Sullivan Extra-Heavy Timber Bulkhead

Completed

Before

Construction

Plans

About This Project

The Sullivan Heavy Timber Bulkhead Project – is unusual in that we used 16′ long 9″ head round piles on 4.5′ centers with 4″ x 12″ stringers. The piling penetration is approximately 7 to 8 feet with the outer layer of sheet-piling penetration running approximately 6 feet on average before the second layer is installed directly behind it.

The project is tied back with 3/4″ x 20′ & 15′ heavy hot-dip galvanized tieback rods, which are nickel carbon steel and threaded on each end approximately 18″ to 24″. The inner washer is a specially machined 3/8″ thick by 4″ diameter round flat washer and the outer washers are special marine grade Hot Dip Galvanized Ogee Washers from Portland Marine Supply, being about 3.75″ in diameter and approximately 1″ thick in the center, they will never fail, bend or buckle at the extra weight that tropical storms can create.

The deadman posts will also have additional cross timbers attached, installed horizontally in front of each post for additional anchoring.

This wall will be incredibly resilient at the waterline, having a .60CCA “pool elevation flotsam & debris deflection sleeve” installed in front of the sheet-piling above and below the normal waterline. This initial layer will last for a minimum of 2 decades before the first sheet-pile layer is finally reached. The sheet-piling layer only then becomes the primary layer, which normally lasts for about 2 decades on the main lake body.

Then finally. that layer is backed up by a second layer of sheet-piling that will add an additional 20 years or so before it finally requires a second sheet-pile back-sleeving.

Since the stringers and piles are so heavy we expect this wall to last longer than any other – probably exceeding the 4 decade mark before replacement.

Even then, all the new owner will have to do is put a 3/4″ coupling on the ends of the tieback rods and use the huge tieback system that exists below ground by adding 24″ all-thread rods to extend the existing system to anchor the new wall.

By pre-designing the tieback system to last longer than a conventional single deadman tieback system, this anchor system can last up to a century below the ground because the dead-man posts will be tar-coated to seal the ends keeping them from rotting, in addition to the anaerobic seal that the clay will create around them.

Excellent design practices can make for long-lasting projects. Shoretech Marine Consulting LLC & Shoretech Marine Construction & Design – “Simply the Best, Guaranteed”

As this specially designed heavy timber bulkhead comes to its 495′ long end – the US Army Corps of Engineers permits take over. The large 100′ wide gulley between the two neighbors – which now accumulates large amounts of flotsam and debris – will become a low-water dam with buried corrugated 15″ culvert drains in the center of its specially designed drainage bowl which will funnel all normal to very high volume rain events out through the culverts, and out into the lake.

During long-term tropical events lasting weeks instead of days, if the volume surpasses the combined culvert volume capacity, the additional water flow will simply pass over the top of the lowered 20′ wide spillway section.

The future 100′ specially designed spillway & drain bulkhead project spanning the ravine will tie the two new bulkheads together – which combined are well over a thousand foot – into a seamless protected shoreline.
Decades of Experience and Great Design Makes for Long Lasting Projects – Shoretech Marine – “Simply the Best, Guaranteed”