We took a break from restoration to upgrade Skipper's Quay with a Gun Deck, she needed a place to place her cannon. Spoiler Alert: She also needs a cannon.
Our shoreline seawall was damaged by Hurricane Ivan, pretty much removed, and previous owners left it to the elements for 7 years. Here is a photo of 2019 repairs in progress. As a result the shoreline started to recede about a foot a year as tide and wind took its toll. We purchased the property and began a series of repairs, brought in some rip rap in 2016 to stabilize the shoreline retreat and last year we had the seawall rebuilt using better tech, sheet pilings with deadman anchors placed 12 feet back into the yard. Speaking of yard, 16 dump trucks of dirt and sand came by to replace the shore that had been lost and rip rap was placed along the seawall.
The new quay made a huge difference and we saved about 10 legacy pine trees along the way. Little critter marine life established itself quickly in the shoreline rip rap. One issue surfaced though, wind driven tide splashed into the yard for the first few feet and killed the grass, and resulting erosion started to take some dirt out into the bay. We slowed that down with a french drain along the edge of the quay, but there was still a splash zone that would carry river rock as far as 12 feet up into the yard.
We put on our thinking caps and decided that a cap over the french drain would dissipate splash energy, and Skipper designed a wooden deck to place over the french drain. We decided to call it the Gun Deck. We pressed CYANE's trailer into service for a trip to our marine lumber store for some 2x8 and 2x6 pressure treated pine. Through the years we have found that boat trailers make good lumber haulers, lots of spots to tie down the load. We also needed screws. Lots of screws.
Phase I and II complete. We added a toerail so Skipper doesn't pitch off of the Gun Deck into the bay.
Might have bought Skipper some new tools along the way. An impact driver makes a huge difference driving screws over a regular drill. More on this DeWALT model 787 later.
We also bought a new Kobalt circular saw, the depth adjustment on the old Kobalt had worn out and it was becoming a hazard to cut boards without the proper depth setting. Amazing how much better a new blade cuts!
to be continued...
No comments:
Post a Comment