Barge Unloading Leg, Portland, Ore.

Sheet Metal Contractor: R&J Metal Fabricators, Portland, Ore.

R & J Metal Fabricators fabricated and installed a 40,000 bushels-per-hour barge unloading leg that replaced the 25-year-old unloading leg.

The $175,500 project took six weeks to fabricate. Installation, which included removal and disassembly of the existing leg, took a six-man crew six twelve-hour shifts to complete.

The leg was fabricated using 12-gage hot rolled sheet metal reinforced with angle iron and tubing. This was a unique fabrication due to the fact that the two casings were not parallel. The ascending leg was vertical and the descending leg had a 3/8-inch per foot slope. Only two of the 750 holes did not align.

The greatest challenge to the crew occurred during the installation. While the crew was dismantling the old leg, they found that the telescoping spout and swivel required rebuilding. The crew rebuilt and relined the pieces with ceramic tile at the shop and returned to the site for installation.