Background Information: The Clam Hut is a restaurant, bar and marina located in  Highlands, NJ. The Clam Hut survived as a successful business and favorite spot for locals for many years. One of the Clam Hut’s biggest attractions is the deck where the bar is located which hangs over the water and is adjacent to the marina. However, in October 2012, Super-storm Sandy tore apart the foundation holding up the deck of the bar and the marina. The owners of the restraint and marina are thinking of ways to restore their business but the cost of the project and the overall devastation in Highlands has slowed progress.

Specifications and Limits: The New Plan of Clam Hut marina would need to be within the area of the previous marina. The marina would have to either stay within the restraints of the previous permits or require new permits to be able to update the structure to the new FEMA codes. The plan must also be in correspondence to the owner’s budget and personal plan. The owner also needs to be able to afford to run the marina after construction is finished. The dock needs to be designed to maximize this space to hold the same or possibly more boat slips and tables on the deck and to withstand the maximum wave force possible to prevent the establishment from being destroyed by another storm. The marina needs to be as eco-friendly and selfsufficient as possible.

basic layout of marina

Dining Deck

Pictures of the Outdoor Dining Deck under the awning and looking at the Clam Hut from the water.

Arial View

Arial view of the Clam Hut Marina before Super Storm Sandy.

alternate solutions

Triangular

The Triangular design uses of triangular beams because they are the strongest geometric shape. The design was as eco-friendly as the traditional design by using recycled plastic composite planks. The design uses a top deck and a supporting sub deck. 

Bamboo

 

The Bamboo design uses the strong properties of bamboo and the concrete fortification of the traditional design. The planks would be very skinny or curved so the planks would have to be replaced or treated.

Traditional

 

The Traditional design is sturdy and reliable because it is what is used in most marinas today. The design is made of regular timber pilings and planks. The pilings are capped off with chicken wire and calcium carbonate cement.

Floating

The Floating Dock design is modular so the risk of the entire marina being is very slim and the floating docks that aren’t destroyed could be reused or repaired. The floating docks would be composed of a calcium carbonate cement and rubber barrels with a steel frame. The design is semi Eco-friendly using rubber barrels and calcium carbonate cement with a steel frame.

floating dock

 

 

Drawings of Floating Design from Great Northern Docks

Rationale and Alternate Solution Comparsion Chart

Rationale

The Triangular design was very sturdy because of the use of triangular beams. The design was as eco-friendly as the traditional design by using regular timber. Even though the triangular design uses about twice as many beams as the regular design they are about half the size because of their shape.  However the design was very complex and called for a double layer of substructures instead of just one layer.

The Traditional design was sturdy and reliable because it is what is used in most marinas today. The design is cost effective because the design is the control to what everything else is based off of. The design is semi eco-friendly because it uses plastic composite planks. The design however could not stand up to the storm the last time so the traditional design is not very reliable.

The Bamboo design is very sturdy because of the strong properties of bamboo and the concrete fortification of the traditional design. Bamboo is fairly cost and eco-friendly because of the plants rapid growth rate and abundance. The planks however would be very skinny or curved and there is a possibility they would rot when exposed to the salt water so the planks would have to be replaced or treated.

The Floating Dock design is not meant to be sturdy but fluctuate with the tides the upside of this design is if a storm is to hit the marina the marina now becomes modular so the risk of the entire marina being is very slim and the floating docks that aren’t destroyed could be reused or repaired. The floating docks are already put into place at most launch ramps so the design is already known to be reliable. The design is semi Eco-friendly using rubber barrels and calcium carbonate cement with a steel frame.

The Floating Dock design had the highest score in the design matrix however because of the scoring in the design matrix I decided to alter the design to be made of planks instead of the calcium carbonate cement material.

	Triangular	Bamboo	Floating	Traditional
Eco-friendly	1	4	3	2
Cost effective	1	3	4	2
Simply constructed	1	2	3	4
Able to withstand storms	2	4	3	1
Reliable	1	2	3	4
Total	6	15	16	13