PSG-1
Well-known member
But I don't think I'll be making a career out of it!
About a month ago, my girlfriend and I were over on the Waccamaw River with my 16 foot Triton, running it a little in the fresh water, since it sits in salt about 300+ days a year. Also, we were looking for various plants such as cat tails and hyacinth, to put in our ponds.
We were in some shallow water, getting some hyacinth, when I spotted something out the corner of my eye. It was the end of a log, floating at the surface. But what caught my attention was that one side of the log appeared to be flat, like it was a cut timber or a hand-hewn log. Since it was floating, as well as obviously being axe-cut, it was legal to take, under SCDNR regulations. I was immediately determined that I was going to take this log....not sure why, I guess it was just an impulse.
Well, I tied a choker rope around it, then tried lifting the end into the bow, while my girlfriend hit the throttle, attempting to 'power-load' the log into the boat, since we didn't have a come-along, a winch, or anything else of the sort. No luck....all we did was churn mud, and cut doughnuts. The water was about 2-3 feet deep, with a thick mud bottom, the submerged end of the log was simply digging into the mud as we tried to power load.
We also tried to power load it over the stern, using reverse to try to power load... which, in hindsight, was a REALLY dumb idea. Fortunately, it wouldn't load this way, either. Again, we churned mud, and got nowhere.
OK, let's drag it to shallow water and try to load it. Problem was, the nearest shallow water with hard bottom was about a mile north, on a small beach. So, I tied the choker rope to the boat, and we proceeded to drag this log for about a mile, until we got to the beach.
Once we got it to the beach, I muscled it up into the shallow water, and that's when I realized that this log wasn't 6-8 feet like I initially thought....it was as long as my boat! I had the feeling I had bitten off more than I could chew. However, I could clearly see that one side of the log was indeed completely flat....so, I knew it was something good, even though it weighed a lot more than I planned on dealing with. I hadn't gone through all this, only to leave the log there for somebody else to get.
So, my girlfriend and I positioned the log and the boat just right, then, we lifted one end of the log into the boat, and set it on the bow (I still don't know how we did it). It's amazing how much heavier that log was, when it was in shallow water with the submerged end resting on hard sand, instead of sinking into the mud, like the earlier attempts to lift it. Anyhow, once we had it sitting on the bow, I held the choker rope, while she went back to the console.
I then stood on the front platform of my boat, and straddled the log, continuing to hold the rope. I told her to hit the throttle and try to powerload the log. It wouldn't go. OK, let's try this. Let me pick it up while she hits the throttle and see what that does. Guess what? It moved! So, for the next several minutes, we repeated the process of me lifting the log (or rather, trying to lift it, taking some weight off) while straddling it, and my girlfriend bumping the throttle, continuing to keep the boat and log pointed onto the beach.
I'm glad I modified the front deck of the Triton from its factory-designed split-level deck, to my one-level deck design. If I had to try to maneuver on the factory deck with that log, I imagine I would have tripped and broke my neck. Not to mention the one-level deck made it easier to keep the log nice and level, so it would slide all the way back in the boat.
At any rate, we repeated the process to load it, until we had all but 6-8 feet of the log hanging off the bow. I then told my girlfriend to turn the boat and put the end of the log against a big tree at the water's edge, and give one more blast on the throttle, to load it the rest of the way. It worked.
Having done all that, night was rapidly falling upon us, and we had to make it a mile upriver to the ramp at the marina, and try to get this log home. What's worse, the boat was listing heavily toward the port bow, dangerously close to the waterline. My girlfriend sat on the starboard stern corner, behind me, trying to balance the boat as much as she could....not that she was going to do much to offset the weight of the log, which I guess-timated to be at least 1000 pounds.
I just hoped we didn't get passed by one of those ICW-cruising super-yachts throwing a 10 foot wake. If we did, the only course of action would be to come about quickly, and take the wake on the high side of the boat, on the starboard, as taking it on the port side would surely sink us. Fortunately, we made it back to the ramp without incident.
Next challenge was to load it onto the trailer, and make it home without the trailer breaking under the weight. Got that done, without incident.
Now, next challenge, how do we get it out of the boat, when I don't have any kind of overhead lifting equipment capable of handling this kind of weight? Not even a good solid tree limb to use. I DO have a lot of trees around my yard, but most of them are cedars, they don't have massive limbs. But they do have massive trunks.
