so the obvious answer is heck no but ~ hear me out (a lot of smart folks on here and I really do want honest feed back) here is the dilemma ~ we are setting piles off a work barge with an ex and a vibro ~ the area is relatively shallow so no large barges and we cannot approach by land ~ however we have some shallower running work barges that will support the weight of a 30K machine ~ however at 30k this means I only have space for 2~3 piles per trip (ideally a days work would be 5~8) the reach from where the ex needs to be chained down requires me to have 28ft reach along ground on machine we are buying an ex for this task ~ my question is if we are chaining the machine down do I need the counterweight ? without would certain reduce load on barge and allow for a days work to be loaded ~ we are strongly leaning towards a cat 313 unless someone talks me into something else that can reach 28ft and weighs less than 30K
Yeah don't do it. The reason is because chaining it down to counter the lack of counterweight, is just going to roll that lightweight barge that much worse. I'd rather you see you drag out a second float with piling on it honestly. That way this wouldn't even be a question.
Any old float would do you could raft it hard to the one you're using.
The one thing you could do though, that would lighten up the load on the barge and still be safe is to pull the existing counterweight and then fab up one that reaches out quite a ways behind the excavator, it can be much lighter because it has leverage..
If you could scrounge up a couple of flexi floats and spring them on tight to the outside of the rig you could put several piles on those. The bonus is if you had them rigged right they would add some stability reaching off the work side.
I agree ~ I have some Uni-Floats (uk version of flexi's) may be worth the time to see what they draft in the water with 5k on em' the work barges are approx 40ft x 12ft x 3ft ~ we chain, bolt, cable two of these together to put excavator on so it doesn't draft too much ~ big flat ~ due to length is why I even entertained the chain it down thought...... figured since we only swing 45deg starboard/port and drive pile directly in front there wouldn't be a whole lot of pull as the barge is so long
So you're going to arrange the piling down the side of the excavator, so you'll be swinging all the way around but just boomed up tight? I just want to picture it right and you're going to try and work straight off the end.
If you're not too far away from the middle of the country I can stop by the job site in August I'll be visiting friends in Manchester and running around I don't think we're going to go too far south though I don't know where you're at.