or a set of Texas Longhorn horns.

Looks just great! Look at all that steel!

I'm with ewest. No party barge is complete without Civil War era torpedo spar.

ewest - That will be one of the later additions. This is the basic design.



I have taken the orginal design and incorporated improved structural constuction tecnhiques including an internal titainum space frame. I also added a 750,000 volt inverted nine phase squid ejection system.

bobad - It is a work barge and fishing barge, not a party barge.

There has been a lot of progress and many photos taken. I will post them sometime in the future.

This is welder-grandma Gail

If it keeps growing like it is, how are you going to get it to the pond?

Eddie

eddie_walker - It is in two pieces, the barge itself and the dock portion seperate.

I will admit that both pieces have to be moved outside to flip them over.

All of the Welding is complete on the Pond Barge and Dock frames. Next up, is cleanup, primer and Durabak coating.


� � Marine Plywood and form lumber for the concrete dock mounting pad.

The old bed frame underneath the plywood is the base for a future stake bed structure piece. (Structure is everywhere, you just need imagine it under water!)

You mean you went up Nort fishing before you finished the job ???

ewest -

Priorities:

1. Fishing trips/Vacations.
2. Pond projects.
3. Acreage management.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9. Working for a living.

It figures that it would rain for 6 days straight just when I am ready to put in the pier/dock hinge.

...I think we might'a found Jimmy Hoffa

Brettski - Good one! You continue to rule as the "Great Warped One" on the forum. Congratulations!

The will never find Jimmy now!

I finished up the dock pier back fill and smoothed out the area.

I'm still not sure I understand what is going on.

Is this going to be a free-floating barge or more like an extened dock?

Regardless, we will need to have a global christening celebration when she hits water.

Lookin' good Dwight. Are you going to send it on it's maiden voyage soon or wait and drag it out on the ice?

Sunil
The answer to that question is yes. It will be a large extension to the dock when it is moored and a powered barge when not moored.

The global christening celebration sounds good!

Ryan Freeze

The Dock is going in before ice (hopefully). The barge will be under construction during the winter. Installing the deck, wiring, motors, and all the other stuff will take some time. My shop it heated so it will be a fun activity in the dead of winter.

Dock test assembly in progress.