Mr Link wrote:Brief description in this writeup from Marcon International's Tugboat Market Report - August 2011:
Found these two photos but they don't show much. The stern shot does show 3 deck openings near the stern that are probably above each conveyor.The 390‘ x 71‘ x 27‘ depth, self-unloading aggregate barge ―Cleveland Rocks was sold by Laken Shipping Corp. of Cleveland, Ohio to private buyers who will continue to employ her on the Great Lakes. The U.S. flag barge was originally built in 1957 by Todd Shipyards Corp. as the pipelay barge ―M-211. In 1981 she was sold to Canonie Transportation of Muskegon, Michigan for dredging and pipelay work in Eastern Florida and Virginia and appropriately renamed ―Virginia. The Port of Port Royal in South Carolina purchased her in 1988 from Canonie to store containers. In 1992, Marcon brokered the sale of the ―Virginia from the Port to Kellstone, Inc. and Inland Bulk Transfer Co., Inc. of Sandusky, Ohio. Kellstone promptly renamed her ―Kellstone I and shifted the barge to a Gulf Coast yard where she underwent a major conversion into a self-unloading gravel barge capable of carrying 10,200 tons in 18 corrugated, open hoppers or holds. The hoppers gravity fed two pneumatically-operated conveyor belts which led to a single 166.5‘ unloading boom on the starboard side. During her conversion, the barge was also fitted with a 250HP bow thruster and a 40‘ long stern push-notch. Kellstone sold the barge in 2004 to Laken Shipping, who further modified her stern notch to accommodate a 4,400BHP tug. Marcon acted as sole broker in both sales from Laken and from the Port of Port Royal.
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http://www.boatnerd.com/news/newpicture ... ino-10.jpg
two hold belts, one under the port hoppers/holds, the other under the stbd holds or hoppers. Each hopper/hold has one clamshell style gate feeding the belt. The belts move the cargo aft where they feed a belt running athwartships from port to stbd that inclines. this feeds another inclined belt on the stbd that gets the cargo to just above deck level. This dumps on yet another incline belt that takes it to a hopper feeding the boom. the transfer between these two inclines happens just fwd of the control area for the boom seen in those photos. the hopper is on that post and moves as the post rotates when swinging the boom. to get the hopper in position to accept cargo from the last incline the boom must be swung out a ways.
The barge was altered over the winter of 2011-12 to accept the bludworth connection system of the Tug Bradshaw McKee at the DonJon Shipyard in Erie, PA.