An Isaan Pond

[strigils]

How long is the span? you may get quite a bit of flexing. Whilst it won't snap it may greatly impact the longevity of the piers and anchor points.

You could run up 4 lengths and supports between, needn't be many.

PS

That wasn't being weightest

[ootai]

^

All said and done, I don't envisage the jetty being subjected to significant loads.

Aren't you going to be using it then?

[armstrong]

Aren't you going to be using it then?

Zing!

[Saint Willy]

Aren't you going to be using it then?

[Mendip]

I may weld a small flat plate to the rebar on the top of each leg first... that may help more?

It will.

Which leads me to a question I haven't found a reliable answer to. How safe is it to arc weld while standing up to your neck in water. I'm a bit nervous about mixing electricity and water at the best of times, but doesn't arc welding use high voltage?

The gardener is penciled in for this task but he seems a bit reluctant. I even offered him the orange dinghy from the pool to weld from but he keeps going on about getting an electric shock and stuff. As usual, I think he's holding out for a bottle of Ya Dong bribe.

How long is the span? you may get quite a bit of flexing. Whilst it won't snap it may greatly impact the longevity of the piers and anchor points.

You could run up 4 lengths and supports between, needn't be many.

The longitudinal span will be a little under 3 metres. My plan is to have three lengths, the outer two and a central one. I've planned one cross beam half way along. To increase on this will mean buying more metal! It's 4 x 2, so is pretty strong... and my diet is starting to kick in.

This is turning into a really complex project. The legs are skew-wiff with respect to the shoreline and the protruding rebars from the legs (which I planned to weld the metal supports to) don't protrude from equidistant parts of the legs. I also planned to leave rebar protruding from the onshore concrete plinth to weld the metal support to, but the measurements will need to be exact or nothing will fit. It's starting to make my head hurt.

I have a feeling this project will be a combination of fuk-ups and firefighting... but a 20 year design life should be sufficient.

Aren't you going to be using it then?

Yeah... everyone's a comedian, 'ey?

Next time you pop round ootai I bet you'll be wanting a go.

I'm more concerned about the weight of the catfish I'll be hauling in from the new jetty.

[strigils]

Just make up the floor, even leave it a little too long measurement wise. If its strong enough rest it on the piers and locate the rebar, lay some board down and weld from above?

On the shore side mark and cut to the exact length...or that's the way i'd do it.

Or get some waders off Lazada

Technical drawing test it and add more steel to achieve the desired payload capability

[bsnub]

[Saint Willy]

The gardener is penciled in for this task but he seems a bit reluctant. I even offered him the orange dinghy from the pool to weld from but he keeps going on about getting an electric shock and stuff. As usual, I think he's holding out for a bottle of Ya Dong bribe.

Can't imagine why he doesnt want to do it...

[lom]

I'm a bit nervous about mixing electricity and water at the best of times, but doesn't arc welding use high voltage?

No, the voltage is down-transformed and max setting is around 48V. It wont kill but can give you an unpleasant feeling if you put yourself between the two leads.
What you should be more worried about is if there is good enough isolation between the primary side (230V) and the low-voltage side, that could bite you.

I would weld from the upside as strigils suggested, weld together a U, put it in place , weld it to the landside plinths and then use a few planks to stand on. You can go down in the green and hold the U in place while the gardener is welding, you want get any voltage through you by holding in the metal.

[OhOh]

Weld plates horizontally to your supports at the level and in the positions required.

Weld your beams to the plates, at the piles and ashore.

As for welding whilst in the water, not being a trained welder, I'm with your gardener. From when I have observed others there is always two cables, one to the work piece, the other to the insulated welding rod handle. Neither of them in a pond.

In addition:

A horizontal 'x frame' would stop any wobbles.

A water slide at the end could be useful to launch your boat from.

Rent a JCB, let your daughter drive it, you sit in the bucket whilst welding

Hire a film producer

Check your life insurance policy for underwater welding

Call one of your offshore welding buddies.

....

[Shutree]

No, the voltage is down-transformed and max setting is around 48V. It wont kill but can give you an unpleasant feeling if you put yourself between the two leads.
What you should be more worried about is if there is good enough isolation between the primary side (230V) and the low-voltage side, that could bite you.

I would weld from the upside as strigils suggested, weld together a U, put it in place , weld it to the landside plinths and then use a few planks to stand on. You can go down in the green and hold the U in place while the gardener is welding, you want get any voltage through you by holding in the metal.

[Mendip]

I'm starting to think I need a JSA for this... is this where it all started?

Where's Headworx when you need him?

[strigils]

^ you need a pier party Mendip, loads of drunk TD members shouting advice from the shore, just for the love of God wear some shorts or the waders

[strigils]

It's starting to make my head hurt.

I would invest time in getting the metal walkway right, strong and with correct supports, you can then spend time locating and adjusting the supports, the final welding part will be a piece of piss. Buy more steel, its cheap and you'll only waste pennies if there is some left over. I always overspec, you never disappoint yourself downstream

[Mendip]

As for welding whilst in the water, not being a trained welder, I'm with your gardener.

OhOh, if you can be with my gardener, that's great. A very kind offer.

I don't fancy this at all so maybe I can have a long overdue trip to Bangkok while you guys sort this out?

[Headworx]

I'm starting to think I need a JSA for this... is this where it all started?

Where's Headworx when you need him?

As far away as I can possibly get whenever a JSA is mentioned, especially by some pimply faced HSEA on his 2nd hitch with a shiny orange hardhat that's got his name and/or blood type written anywhere on it.

