Live-in boaters worried by lack of notice

Judging by my recent e-mail, there have been only two things on the minds of Ala Wai Harbor's boat owners this week: the repair work on D Dock and last Sunday's earthquake.

Regarding the latter, one live-aboard boater told me he felt a thudding noise on his boat's hull during the quake and thought large waves were hitting his vessel. Another told me her boat felt like it was swaying in the wind, but there was no wind.

Not surprisingly, they both had negative comments about the lack of official civil defense notification after the event as to the possibility of a tsunami being generated by the quake.

The time and day of the event -- eerily similar to Dec. 7, 1941 -- surely had much to do with the communications delay. But for anyone along the waterfront, there would have only been 27 minutes to escape to higher ground.

Somehow, an explanation 3 hours later by a civil defense spokesperson that there was fear that an announced assurance of no tsunami might be confusing was not considered convincing by the boaters I talked with.

Still, most boaters agreed that their vessels, with onboard supplies of food, water and electrical power, gave them a serious advantage over my situation in a 12th-floor condo in the powerless hours following the quake.

As for the repairs being made to Ala Wai's once-condemned D Dock, at least one boater was closely monitoring the work and became concerned about the materials being used. Specifically, he questioned whether the contractor was using "marine-grade" plywood for the decking being installed over the original concrete dock.

The Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation, which is supervising the job, has to its credit a particularly solid answer, based on information from the American Plywood Association.

It noted that concerns about using construction-grade plywood, rather than marine-grade, are based on a popular misconception that marine-grade has a special waterproof glue that prevents delamination.

In fact, all plywood manufactured to APA standards in the U.S. uses the same waterproof glue. The difference is primarily in that marine-grade has both surfaces sanded, has fewer defects, and has no internal gaps or voids wider than 1/8 inch.

Additionally, the APA does not recommend using marine-grade plywood for exterior construction anyway, as its sanded surfaces tend to check and weather faster than construction-grade.

And, as the DOBOR reminds us, this project is just a temporary repair job with a projected lifespan of only about two years.

Perhaps there is a more important question left unresolved: Will the Department of Land and Natural Resources' engineers be able to certify D Dock as safe for occupancy once the repairs are made?

After personally watching the Ala Wai become a raging torrent of muddy water that carried away three Waikiki Yacht Club docks in the 1990s, I'd be very concerned about that liability.

Ray Pendleton is a free-lance writer based in Honolulu. To reach him, e-mail raypendleton@mac.com.