Question re water level

spitfire

spitfire

Active Member
Jul 28, 2002
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Toronto, Canada
www.parkdaleyard.com
I'm planning a dockside industry. There will be room for a small section of water and a great lakes tanker. My question is this: what is the typical distance is from ground level on a concrete pier to the water level below?

Thanks in advance!
:D Val
 
Val,
All the water I model, is ocean accessible, therefore has tides, so the dock height would accomodate the tide levels. It would be logical to assume that a dock in the lakes would accomodate the height of the main deck(or the deck where people would usually come and go from) of the vessel that would usually moor there. In the case of a tanker, I would assume that would be the median height between fully loaded, and empty. When fully loaded, the gangway would slope up to the dock, when empty, it slope down to the dock.
Maybe someone lives close enough to that kind of facility to go and measure it.
Pete
 
Dang! I got all excited thinking someone had answered my question - twice LOL!
I live close enough to measure it, but just in case no one's noticed - it's freezing out there!!!!! 'Course that might make the water hold still long enough to get a reeeeeally accurate measurement -- but c'mon guys -- please don't send me down there this time of year!!! - brrrrrrr, just thinking about it.... someone's gotta have at least an educated guess!
:eek: Val
 
Val sometimes you can get toooooo worried about measurements and such. Build your boat, then set it on the layout next to your dock, put shims (cardboard or such will do) under said boat till it "looks" right, then you will know what level the water needs to be! :) Course you will need to make sure your dock is a little to high to begin with. :eek: :D :rolleyes: Hope this helps!
 
Val,
It's been a while, (about 23 years) but as I recall the piers at Des Sub piers Norfolk, Va. were about ten feet above the water.
The pier, on my modules, usually has a 137' coastal freighter moored alongside, and it's 6' above high water.
Over in Waukegan, the sea wall, where the gypsum freighters moor to unload, is about 5' above water level.
Tyson's point is probably the best, set your tanker "in" the water, and see where the pier should be to look the best. There is no fixed, or standard height for a pier.

Now, for a truly "educated" guess.....sail an iceboat past the pier, shoot a radar range to determine your distance from the pier, with a sextant, shoot the angle to the top of the pier, and using trigonometry determine the height, then add the distance from the surface of the ice to eye level when the angle was taken, and you'll have the true height of the pier.:D :D :D :D

Of course, after that smart *** answer, you'll probably opt for the "one shot altimeter" approach, where you push me off the pier, record the time it takes for me to hit the ice, and then using the formula for the acceleration of gravity, you can determine the height of the pier.:D :D :D
 
ROFL

:D :D :D :D :D :D

Pete - those are three excellent ideas!!!! Get on your wetsuit - we're going measuring!

Tyson, yes it's true. Easy to get too hung up on details.

I don't have the boat model yet, and I wanted the measurements for the benchwork, but I think I can add the water section later, once I do have the boat for reference.

Thanks guys!
:D Val
 
Way to go Val ! Stay stoked ! :D Send pics....!
BTW, on dock height, don't forget that ocean-going vessels "adjust" their displacement to some degree by use of their ballast tanks...which is why we have the zebra mussel problem throughout the Great Lakes. :eek:
best regards / Mike
 
Hi Val:
Are you gonna take the opportunity to model the water at low tide so you can add some "muscle(s)" to your pier?

I'll just "clam" up now.

I think i'm starting to "flounder".

What do all you "piers" think?

What's up doc?

Barbera Striesand & me
 
Being a tug boat captain, I run into docks all over the East and Gulf Coasts. If there has ever been a standard for dock hieghts I've yet to see it. Each dock is a different hieght unless it's tied into an adjacent dock with a similar funtion(type of ship it handles. I've seen docks that when alongside, I had to use a gangway from the top of the pilothouse(about 25'). I've been to other docks that were barely above the surface of the water at high tide. Some even went under water at spring floods. So, my point is....as stated in an earlier post. Build it at what ever hieght you want it. No matter what hieght you build it, some captains are going to cuss you. Some drunk deckhand is going to fall off it, and the fisherman can allways add more line.
 
The only docks I really remember are the Duncan docks in Capetown South Africa. We used to visit them during the war and visited many navy ships offering tours while they stopped on their way to the Pacific. The gangways always sloped up from the dock to the deck and the distance of the waterline from the surface of the dock was around twenty feet
 
Don't forget, Val, that location will have an affect on the tides also. Some locations in Maine see 10' to 15' tides, while some locations see only a foot or two. The terrain is a major factor in tide heights.

So short answer, go with whatever you think looks good. Hell, anything you can do on a model railroad has a prototype somewhere! :thumb:

Michael
trying to remember all those geography and astronomy classes he took a decade ago....
 
What Micheal said. :thumb: In Cosumel they are about 5 foot high. Seen one in Florida durning high tide that looked about 6 inches high. In Maine seen some that looked about 30 foot. Seen some in SanFransisco that looked to be 50 foot high.
 
:D :D :D Information overload yet Val????? :D :D :D

While I would love to see Pete "doing a vertical falling measurment" it is too cold :) :) Fear Factor Brought to you by The Gauge!!!!!

I really do agree with Capt Turks answer - they are all different & it just has "To Look Good " on your layout :) :)

Post Pics!!!!!

P.S.: YOU went to Home Depot?? .....and Didn't warn the rest of us to buy Home Depot Stock????? :cry: :eek: :cry: :eek: :cry:

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
 
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