2,700 lbs of lift/Lowering the tenderhouse logs

On the water, buildings need to be balanced, floating even front and back, left and right. When I moved in, my tenderhouse was off-balance, the right side riding high so that the float logs were out of the water. This is not good because the logs will deteriorate and get ruined – not a good thing when they’re supporting your building.

I was planning to move three heavy file cabinets from the left side to the right, and was hoping that would even things out. Finally this summer I got around it, but it didn’t solve the problem.

So I called the trusty John Glenn of Mainland Diving Services (503) 803-1459, who had done the dive inspection of my houseboat when I was looking to purchase it. It turns out those inspections don’t include the tenderhouse so who knew what a dilapidated mess it was under there.

I’d called him and he was going to get back to me but I was eating lunch on my deck and his barge floated past on the way to another job downriver so he stopped to see what was going on with my place. He dove under to take a look and we discussed my options and decided he would try to take out some of the styrofoam float cylinders.

He dove under and was able to dislodge one cylinder, which is a size that provides 750 pounds of lift. John’s helper, Keith Tice, lassos it when it pops out with a big splash. John tries a second cylinder but can’t dislodge it. They need to bring the barge around, lower an 850-pound weight, which John dives and attaches to the cylinder. He doesn’t know if the river is deep enough for the weight to pull the cylinder down as far as it needs to go to emerge from under the tenderhouse. It works. John notes that this second one provides 1,000 pounds of lift, and it’s a size that they don’t even make anymore. John thinks he needs to get out another cylinder, this one closer to the walkway.

That involves squeezing the barge in the narrow space between my and my neighbor’s tenderhouse to get the weight closer to where it’s needed. This one works, too, and the third cylinder emerges. People have asked me if these cylinders can be re-used. Not if the plastic around them is gone (in this case, it is) because otherwise beavers or objects floating downriver could break off the styrofoam to pollute the water). Now the tenderhouse has had 2,700 pounds of lift removed and it sits lower in the water, enough that the logs are half-submerged. They will soak up the water and this will keep them from deteriorating and I hope last a long, long time.