Many of you would be aware of our Boat Rack project in Nelson Place and some of you have already put your names on the waiting list. Well, we reached a big milestone this week, with all of the below ground works basically completed and the beginning of above ground works commencing.
Anyone who has built anything would appreciate that getting out of the ground is often the biggest challenge; well in our case it was nothing short of a nightmare! Everything from king tides while attempting to reclaim 1200 metres of Port Phillip Bay , volcanic rock in places and density that we didnt expect, several big storms, problems with availablity of materials, fuel surcharges, removal of existing fill – basically we’ve had it all.
Here are some interesting statistics for you; we have taken out 1700 tonnes of big rocks and bought back in 3500 tonnes of crushed rock, we have taken out 3000 tonnes of old fill, (or 105 semi tipper loads), 111 steel sheet piles and 100 steel round piles have been drilled and driven into the rock and seabed, 154 cubes of concrete has gone into the seawall with still another 600 cubes to go for the remaining footings and main runway slab and we have taken 40 tonnes of steel to the scrap yard that we have dug up, found underwater, or recovered from the unused ends of our steel piles. We have found all sorts of artifacts from multiple steam train wheels, an old anchor, 100 year old glass bottles, bronze and brass boat parts and even found part of an old tallship hull frame.
Next is 50 precast panels on the North wall, 140 tonnes of steel framing and the beautiful 120 year old timber cladding recycled from the old Princess Pier piles. Statistics aside, we are working on having our racks ready to receive boats by Christmas and we already have over 100 people on the waiting list. If you are interested in keeping your boat at The Boat Rack reach out to Dani@theboatrack.com.au and reserve your spot.