It was HOT, Swamp HOT!

[ronbeaux]

Rolled up this morning to the exact middle of nowhere. Atchafalaya Swamp. When I park my truck and get out the crew of 20 people all get antsy as usual because I'm the Safety Guy. They don't trust Safety Guys. I have tried to change their perception to no avail. So after introductions and me scanning the area for violations(which were none) I asked to go see the site where they were going to place the caison box to repair the pipeline.

Caison box


It basically a clam shell box they lower into the water and clamp onto the pipe. Then they pump out the water and they have a nice dry environment in order to weld the new pipe in place below the water level. Divers go down around it and help them set it into position. It leaks a little so they keep pumps running during the process.

The airboat dude hops up and says "We can take this one Sir!" I break the ice by telling him that as long as it floats I'm game and please don't jump stumps because I didn't want my phone wet.


So I load up and we head out. After about a minute of doing 0.5 MPH I turned around and asked him if the airboat was broke or something??? BAD move!!! He gunned it and we were flying down the narrow canal at 50 in no time!


So with one hand holding on and the other grasping my stuff we blasted down the canal to the site.


These track hoes float and are huge. I can't see the pipe but was assured that the old section was removed by divers and the new pipe was already to be welded up. Speaking of Divers, these guys walk bow legged!!!!

So now it is time to position the caison






Tomorrow I will go back and get pictures of the crew in the box.

[wyoduke]

Looks like a cool day to me ;D ;D

[DisplacedCoonass]

Oh but how this makes me miss home.  What part of the Atchafalaya are you working on?

[ronbeaux]

North of I-10 on the Henderson levee.

[Smokin Soon]

Great post Ron. That is something that most of us have never seen. Looking foreward to more pics.

[York]

Love the pictures Ron.  ;)

[DisplacedCoonass]

North of I-10 on the Henderson levee.

It truly is home swamp then.  The house I grew up in is just a few miles down the road.  Gotta stop and grab a T-Sue's doughnut in the morning on your way to work!  Then, if you're not familiar with the area, get someone to take you down to Goulas' in Parks for some cracklin.  Or if you are familiar, go get some cracklin from Goulas and eat them for me.

[hal4uk]

I wish I wuz in da Swamp with ya...
Brings back memories of some of my misspent youth in shipyards and such down there.

It's entirely tooooo dang hot (moreso than a June bride in a featherbed) here in Illinois...
It's like Cajun Country / Mississippi Delta / Haides HOT here.

[TestRocket]

Cool PICS Ron. What no gators?  ;D

[KyNola]

Troy and Trapper Joe and Tommie and Junior and Willie and the Giust Brothers caught 'em all! :D

[ronbeaux]

Headed back out there today and arrived to a deserted staging area. One lone piece of equipment and no people.


Called the crew chief to send me a boat. They jumped right on it and I was off again sight seeing on the ride to the job site.




Things were going well. The caison was in place, pumped out, weighted down, and the pipe was in place for welding. They built their own island out of barges for a work platform and everybody was tip toeing around on the slick surfaces. All went well and the pipe is now repaired and back in service.








Hung out and visited the guys for awhile and decided that I was just in their way so I left them alone and took the airboat ride back to the staging area.

[TedEbear]

Interesting.  How did they know the exact spot where the pipe needed to be repaired before moving the caison over it?

[ronbeaux]

They cut out a whole 60ft joint.

[OldHickory]

Nice pics Ron.  Reminds me of my youth as a roughneck in Houma.  Lucky for me, most of my work was out in the Gulf, but it was still hot.