Fall report from Pittsburgh – 2007

After the E. L. Thumper returned to Millvale from the summer tour, thoughts turned to dry docking for hull repairs. 

First let me explain this dry docking.  Vince, owner of the Katie H, has a deck barge, which once had a house and crane on it. It was used to raise and lower wickets at the old dams.  He also has an assortment of pumps.  Put them together and you have a dry dock.  We did this before, but not at the new landing and not with the paddlewheel and rudders attached to the Thumper.

The plan was to turn the barge 90 degrees to the bank, sink the shore end to hold everything steady then sink the river end.  Sounds easy!  This project started on Saturday, Sept. 29^th with many in attendance.  All went well.  The barge sank to the bottom, but only had about 30 inches of water over the deep end, sloping to a dry barge approximately 35 feet away.  (The E. L. Thumper draws about 30 inches)  The Thumper was driven onto the barge until the engine water pick-up was out of the water.  The Thumper was then   dragged the final 10 feet with a winch that was welded to the dry end of the barge.  The Thumper looked very big high and dry.  After raising the barge, we commenced to jacking the boat up 24 inches and placing it on steel horses and wood cribbing.  The Thumper weighs about 40,000 pounds.  We dropped it once, about 6 inches, and buckled the corner, causing a little more repair work.

About 8 feet of the bow was removed and replaced, and every pipe that passed through the hull was replaced.  While inspecting the hull, we discovered that the last 18 inches across the stern was thin and needed replaced.  This was a problem in that the Thumper’s stern extended 9 feet beyond the barge, (we stopped there to keep the rudders from hitting the barge).  So it was time to build some scaffolding and figure out how to support it.  We also found that the stainless steel hinge for the trim tab had caused severe corrosion at every attachment point.  It was decided that the trim tab should be removed.

We added 1 inch thick blocks of steel to the hull bottom to protect the new paint joint during the launching.  It was while welding these blocks to the hull that the Thumper caught fire.  The welding had set some carpet in the hull on fire and it started a plastic milk crate full of spare pumps and parts, mostly rubber and plastic afire.  Son, John, noticed black smoke pouring out both doors of the cabin.  He and Bill Doyle put out the fire and cleaned up the mess.  Not much real damage, except now the entire inside needs cleaning and re-painting.  I continued to weld, but could not figure out why the outside of the hull was smoking and hot long after the weld cooled.

The next step was to pressure wash the hull and apply two coats of “moisture curing urethane tar epoxy”.  The price is about as big as the name. 

On November 17^th, the Thumper was lowered onto the barge and preparations were made for sinking the barge.  During the raising, John swam around the area and found a place with deeper water. It is hoped the Thumper would float off the barge without help.

The big day finally arrived, and it was cold and rainy.  The barge was sunk and things looked promising.  After much backing and jacking, nothing moved.  John walked out and put a snatch block on the deep end of the barge and a cable was run to the winch on the barge.  It worked well until one of the steel blocks welded to the hull bottom fell into a hole on the barge deck, stopping things quickly.  This hole is a pipe that runs through the barge, which is usually covered by a steel plate.  After more jacking and backing and dragging, the E. L. Thumper was off and floating.  Thanks to Jeff’s welding, no leaks!

The Thumper was up for 7 weeks, 4 pieces of 4ft. x 8ft. plate, 3/16 inch thick along with 125 pounds of welding rod were used in the repairs. 

I’d like to thank everyone that helped and ask if they might be free to help paint in the spring.