Riverway Shipyard Company of Grafton, Ill., recently completed its second in-house drydock (shown above) for the repair division of the shipyard. This drydock is the fourth built by the shipyard in the past two and one-half years and was built in a record 86 calendar days. It went into immediate service drydocking two harbor boats.
The drydock is 80 feet long by 72 feet wide, with 62 feet between wing walls. The hull is 7 feet deep and has four watertight compartments. The wing walls are 18 feet high. Lifting capacity is 1,000 tons.
Mechanical equipment includes four Byron Jackson 12-inch deepwell pumps with 10-hp electric motors, and four Beebe 5-ton hand winches. The dock is lowered by four 8-inch gate valves and raised by four 12-inch gate valves.
The drydock is outfitted with two watertight pump rooms, 1-inch pipe handrail, six fir timbers 24-inch by 24-inch by 20 feet, four 1,000-watt floodlights, piping for air, oxygen, and acetylene, 372 feet of protective fender reinforced with 3-inch I beam, and one landing tower.
An additional outfitting includes two deckhouses for inclement weather, one 208-volt transformer for towboat shore power, and one Miller 750 203-volt power source with six 250/250-ampere twin operator welders.
The hull is painted with coal tar epoxy and the wing walls are coated with vinyl paint.
With the addition of its second drydock, Riverway Shipyard has added a third shift to its repair division for improved service to its customers. With the new improvements and additions, Riverway is a viable asset to the entire barge industry and is actively seeking business from all barge lines.