The Sausalito Waterfront is Changing

The Clipper Harbor Breakwater Job

2024-10-21T16:35:00.000-07:00

The is the project being carried out at Clipper Harbor in Sausalito conducted by Bellingham Marine with your local boys from Parker Diving providing diving services.

On the left is a nearly finished construction of a concrete wave attenuation dock.

It is 300 feet long, fourteen feet wide and will be used as a floating breakwater to protect the marina.

The loose block in front of the dock is not a part of the completed unit.

It is there waiting for assembly into the next one.

Individually the sections look like this. Each block weighs in at about 35,000 pounds and is a structure composed of a styrofoam center encapsulated in concrete. The men in the picture provide scale.

This process started weeks ago. The Semi line up on harbpr drive waiting to be unloaded by the travel lift at KKMI Boatyard.

Once in the water they are picked up by one of these small useful vessels and maneuvered ro the jobsite.

Some of the sections float faily level and some do not.

This is where the large garbage can come into play.

These are three sections being made ready for assembly. The man in the white hardhat with the orange bucket is scooping up water from the bay into the plastic containers as ballast to level the floats. In the distance you can see another of those boats bringing in another block and there is one in the fireground.

On the dock, and under the danger sign are four of the 1 5/8 inch, by 30 feet long threaded steel rods.

On the right hand side of the block is a black circle marking one of four rod pockets, one on each side and one below each of these. They extend through the block and this is where the thread rods will be inserted.

The process begins by sliding one of those threaded rods into a section of dock. Each man has a short length of line which he uses to to take a turn around one of those threaded rods, like the one you see resting on those four by fours behind them. By this means they lift, cary and lower the threaded rod over the side and insert it into the upper hole near working dock.

For the holes below the surface, a diver is called in to guide the rod into the holes. With the rod end in the rod hole, and the rod being kept level as possible, the number one man releases his line while the other two move forward until ten foot exits from the other side.

To do the other side, they turn the block around with the assistance of the divers.

The end result of this labor is this.

A single 10 foot section of dock with four steel rods extending out of both ends, two above the water

and two below and each extending ten feet a side .

After being leveled with water ballast, the sub assembly of three begins.

Ratchet straps and come alongs hold the subsections together.

This is what the process looks like from a distance. Once the three unit sub assembly is loined, it is ready to be attached to the main section.

For this part of the process, the divers attach the coupling collars. Two above the surface and two below

And of course there is a set screw

Time to bring the two completed subsections together

One final bit of leveling

A connection is made

The divers are called in to guide the coupling collars into the rod holes without chipping the product

And to install the coupling collar below the surface

With that one connected, Sam comes up for the other.

With all rods connected, time to heave on the line and bring them together. The divers make the rods stay in allighment with the rod holes.

And by this method the whole is secured.

It must be alligned in all planes

As the end units are supported on only one end, three large floats were filled with water and the divers placed them under the structure and filled then with air to level the ends

I want to take some time out and talk about that box marked Tension Jack. That box is so heavy, it took five of them to just roll it ten inches across the deck. I looked inside out of curiosity and there was a bunch of metal along with what looked like two hydraulic jacks.

Once removed, the jack is connected to a hydraulic pump

The tension jack is lowered over the side.

With the help of the divers it is guided into place

The rods are stretched in turn for four iterations until a tension of 90 tons is reached

The divers have set up the hydraulic jack on one of the lower thread rods. They have placed a plastic cover over one of the upper thread rods to protect it from the lifting cable.

The rod holes are more than simply holes that run through the blocks/ They have a place to attach high pressure hoses for the purpose of injecting grout in and around the rods to lock everything into place.

Routing of the hoses is critical. They are color coded so that the air pressure can be channeled throughout the entire structure. Divers handle the configuration below the surface.

The system is flushed first with fresh water and finally air.

With the system flushed the crew brings out machenery for the grouting

Cement mixers and a cement pump to pump it through the system

The bags of concrete weigh 60 pounds each and it will take two bags per section for 30 sections.

Once the grout has been pumped and has had a few days to harden, they unscrew the fill pipes and valves, cut off the extra thread rod.

