Last Monday evening a crane arrived at Meadow Lane wharf in Nottingham. It was a 220 ton beast that was going to lift a couple of barges in and out of the trent...
After the cars were all cleared and a solid lifting plan was formulated, the first lift began. This was Warren's new home that he's been restoring for the past 6 months...
He's now waiting for a tug up the trent a bit, where he's just got a liveaboard mooring... Hope the hole in his roof gets fixed (The chains on the crane got a bit close!).
No problem with damaging this one, tho! As night settled, we managed to pull Hopper11 along the quayside BY HAND! This was a first for all of us, and if it wasn't for Tim, the lock keeper, and his experience, I think the hopper would be somewhere near Newark by now!
Once the chains were securely located and balanced under the hull, the lift began. At this point, I was holding the front rope and sh&ting myself!!
As she rose out of the trent, half a ton of debris dropped from underneath, and she was a site to behold. Thought the hull was going to collapse at one point, but amazingly she is solid!
The crane had to drop her and move along the wharf three times before she was situated in the right place for the welding company to do their work! Thought they were going to charge me more than the agreed price, as we didn't finish until 22:30! 5 hour mission but well worth it!
Next day Tom, Debs and me, headed up to check her out in the daylight. I really didn't realise how big she was going to be... And the hull is solid 6mm steel! Not a lot of pitting at all. The welding guys have said it's in great condition and shouldn't take too much work to cut up and re-inforce for conversion.
I've got a skip on order now, and there's a couple of young lads up for scooping out all the crap into it. Just hope they manage to work out which is which!!!
Then it's over to the shot blasters and welders... First job is to cut out the inner plating on the bottom of the V shaped hopper. The original had two doors in the bottom, running the length of the hopper, and these would be opened when it was full of dredge and emptied over a weir. So a massive new plate is required along the main length of the hull... ouch! Still, I don't really want to be dumped into the river with all my belongs in a few years time due to some dodgy hinges.
watch this space...
Gently does it!!
They're never giving that 50 Tonne crane to that little lad are they?? my boat!!!
Fingers crossed I've still got a hull!!
No worries the man from Marina he say YES! ...quick wash and some special cream and it'll all be fine!
