Tiki Hut
After
Before
Job Facts
Tons of steel: 5 tons
Owner: Vane Brothers
Detailer: Chesapeake Design Company
Project Manager: Mike Barr
Erector: B&B Welding Company, Inc
Several years ago, we fabricated the architectural exposed steel for the Vane Brothers new waterfront headquarters. With their business thriving, they brought us back to Pier 11 to take on an even grander project: a Tiki Hut.
The idea was novel: take one of Vane Brothers’ old whirlicranes — a movable crane that runs on railroad tracks — immobilize it, take off its wheels, and convert it into a covered structure. Then give it a colorful name: the Tiki Hut.
The B&B team hit the ground running, taking dimensions on the whirlicrane, and modeling the canopy using 3-D software. The result: a rather ingenious design using a king post and a quick, on-site assembly.
For the roof, B&B teamed up with a former tenant, Rib Roof. “We sent them a 3-D dxf. file of the structure,” says B&B’s Dennis McCartney. “And they devised a standing beam metal roof.” Meanwhile, back at the shop, our guys went to town fabricating the four columns with pre-drilled holes, a staircase with connections including a cantilevered beam, and handrail to run around the 25 ft. squared structure. After a dip at the galvanizer, we brought it all to the Vane Brother’s facility.
In the steel fabrication business, you don’t hear much about a thing of beauty. But this design was just that. Dennis concocted a 3-D model of supreme simplicity. Designed like a kit, the entire top structure assembled quickly on-site. A crane and a few guys was all it would take.
The design hinges around a king post, with four roof hips and four columns that attach to the existing whirlicrane steel. Pre-built right on Pier 11, the B&B team quickly connected the king post canopy, and Rib Roof attached the metal roofing. With the clever addition of a hook atop the king post, a crane simply lifted up the entire top structural steel. We hung the four columns; and the crane plopped it into place.
“We picked the whole thing up by the king post,” says B&B’s Ralph Eisenhuth, “then set down it down, and bolted it into our pre-drilled holes.”
The whole shebang, assembled in an afternoon. “I’m a seat of the pants engineer,” laughs Dennis. “I submitted the design, got quick approval, and now it’s a party place.”
And party they do at Vane Brothers. Today the Tiki Hut sits at the end of Pier 11, a perfect perch from which to watch the ships come and go. And also, a perfect perch from which to christen the growing fleet’s newest tug. With thousands of partygoers, the Tiki Hut is the place to be when Vane Brothers throws one of their famous shindigs.
