IF IT WERE EASY...

 ... everyone would be doing it.

There aren't many buildings on Lovango Cay and today helps explain why.  The logistics involved in getting concrete to the site were incredible.  Not to mention the forms!  Thanks to neighbor and contractor Dan Boyd for pulling it together so gracefully.

Showers in the morning were a nuisance but didn't slow the progress.  The texts started at 8:30 am with the photo below confirming the first concrete truck had made the beach.  By 2:00 pm the final text and a photo of the General packed up with the pumper and concrete trucks casting off from the beach, headed home to St Thomas.

Not sure how you pour the footings, floor, and walls in one session but that was the plan and it appears to have worked flawlessly.  Next steps once the walls cure and are stripped will be to back-fill the cistern and form the first floor slab including the cap for the cistern.  No word on timing... still basking in the glow of this progress after so long a wait.

On a side note- based on the evidence that we might actually have a place to visit someday, we've ordered the dinghy from Harald Tapp at  Offshore Marine, based in St. Thomas.  It's a 15' Walker Bay Generation 450 inflatable with 70 hp Yamaha that should show up in early April.  Though small, it's exceptionally seaworthy and Coast Guard certified to carry up to 8 people... about the same as the cottage.  Also, beginning April 1, we have secured rack space through Ben Beer at the aptly named East End Boat Services in Red Hook- a very convenient location on the east end of St Thomas, as close as possible to St John and Lovango, and right across from the only/biggest supermarket in Red Hook.

8:30 am - concrete truck is backed off the barge and on to the beach, ready to feed the pumper truck.

The barge backed to beach with concrete truck on the deck and the pipe up from the pumper truck.  Romans have nothing on Dan Boyd.

Finishing off the floor of the cistern which will hold over 20,000 gallons of rainwater captured from the roof in two compartments.  One hurricane season should fill this and provide more than enough water for a year (assuming cold Navy showers!).

Back wall filled (Capt. Phil's place in background).  Once forms are stripped, this wall will be back-filled and the first floor slab will cover the cistern and connect it to the area to the left.

Front wall filled.  This will be the forward edge of the downstairs deck/porch.

2:00 pm - pumper and concrete trucks packed up on the General and headed home to St. Thomas.

READY FOR THE FIRST POUR

The forms and pumper truck are ready for tomorrow's pour.

After more than six months of waiting for hurricanes, barge repairs and coast guard certifications we are ready to pour tomorrow morning- Monday, February 23.  If you look closely, above, the pumper truck has already been brought over to Lovango and parked on the beach to the left of the Love Shack.  The white hose is laid up up the hill to reach the formed cistern/foundation which is about halfway up the hillside.  Dan is looking to bring 5 concrete trucks over in two runs which will keep the barge light enough to ride right up to the beach (within reach of the pumper truck) and also give the concrete in the footers a chance to activate and set a bit before pouring the 9' walls on top of them.  It'll be a juggling act and interesting to see how it all plays out.  More tomorrow.

Pumper truck brought on to the beach today and ready for action tomorrow.

SITE VISIT

View from the water. The site and the neighbors.

Two months ago we were about to pour when hurricane/tropical storm Gonzalos came through and put everything on hold.  Since then various combinations of Boyson's barges have been pulled for service and there has not been a window when we could get concrete and barges on the same page.  The first +/- 40 yard cistern pour will be exceptionally complicated:  the barge will need to first bring the pumper truck over and leave it on the beach.  Hoses will be rolled from there 150' up the hill (60' vertical) to the site while the barge goes back and picks up 5 concrete trucks that will be shuffled around the deck to allow each to feed the pumper truck from the barge.  Somehow the footers and 10' walls of the cistern will be poured at the same time.  Dan Boyd's baby.  Beyond me.

View from the site.  No change in the last 2 months, but looking good.  St John in the distance.

So, after rebooking the plane ticket twice in hopes of being there for the pour I stuck with the November 17-19 visit even though the barge was not available.  I got a chance to walk the site with Dan, review prints and plans, and open a bank account on island.  Also figured out what we'd need for a boat, and a place to buy it and store it on St Thomas.

Running the roads with Dan.

Boat of choice for Lovango: 15' Caribe inflatable with 70 hp motor-  light weight and will carry up to 8 people.

STILL TAKING FORM

Forms for foundation/cistern await concrete.

Dan is back from vacation and things are beginning to move again.  Steel that will reinforce the walls and cistern floors has been put in place, as have the external forms.  Things are basically ready for the pour which in and of itself will be an enormous challenge.  We need to get about 40 yds of concrete on a barge from St. Thomas and then from the barge +/- 250' up the hillside and into the forms.  We are looking to come up the learning curve that left 12 yds of concrete on the beach when the pumper hose failed on our neighbor's pour 10 years ago.

Re-bar laid out for the cistern floor.

 
Good news- the site survived 4" of rain on Friday with no major sloughs or slides.

BEGINNING TO TAKE FORM

The cistern taking form.  Note all the steel in the foreground... a ton (or more) of lugging.

Dan was busy this weekend getting things to a point of stability before heading for an off-island break.  The cistern is pretty well formed and will be poured when he returns.  In addition to holding 24,000 gallons of water in two separate compartments, this will serve as the base foundation for the cottage.  A slab will be poured as a cap and back into the excavated hillside for the ground floor which will have 3 small bunk rooms.  The main floor with kitchen/dining/living and another bedroom will be built above the slab.

The box that is being built into the forms will create a spillway between the two compartments of the cistern.  When the slab is poured over the cistern, this is where a through-hole will be left so both compartments will be accessible from one point.

BRINGING IT

The first pieces of steel arrive at the Lovango dock.   This video cam from Dan this morning- unloading the boat is the third of 5 handlings that move the rebar from St Thomas to the site.  From the dock it gets loaded on a truck to get hauled up the hill and unloaded at the site.

BACK AT IT

Cistern taking shape.

After finishing up another project, Dan is back on the job, beginning to set the forms to pour the base footers and foundation which includes the cistern that will hold about 23,000 gallons of rainwater.  Local regulations require that all new construction have rainwater water catchment and containment.  Every square foot of roof has to have 1 gallon of water storage built in to the house; 1.5 gallons per square foot for roofs on 2 story buildings.  With our mix of single and two story build we need cistern capacity of somewhere north of 12,800 gallons.

Hoping to have this base poured before Dan leaves for vacation late July.  The challenges of the (remote) island build are being felt- all material- forms and steel- need to get touched 3-4 times to get them from St Thomas to the dock, to the boat, off the boat, to the site.

Hoping to get all concrete work done in two pours- First = cistern footers/walls; Second = back retaining wall, first floor, and cistern cap.  Seems like alot to juggle in two pours but the challenge of getting concrete to the site (pumper trucks on barge) is driving the math here.  Much still TBD.