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tie «a pear es wu an Sia His i a Neils & eee Shy Kit ara How an Ocean Going Vessel W Hauled Out of Water for Reconstruction in Absence of Docking Facilities N interesting operation in ma- A riné work was recently success- fully carried out by the Na- tional Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., Goderich, Ont., at its “Levis. yard, Quebec, Canada, The company had undertaken to convert an ocean-going steel dredge into a freighter for a group of French shipowners, for quick delivery and as there was no drydock available in which to carry out the work, the com- pany decided to bring the vessel out of the water on a marine railway. A suitable site was selected on the St. Lawrence ‘river opposite Quebec and active operations were immedi- ately commenced on the construction of the slipway, together with all the necessary shops and buildings required in a modern shipyard. As it was impossible to secure the necessary machinery and appliances for a regular marine railway in the limited time available it was de- cided to use greased ways instead of the usual steel rollers. The grade of the slipway was fixed at 4 per cent and it was found that if advantage was taken of the highest tides for floating the vessel onto the cradle, a total vertical lift of 11 feet would be sufficient to insure the stern being above high water mark for the remainder of the . season. . This: lift, on a 4 per cent grade fixed the hauling distance as 275 feet and the length of the slip at 508 feet. The length of the ves- sel was 233 feet. made 275 feet. Rapid Repairs on Large Vessel HE practice of hauling out yachts and other small craft on a marine railway is not uncom- mon but when in the absence of a drydock this method is applied to a steel vessel 233 feet long, it is evi- dent that much careful planning is necessary to insure suceess. The accompanying article de- scribes in detail how this: was car- ried out, how the ways were con- structed and how the vessel was hauled out of the water. An inter- esting feature of the operation is that greased wooden ways were used instead of the steel rollers regularly used in marine railway equipment. The construction work on_ the ways was carried out in a_thor- ough manner for while they had been given no camber, the weight of the vessel did not cause them to settle and nothing was displaced or broken. The manner in which power was applied for hauling, while simple in application, gave excel- lent results and the whole opera- tion of hauling progressed without mishap. This plus the haul The length of the slip, however, was subsequently re- duced to 485 feet as the bow of the vessel was allowed to overhang the cradle by 23 feet. The site selected for the operations contained a wharf of sufficient width to allow the upper portion of the slip to be excavated for a length of 225 feet, the material with which this wharf had been originally filled being shale debris from the adjoin- ing cliffs and providing a good foundation for the ways. Beyond the wharf, soundings taken in the river showed from 4 to 5 feet of mud and blue clay overlying the rock. Although it would have been preferable to have carried the founda- tion of the ways down to rock, it was realized that as work could only be carried on during low tide it would require the remainder of the season to clear the site. Consequently, the mud only was removed and the cross timbers laid on the blue clay. The cross timbers, 12x*l2 inches x 40 feet long, of fir, were laid at 4- foot centers, the next course above being composed of longitudinals and above this cross timbers again, the whole cribwork being filled in with rock and shale from the wharf ex- cavation. The standing ways were constructed of two 12x 12-inch oak baulks bolted together with l-inch bolts at 5-foot centers, the bolts also passing through the 6x15-inch oak guides fixed on the outside of the ways and projecting 3 inches above the AT. THE LEFT IS SHOWN TH THE ARRANGEMENT FOR 121 E HAULING GEAR CONSISTING OF A STEAM ENGINE, GEARED TO A WINDING DRUM BY MEANS OF WORM GEARING, AND. ANCHORING AND SUPPORTING THE 4-SHEAVE BLOCK USED IN HAULING—THE VIEW AT THE RIGHT SHOWS CONSTRUCTION WORK ON THE CRADLE WHICH IS BUILT DIRECTLY ON THE STANDING WAYS SEE ey RS aay PMO WaT Cet aR SER, tL OC EM TOR Oe Uh TEAS ST RNR ah ee BE Te NIE DY 4 ¥ * PP TO eae