Port 1 acquires Yacht club's dredge
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February 4, 2016
Genie Cary
A barge brought Port 1's new dredge and the crane needed to move it from Portland last Wednesday.
Last Wednesday a barge arrived in the Cathlamet Channel with Wahkiakum County Port District 1's new dredge aboard as well as a crane big enough to lift the 35,000 pound vessel.
After a couple hours and a lot of working and waiting in intermittent rain, the dredge was off the barge and being pulled up the river and into the marina.
The dredge, which the port purchased from Rose City Yacht Club, cost $20,000. Port Manager Jackie Lea believes that additional work and equipment may cost another $30,000-40,000 but it is a far cry from the $450,000 it might have cost the port to have the work done.
Owning the vessel should save the port a lot of money in the long run.
It was named the JR Randall for the man who brought the dredge to Rose City Yacht Club. She isn't pretty, but if she does what she was designed to do, it won't matter.
An inspector reported finding some pitting in an independent report, but it remained in an acceptable range.
"I finished checking the hull," he wrote, "interesting piece of work. I could discuss the hull's nontraditional construction at length. I found no consistency in construction, the dredge is not symmetrical. It appears to be pieced together with scrap metal."
Later he stated, "The thing has been working along for years like this. It could go on for more years."
Diana Zimmerman
The crane hook was lowered to a worker who was getting Port 1's dredge ready to be moved from the barge onto the Columbia River.
The port plans to paint her, buy the necessary pipe to move sediment and check the hydraulics.
"We are looking into switching from hydraulic fluid over to vegetable oil to be more environmentally friendly," Lea said.
They will purchase a spill kit and put navigational lights on her in order to work in the channel when it's dark. That was never a concern for RCYC, who only needed to dredge their marina.
The port will also need to purchase a boat in order to move the dredge. Eventually they will have to hire a two person crew to operate the boat and the dredge.
To cut down on costs the port has been collecting barrels to use as floats.
Meanwhile it is just a matter of waiting for the proper permit.
"I don't foresee any dredging until 2017," Lea said. "I think it's going to take that long to get the permit to dredge."
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