Boat Ramp builders....

[frankgrimes]

Hi Fellas,

Got a mate who lives on a Goldie Canal, and is looking at getting a boat ramp built - Had a bit of a look through YellowPages/Google, but have not been able to find anyone that builds them?

Mick

[Noelm]

I would reckon that as long as he has any permits needed, then almost any Concreter would do it, not a lot involved in the actual building of it.

[Noelm]

OH and as another thought, what about asking the people who do pontoons?? I have a mate in that business, and I reckon they would get you started on the right track.

[Chimo]

Hi Mick

The guy who did my driveway does them.

He did a good job on the neighbours and my driveway.

PM if you want a number

Cheers
Chimo

[frankgrimes]

Thanks Noel - Will get him to give Pontoon mob a call.

Chimo - PM sent - Ta.

[485hussar]

how do they bild the ramp? is it just a case of waiting for the dead low tide, then quickly bowing out the slab and pour before the tide runs in? does the wet concrete contaminate the water?

I dont mean to hijack but ive always wondered about this

[Outsider1]

how do they bild the ramp? is it just a case of waiting for the dead low tide, then quickly bowing out the slab and pour before the tide runs in? does the wet concrete contaminate the water?

I dont mean to hijack but ive always wondered about this

Different methods but normally they dam the area until the ramp can be constructed, dry properly etc.

This link was put up recently in another thread on public ramp construction and will give you the general idea of how it is done.

http://www.aquabarrier.com/boatRamps.html

Cheers

Dave

[Murks]

Geez outsider, thats an impressive link...obviously American, they always go to the extremes...I have been involved in the concrete industry for over 20 years and most of the time for the exception of really big ramps (but rare) they use special admixtures to initiate the hydration of the cement paste to set faster so a strength of 15MPa is reached in approx 6 hours.....and to answer 485hussar the concrete doesn't affect the water quality...basically any concreter may think he can do it but I would strongly recommend getting an experienced person involved...nothing worse than spending money to see your ramp break up with corrosion in 12-18months if not designed properly via mix design and laid in accordance with regulations and experience...sorry for the dribble but one thing I do know about is concrete technology...if I knew as much about fishing I would have my own TV show......cheers,
Brett

[Noelm]

As Murks has said, there is a bit to it, I have seen a couple of different ways to tackle it, some reasonably easy, some only suitable for Councils and the like, some of our better ramps are made from solid Concrete but when it gets to the lowest tide mark, they install things like big Concrete Sleepers that have stainless "lugs" in them that allow a big bolt to attach the next one to, so that in the Water you have a series of sleepers, bolted together with about a 75mm gap between them, that works OK, or another method is at the lowest of tides, they sandbag off the ramp section and get a big ar$se pump to keep the water out and do the whole thing on dry land so to speak, my local ramp was done with a pump and the Conctret was just pumped into the Water and kind of "floated off" completely under water, that was about 12 years ago, and it is still OK.