They let the whole thing sit for a day or so

Then a they remove the comealongs and ratchet straps off and start on a new one

I hear they are storing one or more of them in the fuel dock area of basin 3

Check it out

If Brute force is not working, it means that you are not using enough of...

2024-08-18T01:12:00.000-07:00

The Data Center Job

2024-06-30T02:20:00.000-07:00

This is a floating data center

And this is one of two extension chords

that powers the data center

We were here back in April

Arian and Brandon are divers of the day

We have our pigs and our gear

A wise man once told me

that if you are in a crew

and someone is working in the hole

You do not have to work

but you do have to look into the hole

and pretend to be interested.

Thank you for that advice, John Moore

Past skipper of the Allied Mariner

Anyhow, the pigs did not fit

New ones needed to be ordered

Ever wonder what is in these places?

I used this and the previous picture in an application that turned them into jigsaw puzzles

Feel free to run with the idea

so, a month or so ago they told us they had the pigs

so we went back to install them

This little Piggie has a metal top and the rubber part was open like an inverted bucket

The divers received the package and the installation went as planned

The pig was inflated and the pressure held steady

Work could now be performed on this part of the barge.

Anyhow, the video pretty much shows it all

Video of the entire job

The Aurora is sinking

2024-05-28T01:27:00.000-07:00

The Aurora as I knew her January 2024

From the rear deck of the Aurora is Potato slough and further down is the intake for Stockton's drinking water purification plant. Officials from that department visited us when we salvaged the Mazapeta and I am sure they are visiting now. The Cost Guard is always interested when diesel or oil is involved.

Seen from space

Inside the Aurora

I was not planning to feature this vessel so I just took a few shots as I made my way from one position to another but this stairwell was pretty interesting so I grabbed a shot of that. She must have been something in her day.

Breaking for lunch on the cruise ship Aurora. While the crane barge guys were in the process of righting the vessel we took advantage of Chris Wilson's kind offer to use his vessel's accommodations as a respite from the weather.

Chris Wilson surveys his domain.

He was owner at the time of these photos but I understand from the news that he no longer owns that vessel.

Tesla Foundation Cybertruck In Sausalito California

2024-04-27T19:14:00.000-07:00

The Mazapeta Job (Das Boot)

2024-02-28T08:22:00.000-08:00

A study of the old tug

Five or six months underwater took a toll on appearance

this is the ladder that goes directly into the engine room.

The Mazapeta Job (Personnel scrapbook)

2024-02-17T15:44:00.000-08:00

This operation was an immense photo opportunity for me. I wanted to take a picture of every single person that worked on the project. Check below to find you picture. Sorry if I missed anyone.

Big trucks were brought in to remove the fuel. These vehicles were restricted to 50% capacity so as to not overtax the levies. I remember seeing three of them, these two and another bigger one.

I attempted to get a picture of everyone that worked on Raising the Tug Mazapeta, I am sorry if I missed anyone.

the pressure is off and it shows on the faces

A number of things made this job something of interest to a number of agencies. The coast guard is interested in preventing pollutants from being released into the environment as is the guy from Fish and game. The local police service blocked off the road. Several representatives from Stockton dropped by as the intake for their water supply was just down the slough from the Mazapeta.

Chris Wilson, owner of the Aurora.

What would it be like to live on a ship? About 90 or so state rooms. The ships master on his upper deck. Fortunately, he has several websites and videos so you can get historical background on the tug and his ship.

The Mazapeta Job (The gear)

2024-02-15T14:40:00.000-08:00

It is night, it is cold and it is raining. We are on a blocked off one way road just off of Little Potato Slough. An assemblage of machines has been transported to this location for the purpose if raising a 300 ton tugboat from about 30 feet of water in a remote delta slough.

This was a sizable project with a number of professional teams, three engineers, and several enforcement agencies from local police to the coast guard strike team. This is a report on the specialized gear that was brought in for the task and maybe shine some light on how these mechanisms and contrivances fit into the complete process.

As the biggest piece of gear is the crane barge, lets start with that. Crane barges are generally the star of the show and certainly a favorite of salvors. This one can provide a lift of around 250 tons at the hook.

