Big Easy shingling

Chris and I are going to make a start on shingling the Big Easy this Saturday-Sunday (starting at the top). Machines will do most of the work but if you are at a loose end then txt one of us and we'll let you know if an extra pair of hands would be handy. If everything goes to plan then a crew of 6 would be perfect for Saturday afternoon and Sunday. For following weekends we'll put together a roster so that we can try and keep the machines working. Watch this space...

Hamish - 027 442 6474

Chris - 021 296 5879

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Permalink Reply by Hamish Seaton on August 23, 2014 at 23:33

Here are some pictures from Saturday's warm up - lots of toys to play with! Club tractor, bottom dumping trailer, tracked dumper from Mason Excavation, club digger, and second digger from Mosgiel Mini Digger Hire.

The piles of millings are pretty firm but they're breaking up ok. Should be enough there to get the job done. Thanks to Chris, Adrian, Wilson and Mike for helping to get the ball rolling. Also thanks to Glyn for pulling the club digger apart and putting it back together lots of times - works fine without that left-over part (the one you can't remember where it goes)

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Permalink Reply by Hamish Seaton on August 24, 2014 at 8:31

We'll be up there from 10am today until dark. A crew of 6 would be ideal. If you're flexible time-wise then give one of us a bell and we can let you know when we'll be low on people.

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Permalink Reply by Hamish Seaton on August 24, 2014 at 23:10

Awesome day up Signal Hill today. Perfect weather and perfect number of people to keep everything running. Together with Saturdays effort we shingled 430m of track. That means that 7% of the Big Easy is shingled and 13% is partially done (needs a top up). That means 1/5th of it is now mud-less.

Mike spent most of the day on the digger and Chris ran loads on the tractor. Provided there were no hiccups, we could do a lap and spread 2.5ton every 15-20 minutes.Alan spent the entire day working up a sweat on the end of a rake.

While we were working down from the top, Adrian and Wilson attacked the pile by the pond.

They worked up and down from the pile as the tracked dumper is faster than the trailer for short distances (it can reverse back out rather than do an entire loop). John also did a big day on the end of a rake.

Scotty and Cadence brought up some baking at lunchtime which was awesome - thanks Celia!

Below is a map of the Big Easy. Shingled track is in red, and partially shingled track is the dashed lines. The weather forecast for Monday is good so I'll try and get up for a bit. If you're at a loose end send me a txt, as it would be good to have the dumper running as well. Hamish 027 442 6474

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Permalink Reply by Hamish Seaton on August 25, 2014 at 21:15

Mat had an afternoon off work so we popped up and did a bit more shingling. Mat used the tracked dumper to cover a wet section near the top. I got in 7 laps with the trailer so all up that's another 130m done. Have a couple of people keen on Tuesday so txt me when best suits and I'll fit work in around it.

Each drop is covering 15-20m. Time to get the quad bike up there to smooth things out, then start compacting.

10% of the track is now properly shingled. The bit right up the top that was shingled a couple of years back is longer than I thought, so all up 1/4 of the track has had something put on it.

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Permalink Reply by Hamish Seaton on August 26, 2014 at 20:31

Mike came up this morning and we moved a bit over 30ton by lunchtime. Chris did a stint in the afternoon where we did another 6 loads, so over 200m of new track covered and 100m of other shingle topped up. I'm flexible time-wise on Wednesday, so if anyone is keen to help out send me a txt and we can make a time. Need to have 2 people there safety-wise.

The pile up the top is getting a bit smaller...

And the red lines are getting longer...

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Permalink Reply by Mike on August 26, 2014 at 20:48

great job hamish.

im away for a few days so see you saturday

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Permalink Reply by Hamish Seaton on August 27, 2014 at 21:35

The sun was out (again) so Chris and I made the most of the dry conditions. We moved about 30 ton, finishing up to the open grass area and topping up some thin sections. We then tidied up the track through the grass area so the council can mow right up to the track.

