This is a pictorial record of the building of the new slipway, much talked about, but finally a design was agreed on and the costs accepted.
There are far too many photos to show them all on one page, so they have been spread across several.

Click on a photograph to enlarge it.

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The first major action was the unloading of a large 360° excavator on the 19th of March 2011. This was used to pre-dredge the area round the slip and to load several tonnes of hardcore into it to sit the even larger excavator that was to install the piles that would be the coffer dam. In this area all the rest of the work was to be done, in the dry, after the water inside the dam was pumped out.

Unfortunately, as with most projects, things didn't go to plan, we had some leaks that took all of 6 weeks to track down and seal.

Prior to the arrival of the big digger, several weeks were spent in fabricating the steel frames, the largest of which weighed 1.8 tonnes, and the smallest about a tonne. A lot of unseen time and effort went into the procuring of the steel and into the cutting and welding of the 6 frames.

   The slipway looked like this from the air, before we started work on upgrading it in 2011.

       







   The first physical step in the action, the arrival, on the 19th of March 2011, of the big digger. It was used to clear some of the major debris where the piles were to be positioned. It was also used to search for the dozens of Bison beams said to have been used in the old slip.

21.4.11. The next step was the arrival, on the 21st of April, of the piling machine, with it's clamping and vibrating head. All the piles we had were laid out, using our own digger, in the order they would be picked up by the piling machine and sunk into the mud of the canal. It picked each pile up by grasping it near the middle and located it, then vibrated it down to depth. We didn't have enough piles for the job so the piling company brought their own too.

   The next step was to fill much of the old slipway with stone to provide a bed for the even bigger machine that was to come and sink all the piles to make a coffer dam round the area of work.

28.4.11. The piling job pretty much completed, but the coffer dam had to be sealed where it came closev to the jetty. We are now at the 28th of April.

29.4.11. The gap now sealed with some tonnes of clay and we start to pump the water out. This on the 29th of April.