Crane barges can not only do a lot, they can also hold a lot of gear. Aboard the crane barge, that white trailer on the left looks like a generator to power floodlights and operations aboard the barge. Just to the rear of the pump on the right and ignoring the men working on the barge are two six inch diesel pumps, each as tall as a man. To the rear of that pump on the right looks like electric welding equipment and that mini container further back is the diving station which contains dive equipment and communications gear for the divers.

The flexi barge from the upper deck of the Aurora.

An additional workspace was created by the use of a flexi barge. This little floating platform contained a mini container full of emergency gear, fuel, safety gear and other miscellaneous items. The white box on the left looks like a generator. Just to the right is a pile of six inch hose for the pumps. There are also two sets of diesel powered flood lights and four six inch diesel pumps. You can see from here that a considerable amount of containment boom and absorbent boom encircles the entire job.

If you look to the left you cans see the dead end road that leads to the intake for Stockton drinking water.

I saw at least three tanker trucks that were there to haul away the liquid hazardous waste. Per one or more of the engineers, the trucks could only take a half load so as not to damage the levee. All toll, I think they got about 27,000 gallons.

The road was closed off and we usually had our meetings right there on that road. Once everyone was on the same page, it was down the gangway to the Flexi barge where one team would board boats for the crane barge and others would man the flexi barge gear.

This picture was taken after the crane barge had left and the Mazapeta has been moved back and tied off to the flexi barge. What we are looking at is the path of travel from the road to the Flexi barge which consist of a smaller/intermediate barge and two long aluminum gangways and a short one which is not visible in this picture.

Once on the Flexi barge, you are presented with this scene. This is only some of the gear on the Flexi barge, I count four six inch diesel pumps. I counted four more on the crane barge for a total of eight. I was told that they brought ten of them. We also brought along our four inch pumps and I remember picking up at least two of them from the crane barge. I also was told that we also deployed a three inch pump to pump out a smaller forward compartment. The plastic bins and the white absorbent pads are hazardous waste control.

And for all of t hose pumps, you will need hoses and strainers.

And a cofferdam. That is Patrick the diver attaching a cofferdam with ratchet straps.

This is how they pump out those hatches that are underwater. The hoses are run and brought to the hatch where this manifold is attached to the hoses and clamped down to the deck with threaded rods

The engineers researched the project and assisted in laying out the plans for running the hoses.

This is when all hoses have been run. Two of those six inch hoses are led through the cofferdam and down to the bilge. Other hoses are run underwater through one of those manifolds. If you look close, you can see the four pumps on the crane barge. Other gear consist of a number of small boats that are handy to move hoses about and to take workers back and forth from the flexi barge to the crane barge.

Another of the several small boats that were useful for transporting material and personnel from the shore to the crane barge and for hauling the hoses to the divers.

Our little Cabo 25 was in the mix

We always have our response trailer on jobs this big

Of course we had to bring some rope to tie up the boat when we got it on the surface. Angela appears to be hauling in the hard boom which surrounded the tug, the crane barge and the flexi barge. Those Viking women can really crack on. She just finished coiling up all that hawser and now she is heaving to on the boom And this is a good a place to end this inventory of machinery.

The Mazapeta Job (The story)

2024-01-31T16:53:00.000-08:00

Friday Afternoon on the 12th of January, 2024, the Power Engineering barge roving lifting lines under the Mazapeta. The first task is for them to right the boat to level. This view is from the flexi barge.

This is a view of the flexi barge from the deck of the cruise ship Aurora. If you look closely you can see four six inch pumps, Two light stands with generators, an electrical generator for power, an equipment stand, a hand washing station and a porta pot.

The Power Engineering crane barge from the deck of the Aurora with boom extended over the Mazapeta. If you look closely, you will see four more six inch pumps. an large generator. and men roving the cables under the vessel.

That man in the water is Patrick the diver. He built a cofferdam and with the assistance of Arian the diver, is installing it on the topmost hatch, This will be the only opening in the vessel and once the vessel is righted the salvors will start installing the hoses.

