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By Lynn Moore

GRAND HAVEN, MI - A beach in Grand Haven is closed after construction equipment ended up in Lake Michigan.

The beach at Grand Haven State Park was closed to the public Monday, April 24, due to oil leaking out of the heavy equipment, a state park employee said.

A large piece of construction equipment is visible in the water just off the beach. Efforts are underway to remove it from the water.

Link To Story.

Ouch.

I came across this one down near Rock Springs WY a couple of years ago. I'll bet it was easier to get out than that one is going to be.

Unless it's broke down, I could get that one out.

The one in the lake would take a bit more creativity.

Can't tell in the photo but that one is in the mud. Bentonite mud to be exact. Gumbo. It was in the process of drying up though.

Sometimes all you can do is let things dry out.

My big shredder (5000 pounds) spent the winter year before last in a quicksand bog on a ranch I was shredding.

I was lucky the tractor wasn't there too. I was able to unhook and drive the tractor away, and that was iffy.

Well, maybe hiring an Illegal who claimed to have experience , and was willing to work for minimum wage, wasn't a real money saving idea for the county after all...

That one on the beach is going to be interesting. The sand isn't going to give you a stable base to pull or lift from. I wonder if you can get a barge big enough for a 100ton crane in there and get hooked up to it?

Knowing the kind of sand that is, and what you can't do in it....

The best bet is to probably disassemble it and carry the pieces to another place for reassembly.

Construction pallets on the beach above it may help some. If they even have any. It'd take a truckload of them, though.

They are going to have to have divers disassemble it. Or is there that much tide on Lake Michigan?

I guess they could put a coffer dam around it, pump it out and then take it apart. It's going to cost a lot of money isn't it?

Unless they get lucky somehow this may be their only choice. Knowing lake michigan sand, the more you wiggle that Excavator the more it's going to sink.

Bah! Start digging around it and pull the dang thing out!

More iron and longer cables.

They'll put huge movable "pods" under the on-shore vehicle then winch it up and back.

No problem, just call Todd Hoffman and his boys.
They're Experts.

Keep wiggling till its 3ft under then cover it up?

What if we dig a channel straight behind it 100ft, tow it back then fill in ahead of it. Taper the trench up?

Crane mats

I would suggest a Corduroy Road. Easy to set up, reusable, and spread the load out on that sand. Wouldn't take more than a truckload of telephone poles, and enough cable to cinch them tightly together.
Then dig it out and pull it clear.

It was interesting to watch while on the set of Army of Darkness, as one large crane, and one small crane, righted and removed a medium sized crane that had over reached while lowering a car into the gravel pit. It tumbled down the slope, upside down.
Removal was slick. Big crane lifted and set medium crane to the pit floor, as small crane spun it upright. Then big crane lifted both cranes out. Fast and practiced maneuver. No motions wasted.