So, we positioned the boat right next to a cedar tree at edge of the driveway, then, put a come-along about 8 ft off the ground, around the trunk of the cedar tree. I guess-timated the CG of the log, and tied a choker around it. Sure enough, we were able to lift it clear of the boat, and since it was all down-pressure, and no side-pressure, on the cedar tree's trunk, it didn't even sway or move under all that load. And I did pretty good on my guess as to the CG, because one end of the log was end-heavy, but not by much at all.
Having the log lifted, we slid my old PWC trailer-turned utility trailer in place. As I slid the boat trailer to one side, my GF slid the utility trailer under the log. Then we lowered it onto the trailer. WHEW!! =D>
It measured about 13' 9" in length, and about 16-18" in width.
I knew it wasn't oak, or cypress. I took a splinter, then dried it. I burned the splinter, to confirm my suspicions. When it burned, it released resin, and had the unmistakable smell of pine. My girlfriend counted 112 rings.
We let it sit on the trailer a few weeks, drying out a little bit, and thinking about what the hell we were going to do with this massive chunk of wood. Thought about taking it to a mill and having it sawn, but I figured there would be too much loss.
So, we decided to make a bench. Since one side was flat, we decided that would be the seating surface. But the other side had a belly in it. That would have to be notched, to sit on the legs. At first, we thought of making the legs out of cinder blocks, then covering the blocks with stonework. We put the cinder blocks under it, and decided it looked crappy.
That's when we decided to make legs out of the log itself. So, here's what we did:
You can see how I took the chainsaw and cut the belly out of either end of the log so it would be flat on the bottom side, to rest on the legs. With it done like this, I didn't even have to use any type of fasteners, it stays put by itself.
Then a nice coat of Tung Oil, to finish it off. It drank about 1 quart of the stuff, at $20/qt...but well worth it, considering how good it looks, not to mention this should protect the wood from rotting.
And we still have enough material left over to make another bench of roughly the same size! Anyhow, that was my trial run at swamp logging.....while it was something else to add to the long list of stuff I've done.....I don't think I'll be doing a repeat of this one!
Only one thing.....I need to protect the bottom tips of those legs, just the first 1-2 inches.... where they are in constant contact with the soil. I don't think Tung Oil is gonna be adequate for this job. Someone told me to dip the ends in used motor oil, that would work. I don't think they sell creosote anymore.....so, does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advance.
About a month ago, my girlfriend and I were over on the Waccamaw River with my 16 foot Triton, running it a little in the fresh water, since it sits in salt about 300+ days a year. Also, we were looking for various plants such as cat tails and hyacinth, to put in our ponds.
We were in some shallow water, getting some hyacinth, when I spotted something out the corner of my eye. It was the end of a log, floating at the surface. But what caught my attention was that one side of the log appeared to be flat, like it was a cut timber or a hand-hewn log. Since it was floating, as well as obviously being axe-cut, it was legal to take, under SCDNR regulations. I was immediately determined that I was going to take this log....not sure why, I guess it was just an impulse.
Well, I tied a choker rope around it, then tried lifting the end into the bow, while my girlfriend hit the throttle, attempting to 'power-load' the log into the boat, since we didn't have a come-along, a winch, or anything else of the sort. No luck....all we did was churn mud, and cut doughnuts. The water was about 2-3 feet deep, with a thick mud bottom, the submerged end of the log was simply digging into the mud as we tried to power load.
We also tried to power load it over the stern, using reverse to try to power load... which, in hindsight, was a REALLY dumb idea. Fortunately, it wouldn't load this way, either. Again, we churned mud, and got nowhere.
OK, let's drag it to shallow water and try to load it. Problem was, the nearest shallow water with hard bottom was about a mile north, on a small beach. So, I tied the choker rope to the boat, and we proceeded to drag this log for about a mile, until we got to the beach.
Once we got it to the beach, I muscled it up into the shallow water, and that's when I realized that this log wasn't 6-8 feet like I initially thought....it was as long as my boat! I had the feeling I had bitten off more than I could chew. However, I could clearly see that one side of the log was indeed completely flat....so, I knew it was something good, even though it weighed a lot more than I planned on dealing with. I hadn't gone through all this, only to leave the log there for somebody else to get.
So, my girlfriend and I positioned the log and the boat just right, then, we lifted one end of the log into the boat, and set it on the bow (I still don't know how we did it). It's amazing how much heavier that log was, when it was in shallow water with the submerged end resting on hard sand, instead of sinking into the mud, like the earlier attempts to lift it. Anyhow, once we had it sitting on the bow, I held the choker rope, while she went back to the console.