Once the cofferdam was installed, it was up to the divers to run the hoses inside the vessel to the bilges. These diagrams were provided by David Davida the salvage engineer on this job.

Parker diving command personnel consist or Terry Maria and Patrick. Terry addresses the group. At his elbow is Maria Parker who was born to the salvage business as the daughter of the company's founder, Tim Parker. If you look a little further to the right, the guy in the baseball cap is Patrick the diver. If Maria is Terry's right hand man, Patrick the diver is Terry's blunt instrument to be used in the event anything needs to be broken off, busted loose or pounded into place.

A really distinguished group of people. Each and every one of them has my respect.

The stairwell of the Aurora. It

Eight PM and it is cold and windy and dark

With so many people on the clock, frequent meetings were necessary to make sure everyone understood the next step.

This the view from the Aurora. the crane barge guys are setting the lines to level the tug and the divers were managing the hoses.

This is ground zero as seen from the road. Going from left to right: the Flexi barge, where that person is walking up the ramp, The Power Engineering crane barge and the stern of the Aurora. it is 52 minutes past midnight.

With cables strung it it now time for the righting process.

Click for next stage.

The Mazapeta Job (The rising)

The Video

The Mazapeta Job (Fashion statement of the day)

2024-01-19T19:49:00.000-08:00

While Maria and Angela were comfortable with swapping Fashion statement of the day with each other, this time it goes to Cole the diver in his coordinated golfer outfit.

We have to say that Cole nailed the look from his two color watch cap right down to his colorful socks and black crocks.

Checkered trousers are topped off with a stylish hooded top with catchy slogan.

Next job the competition could get ugly.

The Mazapeta Job (The rising)

2024-01-19T10:38:00.000-08:00

If you want to know where all of those hoses are going, listen carefully to the following video

Terry the salvage master outlines the plan.

There are four six inch pumps on the Flexi barge and another six on the crane barge. In addition two of our four inch pumps were included in the mix.

The crane barge has a capacity of about 250 tons. the tug weighs in at about 300 tons. The plan is for the crane guy to maintain a force of 50 tons and to start the pumps.

The vessel rises and as it does, divers look for any places in the hull that might need patching or plugging.

Cole on the left talking to Terry on the right.

The concern arose that if a sudden breech of the hull were to occur and the pumps couldn't keep up, the crane would have top release the load and if that happened, the crane would have to release and the tug would go down and take the flexi barge with it along with a ton of equipment.

Terry watching her rise

That is David, our salvage engineer. David has been all over the world as a salvage consultant. He told me that he once was the center of an international incident with the Canada which had something todo with scuttling a ship in a disputed area. David was witty, smart and a real gentlemen and gun to work with. And now with the boat on the surface, the real work begins.

The Shipping News Vol 8 the Crab Boat

2023-12-09T20:54:00.000-08:00

This old girl showed up at the yard the other day

I suppose that all that stuff up top comes in handy where these guys are going.

Appears to be preparing to go crabbing

My arms ache, thinking about putting out all that gear

Not to mention the long ride out and the long ride back. If you plant your traps close in, you get small crabs and someone may haul your gear and take them. You need to go out to make it worthwhile.

Mike

2023-11-05T18:50:00.001-08:00

I know a guy named Mike that lived on an island

He lived in one of those really old houses
with his family; wife, daughter and son

When he offered to take me on a tour, I took him up on it. Not many people get to drive a vehicle around Angel Island because the only way to get there is by private boat or ferry but being a resident of a small and isolated community and as a working member of that community, a person has responsibility and with responsibility, comes the means to carry out that responsibility and on an island as big as Angel with all the facilities, that means that you have to have a vehicle at your disposal.

One of those responsibilities for Mike, or whoever is next on the list, or whoever is free at the moment, is to report on the condition of the infrastructure. When something like this happens on the mainland, a bunch of guys in hard hats just show up out of nowhere and tape it off and it gets fixed in the sweet by and by.