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Permalink Reply by Hamish Seaton on August 29, 2014 at 8:21

Chris and I did a bit more yesterday, so the gravel is now spread right up to the monument. Still need to level and compact it though. This means that 20% of the graveling is now done.

This weekend we'll move everything down to the pile beside the pond jump. If we can get a full crew for Saturday and Sunday, there's a good chance we'll make it down to the Plateau by the end of the weekend.

The plan for the next few days is below. If you can help, txt 027 442 6474 or Email activesystems@xtra.co.nz (so we don't get too many people turning up)

Saturday - Mike, Hamish, +5.

- Could do with up to 5 more people to drive digger, tractor, dumper, rakes, plate compactor, pavement roller.

Sunday - Glyn, Adrian, Hamish, Craig, Ronel, +2.

- Could do with up to 2 more people to drive digger, tractor, dumper, rakes, plate compactor, pavement roller.

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Permalink Reply by Hamish Seaton on August 29, 2014 at 21:25

We'll be up the top of Signal Hill from 8am. If you come up later we will be somewhere between the top and the pond jump (the lower red lines on the map above).

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Permalink Reply by Hamish Seaton on August 30, 2014 at 23:12

Big day up the hill today - another 470m shingled! Chris and I took all the machines down to the pond on Friday night. Mosgiel Mini Digger Hire (Chris Gough) generously lent us another small digger for the weekend, so I used that to tidy up the track. Finally got rid of the slip on the track just below the pond. Mike and Kyle then put down a thick layer of millings so we could get the tractor over the soft ground.

While we were doing this, Alan and Norman made a start on raking out the shingle between the pond and the top of the hill - getting rid of bumps and putting camber on the corners. That got rid of them for a good 4 hours!

While I started graveling the first bit below the pond, Mike and Kyle took the dumper down the rest of the track to skim any slippery bits.

Most of the track was still in pretty good condition - just slippery on the surface, especially through the dirt bits. All this is covered in shingle now.

Welshy came up and put in a culvert in between his raking duties.

Alex came up for the afternoon to help out as well.

We finished up just as the sun was starting to set. Almost a 9 hour day for Norman, Alan and Phil.

We'll be back at it again on Sunday - meet at the pond from 8am onwards (you can drive down the water tank road). Looks like we'll be pretty well off for people, with Craig,Glyn, Adrian and Ronel putting their hands up so far. Could do with a couple more people as we'll have a crew compacting the track as well.

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Permalink Reply by Hamish Seaton on August 31, 2014 at 21:47

Another stunning Dunedin day, and a great turn-out with the perfect number of people there to help. We've now passed the 2000m mark with 34% of the track now fully graveled, and nearly half of the track with some sort of shingle on it. The worst muddy bits are no more.

Ronel and Craig and Glyn turned up nice and early. Ronel took off to rake the pine needles off the track and deal to the odd bit of mud.

Craig jumped on the tractor, and Glyn did loading duties on the digger.

Adrian turned up and started running the dumper up the hill to finish off graveling just above the pond.

Norman turned up a little later so together with Adrian we went up to the monument and started to compact the top section. A pallet towed behind the quadbike with a couple of rocks on it smoothed things out nicely, and the pavement roller made quick work of compacting the gravel.

Glyn did a few sneaky runs with the dumper then jumped on the tractor for a few hours.

Ronel finished all the raking so her, Richard and Adrian graveled the track just below the pond using the tracked dumper.

Chris took over digger duties and was kept pretty busy.

Norman finished off compacting the track above the pond, and Adrian did a spell on the tractor.

Another day should see us at the plateau, then we'll start on the stretch past the minis.

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Permalink Reply by Hamish Seaton on September 3, 2014 at 18:30

Alex was keen to do some graveling on Monday so we went up for the afternoon and ran another 10 loads down the track. That knocked another 100m on the head.

Chris, Mike and I went up on Tuesday afternoon and ran another 8 loads.