I then stood on the front platform of my boat, and straddled the log, continuing to hold the rope. I told her to hit the throttle and try to powerload the log. It wouldn't go. OK, let's try this. Let me pick it up while she hits the throttle and see what that does. Guess what? It moved! So, for the next several minutes, we repeated the process of me lifting the log (or rather, trying to lift it, taking some weight off) while straddling it, and my girlfriend bumping the throttle, continuing to keep the boat and log pointed onto the beach.
I'm glad I modified the front deck of the Triton from its factory-designed split-level deck, to my one-level deck design. If I had to try to maneuver on the factory deck with that log, I imagine I would have tripped and broke my neck. Not to mention the one-level deck made it easier to keep the log nice and level, so it would slide all the way back in the boat.
At any rate, we repeated the process to load it, until we had all but 6-8 feet of the log hanging off the bow. I then told my girlfriend to turn the boat and put the end of the log against a big tree at the water's edge, and give one more blast on the throttle, to load it the rest of the way. It worked.
Having done all that, night was rapidly falling upon us, and we had to make it a mile upriver to the ramp at the marina, and try to get this log home. What's worse, the boat was listing heavily toward the port bow, dangerously close to the waterline. My girlfriend sat on the starboard stern corner, behind me, trying to balance the boat as much as she could....not that she was going to do much to offset the weight of the log, which I guess-timated to be at least 1000 pounds.
I just hoped we didn't get passed by one of those ICW-cruising super-yachts throwing a 10 foot wake. If we did, the only course of action would be to come about quickly, and take the wake on the high side of the boat, on the starboard, as taking it on the port side would surely sink us. Fortunately, we made it back to the ramp without incident.
Next challenge was to load it onto the trailer, and make it home without the trailer breaking under the weight. Got that done, without incident.
Now, next challenge, how do we get it out of the boat, when I don't have any kind of overhead lifting equipment capable of handling this kind of weight? Not even a good solid tree limb to use. I DO have a lot of trees around my yard, but most of them are cedars, they don't have massive limbs. But they do have massive trunks.
So, we positioned the boat right next to a cedar tree at edge of the driveway, then, put a come-along about 8 ft off the ground, around the trunk of the cedar tree. I guess-timated the CG of the log, and tied a choker around it. Sure enough, we were able to lift it clear of the boat, and since it was all down-pressure, and no side-pressure, on the cedar tree's trunk, it didn't even sway or move under all that load. And I did pretty good on my guess as to the CG, because one end of the log was end-heavy, but not by much at all.
Having the log lifted, we slid my old PWC trailer-turned utility trailer in place. As I slid the boat trailer to one side, my GF slid the utility trailer under the log. Then we lowered it onto the trailer. WHEW!! =D>
It measured about 13' 9" in length, and about 16-18" in width.
I knew it wasn't oak, or cypress. I took a splinter, then dried it. I burned the splinter, to confirm my suspicions. When it burned, it released resin, and had the unmistakable smell of pine. My girlfriend counted 112 rings.
We let it sit on the trailer a few weeks, drying out a little bit, and thinking about what the hell we were going to do with this massive chunk of wood. Thought about taking it to a mill and having it sawn, but I figured there would be too much loss.
So, we decided to make a bench. Since one side was flat, we decided that would be the seating surface. But the other side had a belly in it. That would have to be notched, to sit on the legs. At first, we thought of making the legs out of cinder blocks, then covering the blocks with stonework. We put the cinder blocks under it, and decided it looked crappy.
That's when we decided to make legs out of the log itself. So, here's what we did:
You can see how I took the chainsaw and cut the belly out of either end of the log so it would be flat on the bottom side, to rest on the legs. With it done like this, I didn't even have to use any type of fasteners, it stays put by itself.
Then a nice coat of Tung Oil, to finish it off. It drank about 1 quart of the stuff, at $20/qt...but well worth it, considering how good it looks, not to mention this should protect the wood from rotting.
And we still have enough material left over to make another bench of roughly the same size! Anyhow, that was my trial run at swamp logging.....while it was something else to add to the long list of stuff I've done.....I don't think I'll be doing a repeat of this one!
Only one thing.....I need to protect the bottom tips of those legs, just the first 1-2 inches.... where they are in constant contact with the soil. I don't think Tung Oil is gonna be adequate for this job. Someone told me to dip the ends in used motor oil, that would work. I don't think they sell creosote anymore.....so, does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advance.