But on the island where the population is limited, members of that population are subject to being interrupted to take care of necessary island management. Mikes lunch was interrupted by a call to check on the pumps of the leech field on the far side of the island. The pump house for the leech field was indicating that one of the pumps was not working. Mike, who was on lunch at the time and conducting me on a private tour of the island was called as there was no one else roaming around at that particular time. That vegetation sure is lush in that leach field area.

That is Mikes son "Gabe" lowering the "Keep out" tapes so that we can drive through to see something that Mike wanted to show me. Lots of artifacts to see on Angel. The "Keep off! signs do not apply to the islanders, just mainlanders.

Anyhow, back to the tour, starting at the Military Police headquarters, I got to take a bunch of pictures,

When I was at Lowry Air Force Base in Denver Colorado, the toilets had a similar arrangement except that there were six and when fully occupied, your knees touched the person facing you. I would wait for opportune times when few or no one was around and one day, finding myself totally alone in the barracks, I took my magazine and sat and two minutes later five of my barrak mates joined me and I had company for the rest of my visit.

Military buildings always bring back memories.

I always take them in the event that I ever go to another photography class and need some filler to flesh out an assignment. .

Mike showing me upgrades on the guildings

Needed some shots for texture

Texture

Hospital, I think. That van parked in the middle of the street is our ride.

The Shipping News Vol 7 Steel Hull and Mahogany House

2023-11-02T11:05:00.005-07:00

Not every new boat that shows up at the boatyard catches my eye

And I probably would have walked right past this old girl without a second look.......

And then she winked at me.

One close look leads to another and while admiring the mahogany cabin, I am impressed by the simplicity of the hand rails on the cabin top.

Just two mahogany poles strung through chrome/brass eyelets.

I come this far so a give the Bow a once over. Small bollards instead of cleats. Nice touch.

I did not notice that this was a steel hull until I checked out the stern cabin

Love the wood

Not a good shot through the port but it sure looks warm and inviting.

The Shipping News, Vol 6 Foiling Electric boat at KKMI Boatyard

2023-11-02T08:53:00.001-07:00

This showed up at the boatyard last weekend

I would have walked right past if not for this red thing sticking out of the boat

Got a pretty big wire attached to it too

I think I figured out what this is

I check my theory and look to see if there is a front foil.

The make is Candela.

Fully electric, foiling sport boat.

This is also my Self Portrait

The Cleanup at 8 Mile

2023-09-29T02:00:00.006-07:00

Parker Diving mustered the crew to go up to 8 Mile Slough on the Sacramento Delta. The project was to change the absorbent boom which is containing oil seepage from a sunken tug while preparations are being made to raise the vessel. A big crane is being considered but the tug is setting on the edge of a 30 foot drop off and some measure of delicacy must be employed as if the tug goes with the crane connected, the crane will go too. . At any rate, until then we need to keep the diesel contained and out of the environment so the perimeter Absorbent boom was replaced along with the boom in and around the wheel house of the tug where most of the diesel seems to be leaking. Special care needed to be taken with the adsorbents from inside the pilot house. Not only did we have to collect the absorbents, we needed to collect the water too and everything was packaged for disposal.

United States Coast Guard 47 Foot Motor Lifeboat

2023-08-16T07:10:00.000-07:00

The ComancheLake Job

2023-08-16T04:20:00.001-07:00

The Lost Coast Job

2023-08-10T13:32:00.004-07:00

Captain Pat, the Salvage master for Parker Diving, is surveying the ocean off "The Lost Coast". This was to be our search area for a small aircraft that went down the previous week.

Logistics is a big part of this job. The distance required a 4 hour drive to a remote area of the California Coastline appropriately named The Lost coast. More were to follow.

We took two trucks; and two boats, consisting of our 25 foot Cabo and an 8 foot dingy. The dingy was a necessary item as will be explained later.

A the end of the four hour drive was a winding road of about fifteen miles long, and mostly downhill through thick forest. Even with the Jake Brake engaged, the pads were smoking and cool down stops were necessary.

The most prominent thing in town is the airstrip. The launch area for boats is on the bottom of this map in shelter cove. The search area is to the north.

This is the spot where the video of the plan crash was taken. This is where we start with areal drones from the shore and side scanning sonar from the boat. We have an underwater drone to send down in case we see anything interesting.

