Got asked to bid a very unusual project

[Hay Dude]

It was going down straem when it got hung up there.

I literally stood on the Route 1 bridge and watched 100’ trees wash down the river like matchsticks and smash into those RR bridge piers.
Kind of amazed at how those RR engineers in 1900 were able to design such strong structures.
I lost about 130 round bales in that flood. They were stored on ground that has never been underwater in recorded weather/flooding history. A few of them are still in the flood plane rotting away.

 

[Hay Dude]

I think we are finally coming back around to dynamite as the solution here.

Yep, blow it up while firewood size chunks of wood fly through those giant windows LOL

 

[two_bit_score]

Yep, blow it up while firewood size chunks of wood fly through those giant windows LOL

Small charges, placed right and in a controlled detonation.

 

[two_bit_score]

I literally stood on the Route 1 bridge and watched 100’ trees wash down the river like matchsticks and smash into those RR bridge piers.
Kind of amazed at how those RR engineers in 1900 were able to design such strong structures.
I lost about 130 round bales in that flood. They were stored on ground that has never been underwater in recorded weather/flooding history. A few of them are still in the flood plane rotting away.

I never underestimate what the weather and nature can do, especially working in tandem.

Sorry that you lost your hay.

 

[dodge man]

Haydude, the trick is to find a guy with a long reach excavator and ask him if it would work. They would know. I assume you’re not going to go out a buy something for this project.

 

[airbiscuit]

I'm not all that convinced that everything is going to break loose in a gob. It looks like a lot of it is stuck in the mud. Cut the top portion up in chunks with a chainsaw - winch the rest.

 

[Hay Dude]

Haydude, the trick is to find a guy with a long reach excavator and ask him if it would work. They would know. I assume you’re not going to go out a buy something for this project.

dodge man,,,,,it’s TOO FAR from the rivers banks to reach with an excavator!!!
I just ran a 18 ton CAT excavator and it wouldn’t reach 1/2 way out there.
Please stop.

I will be using an excavator for the trees up against the other piers.

 

[Sportsman762]

It depends on how far it is on how far a long reach would work. An Cat 317 has a reach of 29.5 ft. A long reach will have a 50' or longer boom.
C. Norris Manfacturing | Canton, OH | Commercial & Industrial Equipment Supplier is an example of a manufacture of long reach with products 50-100'. Sunbelt rents 60' units. 60-70K Long Reach Excavator 60' | Sunbelt Rentals

Most clamshell work is done with lattice boom cranes. Those are becoming less and less common and finding an operator who would do this sort of work might be a challenge.

I think the most economical way would be to buy a logging winch like a Fermi W35R that has 213 ft of cable with a 3.5 ton pull on a tractor on the bank. Go out in a jon boat and hook the winch cable up. Then have a guy on the tractor pull the logs to the bank. The jon boat guy would then take the cable back and repeat the process. Once you get a nice pile use the tractor to grapple them into a truck. This would be time consuming but it would be more cost effective.

dodge man,,,,,it’s TOO FAR from the rivers banks to reach with an excavator!!!
I just ran a 18 ton CAT excavator and it wouldn’t reach 1/2 way out there.

 

[MossRoad]

$115,000... amphibious long reach excavator. In NJ.

Never say never.

2008 CATERPILLAR 320D For Sale in Ocean Township, New Jersey

2008 CATERPILLAR 320D For Sale in Ocean Township, New Jersey at MachineryTrader.com. Caterpillar Amphibious 50 foot Long Reach Excavator on Wetlands Pontoons, good condition, aux fuel tank. The excavator is located in Pennsville, NJ

www.machinerytrader.com

But seriously, if the water level drops to a trickle in summer and you can walk out to it, as long as the current isn't so strong, you should probably be able to do like you say and nibble off a bit at a time and pull the pieces to the side.

 

[4570Man]

dodge man,,,,,it’s TOO FAR from the rivers banks to reach with an excavator!!!
I just ran a 18 ton CAT excavator and it wouldn’t reach 1/2 way out there.
Please stop.
View attachment 848511

I will be using an excavator for the trees up against the other piers.

