Monday, February 25, 2008

Feb.19-20, 2008 Base Repair

The base was repaired with about 370 lbs. of Portland Type I concrete. After cleaning
the exposed surfaces, small batches of concrete were mixed on the surface and brought
down for application. All four corners of the base had 2-3" hollows exposing the thread
of the corner bolts under the plate. The southern edge of the plate lost about 4" of concrete
probably due to water movement from the last hurricane. Hypothesis is that sufficient
force was put on pylon and translated to base to make the base flex about 1", cracking the
concrete on all sides. All voids were packed with new concrete and an additional layer
of canvas bags full of concrete were added in a circle around the plate, with rebar rods
securing the bags to the underlying concrete. Cracking along base plate edges should
be reported as soon as possible before further erosion occurs. Concrete repair may have to
be a normal annual function for this site. Baseplate condition should be annotated for
the monthly maintenence visits.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Update February 6, 2008

A complete cleaning of the CREWS station in La Parguera, Puerto Rico was performed on February 6, 2008 by Francisco Soto and Katie Flynn.

The validation CT was installed at 8:50am and removed at 12:15am. The station was cleaned between 10:10 and 10:55 am.

The cement around the base needs to be replaced.