The launch area consist of a beach with a hard ground protected by a simple rock breakwater. If you want to launch anything bigger than a kayak or a dingy, see the man on the big wheeled tractor and he will take your boat with you on it, and run your trailer out far enough to float and then he will store your trailer until you return and ask for it. There is no stepping aboard the regular way

.
To get our big boat ready for use, we needed to get it on the mooring and the way that this was accomplished was we called he man on the tractor. The man on the tractor launches our big boat with Patrick in it. We then launch our small boat ourselves and Samson takes it out to the big boat to pick up Patrick and bring him back to shore on the small boat.

This became our daily taxi to and from the Cabo. The first day, my sneakers got soaked. I wore boots the next day but a wave overtopped my boots, It was a wet foot guaranteed every day but this is one thing a sailor cannot bitch about because everyone knows that a man is no sailor if he can't take a ducking.

North of "The Whale Tail" looking toward Black Sand Beach. This picture has nothing to do with the job. I took it solely for astatic reasons.

Back and forth out and in for three days searching for an unnatural formation among natural formations. The monotony of the search broken up by a few drone dives to check out formations on the bottom.

Cole the diver waits for his opportunity to dive. If we find it, Cole was to dive down and attach a line to it with a bouy and we would call a helicopter to lift it out.

But after a search lasting much of the week, the ocean kept this one

Below the video

I will miss hanging out with my old friend Helmut

2023-07-15T12:55:00.000-07:00

I revived word a couple of days ago that Helmut died

Before the Covid 19 lockdowns, I made it a point to visit the fuel dock to visit mit Helmut, Der Tankwart and practice my bad German.

Lots of things to see at the fuel dock. One day the Clam shows up with Mike Sherman driving. Mike is a commercial diver and a sea captain and on that day he gave me a rour of the clam which is in the following link

Inside the Clam

Another random event on a day of just hanging out with Helmut

Ich Verde dich vermissen, Helmut. Auf Wiedersehen mein Alter Freund.

The Cowboy Town Job

2023-06-30T14:02:00.003-07:00

Monday finds me and the dive crew on Woodward Reservoir in the town of Oakley, the cowboy capital of the world. A ski boat sank on the freshwater lake in about 25 feet of water which does not make for a particularly interesting story as jobs go but there were compensations. It was a big lake, the weather was pleasant and the campsites were so close to the lake that you could fish from your tent.

But we went up there to do a job and that job was to locate and raise a sunken ski boat.

Terry is getting one of the divers, Cole ready for the job.

We anchor the boat.

The plan is to tie that orange line to our anchor line

to use as a radius in a search pattern to find the boat

She was supposed to be right about here according to the ranger guys

Arian and Cole, the divers go down and search.

Nothing ,so, we up-anchor and move the boat and do it again.

And again and again

The ranger guys were kind enough to hang around to make sure we found it but after an hour or so of diving and moving the boat we called them over. Terry transferred to their boat and came back very impressed with their side scanning sonar unit. We have one but theirs had significantly more detail.

Arian locating the vessel and made a locater a line to it and both divers fot into the water to start the rigging. It was time for me to lay to it and make order of our salty equipment, devices and attachments.

Arian and Cole are in the water. They work while we watch. They come to the surface and ask for something and we work while they watch. By this process, the heavy lift bags are tossed overboard, maneuvered int position, attached to the vessel and inflated.

We raise it, we tow it to the dock, we pump it out, we put it on a trailer and we return it to the owner

And with the job done,

And after a great meal at "House of Beef" on Terry

it was time to blow town

Leaving the Cowboy Capital of the World

Boats demonstrates his talents on a Bos'n pipe.

2023-06-13T12:31:00.000-07:00

Electric Boat

2023-06-08T16:18:00.004-07:00

Just watching the Lind Marine guys working the barges and Tugboats on the dock of the Bay 6 7 2023

2023-06-08T04:03:00.004-07:00

Seen on Richardson Bay 5 29 2023. Anyone know what this boat is about?

2023-05-28T17:30:00.003-07:00