When KING KONG Isn’t Big Enough!!
Post Date: January 8, 2007 at 12:00 am
Reported From: APE Western (CA)
Reported From: APE Western (CA)
Dutra Construction of Northern California is a heavy contender in the piledriving industry. They know what it takes to get a job done even when the going gets tough. Tough like the Port of Oakland Merritt Sands can be tough, and you know how it goes: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”! And that is exactly what Dutra Construction did! They got going to APE to come up with a solution to the Port of Oakland Merritt Sand.
Todd Bruce of Dutra Construction came to APE with a special request to drive sheets using a 55’ long, heavy duty follower, to drive the sheets up against the existing dock with very little room and strict tolerances. Todd wanted to do the job right and used his knowledge of past Port Projects. With APE in Dutra’s corner Todd and the Dutra Group knew the project would be successful.
After careful consideration the Vibro of choice was the APE model 600B Vibro, because when King Kong just isn’t big enough “Super Kong” sets the new standard. Dutra Fab, out of RioVista California fabricated the heavy duty follower that bolts to the bottom of the 600B vibro and turns the sheet clamp 90 degrees to enable the driving of the sheets in series of steps that keeps the wall straight.
This is a hard enough job in it’s self, but add a water depth of 45 feet deep and you have a situation when you can’t even see the tops of the sheet pile. A special pile guide was fabricated to the bottom of the clamp that enables it to slip over the interlocks so the jaws can clamp evenly on the sheets even with out having to see the tops of the sheet pile.
Driving sheet pile in the Port of Oakland is tough enough, but when you add a 55’ long follower to the bottom of the Super Kong weighing in at 34,000lbs and backed up by the powerful APE model 1000 Power Unit charging ahead with 1000hp, you get one heck of a driving gorilla with enough driving force and energy to get the job done and Dutra is here to show us how. King Kong is one hard hitting vibro, but in a case like the “Tough Oakland Merritt Sands” it takes King Kong’s big brother, “SUPER KONG”, for the finishing touch!