You just need to get a barge to park that 18 ton cat on.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

Only thing left to figure out is how to cut submerged logs quickly.

Ice fishermen use chainsaws to cut holes in the ice. Best practice is to use vegetable oil for the bar oil to avoid polluting the water.

Probably best to assume that the bar will never be good for anything else afterwards.

I think you're on the right track taking it apart with essentially hand tools. Sometimes the longest road is the shortest path.

 

[lilranch2001]

Yep, and little dogs sit on the porch accomplishing nothing because they’re scared of “liability”, while big dogs get off the porch and get the jobs done.

So there’s that, too.

Look, I’m not going to go about this hastily and carelessly.
I’m making plans and calculating risks, checking insurance and consulting with the engineer.

I didn’t fall off the turnip truck yesterday, K?

I agree with your approach but also have you had an appropriate attorney advise you on all the possible liabilities that you are taking on?

 

[dstig1]

Yep, blow it up while firewood size chunks of wood fly through those giant windows LOL

Easy! Just point the dynamite AWAY from the windows! Let me know if you need any further advice...

 

[MossRoad]

Ice fishermen use chainsaws to cut holes in the ice. ..

Not here...

 

[lilranch2001]

Here….

Hold my beer!

 

[MossRoad]

Here….

Hold my beer!

Here, hold my bait!

 

[lilranch2001]

That dude sitting on the auger makes me dizzy just watching it

 

[groundcover]

Not here...

This is why they have to make equipment bigger ... to have room for all the safety stickers !
I'll stick with the Witch but I won't take her out on the lake !

 

[MossRoad]

Many years ago, my father hired a tree service to remove some huge oaks that fell into the lake on his property. It is an oxbow lake, about a mile long, but only 100 yards across, and the bank is too steep and 90' high, so no getting down there with any equipment other than chain saw. No way to get the logs up the hill.

There's a park across the lake from the property. The tree service somehow got the Army Corp of Engineers involved on "a training mission". They drove a 5 ton 6x6 truck into the park, used a rowboat to pull a rope across to the trees, then used the rope to pull cable from the 5 ton truck's winch across. Attached it to the large oak with twin trunks. The truck had no problems winching those two trunks across the lake, stumps and all. The only issue was they had to use an extension cable because there wasn't enough length on the winch. When they'd pulled in all of their cable, they just put the truck in reverse and backed up, pulling the trees the rest of the way across.

Just something to think about.

 

[Hay Dude]

Many years ago, my father hired a tree service to remove some huge oaks that fell into the lake on his property. It is an oxbow lake, about a mile long, but only 100 yards across, and the bank is too steep and 90' high, so no getting down there with any equipment other than chain saw. No way to get the logs up the hill.

There's a park across the lake from the property. The tree service somehow got the Army Corp of Engineers involved on "a training mission". They drove a 5 ton 6x6 truck into the park, used a rowboat to pull a rope across to the trees, then used the rope to pull cable from the 5 ton truck's winch across. Attached it to the large oak with twin trunks. The truck had no problems winching those two trunks across the lake, stumps and all. The only issue was they had to use an extension cable because there wasn't enough length on the winch. When they'd pulled in all of their cable, they just put the truck in reverse and backed up, pulling the trees the rest of the way across.

Just something to think about.

I would do exactly that, but here’s the difference on my project (IF it becomes my project).

1. Rivers have current. If you hook to a larger log and it breaks free, the current could drastically multiply the resistance pulling the log. That could be a disaster. You had the benefit of no current in a lake.
2. You also had the benefit of not having a log jam. When your logs were pulled across the lake, there was no risk of all of them breaking free and floating down a river, doing possible property damage.

I am still thinking wait until river is wadeable and cutting logs off a small piece at a time and letting them float away. Still has risk, but little overhead cost and smaller chance it all breaks free at once.