Two new tools were tested out at the Bog Squad visit to East Rhodens Moss yesterday. Both were highly successful.
When putting in plastic piles for ditch damming then if there is resistance in pushing these through the peat then these can be knocked in using a rubber or steel maul normally used for paving or fencing. This is great if the tops of the piles are up to 1.5m above ground, but higher than this then it is much harder. Mark Cubitt built what we have called the SPiD (the Sliding Pile Driver). This made up of two 1.4m long, 145mm x 45mm (6"x2") timbers bolted together with a 12mm 'filling' of hardwood or HDPE in the top 350mm. The 145mm (6") width of the SPiD was design to be just a little smaller than the width of the central panel of the piling.
The SPiD is slotted over the top of the plastic pile which is then raised to the vertical position. It is then repeatedly slid half a metre up and dropped onto the top of the piling. The 10kg weight of the SPiD exerts a significant force to knock the pile into the peat. Each impact could knock the pile down by up to 50mm depending on the resistance. We found that it took three people to safely lift the pile to the vertical with the SPiD on top due to the weight and length of the piling.
The second tool is an alternative to a spade when cutting through surface vegetation and more particularly buried roots deep in the peat. The "Big Mutt" has a 7" wide blade and a long 1.6m handle. The blade being exactly in-line with the handle is a key feature to allow a slot through the peat and roots to be created while the piling is in position.
Our small team successfully installed three dams, including over twenty 3m piles (and additional 2m and 1m metre ones). This was achieved in a fraction of the time compared with our efforts at the same site a few months ago.
Many thanks to David, Tam, Stuart and Linsley.
Mark Cubitt