7 June 2002

hopper dredge required portions of Reach 1 for access to the shoaled area. At

1651 hr dredging was ceased, and the Beachbuilder moved further to the RDB

side of the channel. All anchors were retrieved and plans were made to move the

Beachbuilder to Reach 2. Weeks Marine personnel started work on breaking the

submerged line and moving the hard point to Reach 2. Operations were termi-

nated at dusk due to potential safety issues. Total downtime for 6 June was 17 hr

35 min.

7 June 2002

Work on adding additional submerged line and moving the hard point

resumed at daylight on 7 June. Sections of steel pipe were added and submerged

on the RDB side of the channel extending the discharge line to the selected

location for the hard point in Reach 2. Operations were terminated at dusk on

7 June (resulting in a total downtime of 24 hr) and resumed at daylight on 8 June.

8 June 2002

Weeks Marine personnel completed setting the hard point at mid-morning on

8 June. The floating hose was connected to the hard point and two upstream

anchors were set, one on each side of the channel. Water was pumped through

the discharge line to test equipment and pipeline integrity.

Dredging was initiated in Reach 2 at 1230 hr on 8 June. The Beachbuilder

was configured with the Delta Pacer as the push boat and the Delta Eagle on the

starboard side. The dredge made adjacent 750-ft-long cuts in Reach 2 south of

the hard point working across the channel from the RDB side of the channel to

the LDB side. Dredging continued on a 24-hr basis. The total downtime for

8 June was 14 hr 5 min. In addition to the time required to reset the hard point,

the main engine shut down eight times for a total downtime of 50 min and

dredging was stopped to add a length of shore line (35 min).

Vessel traffic passage was accomplished by dropping the starboard bow

cable, the one across the channel, as the vessel traffic approached, and picking

the cable back up after the vessel traffic cleared. By free-spooling the winch, the

cable dropped to the bottom of the channel and went slack within 5 sec. With the

additional power from the Delta Pacer, the Beachbuilder was able to continue

dredging with the starboard bow cable slack for vessel traffic passage. After

consultation with various river pilots, it was decided that the Beachbuilder could

safely dredge during the passage of vessel traffic without moving if the

Beachbuilder was dredging in the RDB half of the channel and the vessel traffic

could pass in the LDB half of the channel. The Beachbuilder would cease opera-

tions and move back to the RDB side if it was dredging in the LDB half of the

channel, if two vessels were passing each other in the channel, or if the river pilot

in command of the vessel requested additional clearance. This policy was suc-

cessfully practiced during the remainder of the demonstration project.

In addition to the vessel traffic moving up and down the river, up to four

hopper dredges were working in the HOP area during the dustpan demonstration

Chapter 2

Project Description