the north dock. For these large piles, teams first drilled a
hole in the sea bed for the pile to occupy. Using his Trimble
S6, Ivaniszek monitored the boom of the rock drill for plumb,
ensuring a straight trajectory as it penetrated the solid sea
bed 24 meters below the water's surface. Ivaniszek reflected
on this period in January as having some of the most
challenging weather. "I was at the instrument 13 hours a day,
light, dark or snowing," he said. "One hole, I think, took us three
days." When high-cost equipment is running, the crew is working
too, often well into the night to ensure the job gets done.
ADAPTING TO ALASKAN WINTER
Ivaniszek wasn't always left out in the cold, however. When
the time came to set caps on the larger piles, he took
advantage of the robotic capabilities of the S6. He fixed a
semi-permanent prism on each cap's pinnacle and then
used Trimble Access to operate the S6 from within the
construction trailer. From there he took measurements on
the cap's center and verbally guided the crew by radio about
how to move the cap to seat properly. The robotic approach
A vibratory hammer drives one of the floating section piles
At day's end, the proofing hammer is threaded onto a batter dolphin
pile for the final pile set.