Look Mendip I love your enthusiasm on this project and over the years I've heard many people say that hard work never killed anyone, but why take the chance? Get a contractor in, agree on what needs to be done, set a turnkey price with time frame and shoddy workmanship penalty clauses, and sit back under the Sala with a cold beer and your pack practising your impending calls of fish on! fish onnnnnn!!!! while marvelling at how cheap labour is here.

[strigils]

^ His pride will underspec the girder strength and then it'll be like the millennium bridge in London before they fixed it

[Mendip]

... just for the love of God wear some shorts or the waders

It's funny you should say that...

I have no waders and find shorts way too hot this time of year...

I do take note of comments and was going to post this pic... but after feedback from my last 'working' shot, decided against it.



While I work in the garden my daughter regularly says that my butt-crack is showing... to which I answer,

"Darling, it's not my butt-crack, it's my arse-crack"

This is one for the teachers... she's on a UK curriculum but the American is strong in her. I think it should be 'arse-crack'?

Anyway, while I collected her from school today it absolutely pissed it down in town... and despite taking at least 30 minutes to get there, her school is only around 8 km away as the crow flies. Thankfully, when I got home we hadn't had a drop which just shows how localised the rain is in these parts... but I've taken precautions for the night. It'll be no good of course if the pond level goes up a lot, but should protect from rain impact damage if we have a brief storm.



When I returned from the school run I also found this... the gardener had taken it on himself to start welding up the rebar cage. I must admit I was slightly peeved because I like welding and this was 'my' project... but he knows I've been a bit snowed under since the wife huffed off, so wanted to help out. He got the Ya Dong bonus and now maybe some concrete will be poured tomorrow!



To be honest this was a win win... the more time the gardener spends on this stuff means less time in the garden... 'pruning' trees!

[Saint Willy]

Jesus wept, buy yourself some new shorts. No wonder the French girl wasn’t interested.

[OhOh]

to start welding up the rebar cage.

I hope the cage will be reinforced. It appears somewhat, "flexible".

[strigils]

Is that OhOh for underspec'd, he's probably taken advice from Lom

[lom]

^ there is enough metal in Mendip's construction to make it strong and durable, but as you said

I always overspec

Yes you have previously shown your metal obsession.

[strigils]

^ there is enough metal in Mendip's construction to make it strong and durable, but as you said

Yes you have previously shown your metal obsession.

It bothers you for some reason, would you like me drop off some offcuts

[David48atTD]

Mate, I forget where your love of peas was regaled to the world however, something to share cooking with your daughter?

Just for fun dish ...

[Mendip]

Look Mendip I love your enthusiasm on this project and over the years I've heard many people say that hard work never killed anyone, but why take the chance? Get a contractor in, agree on what needs to be done, set a turnkey price with time frame and shoddy workmanship penalty clauses, and sit back under the Sala with a cold beer and your pack practising your impending calls of fish on! fish onnnnnn!!!! while marvelling at how cheap labour is here.

I know what you're saying HW... but the only people likely to take on a small job like this would be a bunch of amateur cowboys. I think the stress of going through that again, rather than doing some hard work, would be what'd kill me.

For example... I walk past this small building project with the dogs every morning. The poor guy having the work done is a teacher who saves up some money and periodically has another phase added to his 'apartments' when he can afford it. The work is so shoddy that the early phases built maybe three years ago are already disintegrating as later phases are added.

They are now building a perimeter 'wall'... and there is more wrong with it than right. They didn't even tamp down the concrete in the shuttering for the pillars, none of which have proper footings. I would rather see the main pillars poured after the block wall has gone in, it makes for a much better bond between pillar and blocks.

No thanks, I'll do this jetty meself!





After the school run and dog walks I decided to go for it today... a moderate 36 degrees was forecast with no rain.

I added some more cross bracing to the rebar cage to take out any flex, dug the foundations a bit deeper and then was ready to install the cage prior to the concrete pour. The cage may have benefited from even more bracing but this jetty is only likely to be taking a maximum of one moderately sized adult and one daughter at a time and I've used 12mm rebar. That must surely be enough?

Before installing the rebar cage I also fabricated a couple of 'L' pieces to weld on to the protruding rebar at the top of the offshore legs. These will form the brackets for the metal support. The rebar protrudes at different positions at the top of each leg and I was thinking about trying to make this standard for appearances sake, but then thought, fuk it, you can only piss with the cock you've got. Why make so much extra work?



I measured the distance between the two upright parts of the 'L' pieces and this will be the width of the metal support... bang on 150cm. I then added two extra pieces of cross bracing on the rebar cage at 75cm either side of centre and welded on uprights that will protrude from the concrete plinth. These are therefore 150cm apart and will be used to weld the metal support in place shoreside.



Then it was time to start mixing concrete.

What's that saying... 'Only mad dogs and Englishmen...?'

Well, Max soon fukked off out of the midday sun so it was just an Englishman and his gardener.



This was hot and knackering work... especially in these ridiculously thick shorts I ended up wearing to avoid offending anyone.



There... first batch ready to start pouring...



Once the first few buckets were poured I started to relax... the rebar was set in place and if there was rain it would be relatively easy to clean off any mud washed in and resume pouring concrete.



But it was a cloudless sky with no shelter from the b@stard hot sun, so the job was finished in one go.



Not a bad job. You can see the two main upright lengths of rebar protruding, that the metal support will be welded onto. There's also an old piece of rebar sticking up from the original jetty foundations. I've left that in place for now as there will be a second small concrete step going in at the same level as the finished top of jetty wooden planks. With hindsight I should have added more rebar sticking up to key the second step in to, but ain't hindsight a wonderful thing. I'll probably end up drilling a few holes and bashing in lengths of rebar later.

It's starting to take shape!



And from the far shore after adding some protection from the relentless baking sun.

Yogi looks well impressed!



That's the easy part of the day done... the missus comes back from Phimai today...