Post #443724 by Lake Surfer on Mon, Mar 30, 2009 6:45 PM

Still real cold here, but the sun was out and I had the afternoon free.

I headed to some stretches of the south shore to do some serious beachcombing hoping for a score like Sunday.

I headed out north on a stretch of beach and found a rare (for here) fish net float.

There is barely any commercial net fishing here these days.

Next I drove to another stretch of shoreline and headed out south this time.

Not much to find besides driftwood and tons of plastic bottles and trash, until I got to a storm drain outfall.

Up against the corner of the drain was this great buoy.

It was in real good shape with a solar powered light still intact. I checked out back now that it is dark... the light is blinking on and off... it actually works.
The buoy was made of closed cell foam and no big chunks missing.

Like the previous one I found, this one also had a long piece of pipe that ran through the middle and extended 4 feet beyond the bottom of the buoy. The end section had a steel loop that was once connected to a chain or something on the bottom of the lake.

It was too large and heavy to carry back to my vehicle, especially up the 300 foot bluff above the beach. Below the light was a large nut on a bolt. It was my hope that if I too the nut off the whole steel pipe would slide out of the core.

I returned home to get some tools... monkey wrenches, WD40, a torch.

This stretch of coast was parkland and the closest parking was a 1/4 mile away. I also brought rope and a handtruck to help with the job.

Back at the buoy, I managed to get the light off, then loosened the main nut and as I hoped the whole thing came apart in 2 pieces.
I loaded the light and the metal piece it sits on into my backpack and started the journey back carrying the top cone.

Not an easy journey back up the bluff with all this weight, and the bottom half would prove to be more exhausting on a second trip. It weighed about 50 lbs.
I returned with the hand truck, left it at the top and carried the bottom piece up the bluff. Then I used the hand truck to wheel it back to my vehicle.

Whew.

The whole salvage took about 2 hours total.

Not bad, 2 buoys in 2 days. Must have been a hell of a winter out there on the big lake, I know it was inland.

I need a break from beachcombing... my back is killing me.

[ Edited by: Lake Surfer 2009-03-30 23:26 ]