Boats docked at marina thrown a lifeline
Floating barrels rescue breakwater
The west harbour marina’s broken breakwater is temporarily floating again with help from hundreds of massive pool noodle look-alikes.
But it remains unclear if the makeshift repair is enough to protect marina boats from the kind of severe weather that sunk the $3.3-million wave-blocking wall in the first place.
A violent April storm partially sunk the city’s new floating steel breakwater near Pier 8, causing wave damage to the Harbour West Marina’s main dock and at least 10 fingers. The same storm dropped a real estate sign on two pedestrians downtown and forced evacuations from some flooded lakefront homes.
“We’re still not sure if it was a design issue or a construction issue, and whether it is repairable,” said city waterfront manager Gavin Norman. “That is going to take some time to figure out.”
Norman said the damage is covered under warranty and an engineer hired by breakwater builder Kehoe Marine is still studying what happened. Inspections to date show cracks in some of the otherwise airtight steel flotation tubes.
Given the importance of the structure to users of the marina, he said, the city has hired an independent engineer to review the results when available. “It is disappointing ... it appears to be a weather-related failure, but it (the breakwater) should have been able to handle the weather.”
In the meantime, the 300-metre-long structure has been temporarily refloated with what may look like giant blue pool noodles but are actually 1,200 plastic barrels connected underwater with chains. The barrel-aided wave blocker will likely be needed all summer, Norman said.
The city is also awaiting a report on how the repaired structure will fare in a serious storm.
A second, smaller breakwater remains partially submerged. Norman said that repair is less urgent, since the smaller breakwater is meant to protect a marina slip expansion that has not yet occurred.
The barrel-aided wave blocker allowed the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club late last week to finally start putting sailboats into the marina, said president Barry Tyler. Normally, the vessels, ranging in size from 18 to 45 feet, would have been in the water in May.
Tyler said he feels confident the temporary breakwater will hold up through the summer, noting severe storms are more common in the early spring and fall.
“After the summer, maybe we will have to re-evaluate,” he said. “For now, it is doing the job it is supposed to do . ... We’re just happy to get out there and sail.”