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I met Gary Kranz in 1987.  He was the instructor for a hydraulics course provided by Rucker Fluid Power.  My first day of the week-long class was a nightmare because Gary was a serious ass hole teacher and he jumped me for talking in class.

Gary was the best hydraulics person I have ever known.  His motto was, “Be cautious of bull shit hydraulic sales people” because he believed they would change their stripes as fast as they changed jobs.  Gary told his class that all hydraulic sales people will sell you what they represent that day.  In other words the salesman might tell you that Vocac was the best hydraulic motor in the world because that is what their company represents but next week if the salesman leaves the company and now represents RexRoth then of course Rexroth is now the best product in the world.  Gary was fired more than once for bad mouthing the sales staff of the company he was teaching.  Gary never changed his ways and finally pissed off so many hydraulics suppliers that could not find a job so he ventured into his own business which he named Western Dynamics.  APE invested in his company and stayed with him to the end.

I loved Gary for sticking to his principals.   Gary was involved in designing the first APE power units which were built in Portland, Oregon at Rucker Fluid Power.  Those power units still run and are considered the best units in the industry.  Many of the main components on those power units were not products that Rucker Fluid Power represented.  The owners and managers of Rucker would beg Gary to use what they represented but Gary would only use what he considered to be the best and was not swayed by pressure from Rucker Fluid Power or anyone else.  It was his way or the highway but his final product was golden.

Gary handled APE’s sales staff the same way.  He would tell them off in his own strong vulgar words.  He would say there is no god and use his experiences in Vietnam as an example.  He was hated and loved at APE.  I, for one, wanted to choke him several times and I pledged many times never to work with him again when he would do or say things that were so out of line it would make me scream.  But I would always come back to him because he was the best at understanding and troubleshooting hydraulic problems.

Gary was a fighter.  He hated to lose.  He won far more bets than he lost.  One time when he lost a bet he could not come to admit the loss and finally said “Ok, you were right this time but that does not mean I have to like it”.

Gary fought to the very end with his battle with cancer.  Just a week ago he was still working on a new manifold for our drills.  He still had that drive in him, saying “when this f%$king manifold is done it will be the best thing in the world”.  That was Gary.  He put the fight into it.  He was part of APE and we are all going to miss him greatly.  Gary- we love you and thanks for keeping APE on top of the world hydraulically.  God has to deal with you now and I am sure he has his hands full.  We all know he would be too much for the devil to handle.

Everyone in this company has a Gary Kranz story.  He touched us all.

Along with the on-going demolition of the Alaska way viaduct, a Seattle landmark second only to the Space Needle, rises a new attraction on Pier 57- a 175-foot-tall Ferris wheel. Pier 57 was originally built in 1902 as a rail-loading facility for a saw mill. Today, it houses a plethora of marine-oriented shops, restaurants, and even an antique carousel. Hal Griffith, owner of Pier 57, fears losing business due to the viaduct replacement and hopes a new waterfront attraction will keep the publics’ interest alive. With the loss of the Fun Forest at the Seattle Center, this will be the only Ferris wheel available in the city. Once completed with 41 air conditioned gondolas, it should prove to be quite an accommodating attraction to locals and tourists alike.

Manson Construction, a major player here in the PNW, was chosen to drive the foundation piles of this soon-to-be “landmark” on the water ward side of the existing pier. With a total of 53- 36” x .5” wall and 30” x .625” wall pipe piles on deck, the Manson crew set out to drive these piles with the APE Super Kong.  What else would you want driving the piles for a 175-foot marine based Ferris wheel, right?

So far, the Manson crew has driven a dozen test piles. With some fine tuning of the equipment to account for the infamous Glacial till the Northwest is known for, the 150’ piles are down to grade. Some were driven only a couple of feet away from the Fisherman’s Restaurant & Bar. Needless to say, some diners became spectators and spectators became diners.  Fair trade.

Today, the Manson crew is running production piles. Most are on 4:1 fore and aft batters. To accommodate the tight driving schedule and the layout of the pile driving grid, APE and Manson teamed up to outfit the Super Kong with a custom vibro sled fit for Manson’s leader system, as well as a custom swing arm pile gate. More pictures and updates to come!

US WICK DRAIN a Leland NC based company has just completed the largest marine barge installation wick drain project that has ever been done in the world. This project is part of the first phases of construction for a new port facility at “Craney Island” in Norfolk Virginia. US WICK DRAIN under direction of president Mark Palmatier installed 12,150,000 lf of wick drains in 6 months using the APE wick drain installation machines.

Now that’s 6 months with 2 rigs 24 hours a day 6 days a week! That’s a lot of wick drains. The longest wick drains were 150 ft. in length. Great Lakes dredging dumped a drainage layer of sand in the proposed wick drain area with hopper barges. The wicks will be placed and more sand dumped on top of them.

In order to place the wick drains in the correct locations on the water 2 barges had to be converted to have a grid all the way through the decks of the barges using steel pipe from the top deck all the way through the bottom. Each barge had a wick drain machine / rig on the deck. The barges would be surveyed into position and secured in position, and then each machine would go down the deck installing a wick drain in each provided hole.

Once these wick drains are installed and pre-loaded the engineers predict they will have about 21 feet of settlement. These wicked areas will support a series of dikes for the new Craney Island port. If wick drains were not used the dikes would constantly be settling and would have to be maintained at a large cost. This project gives US WICK DRAIN the most marine experience in the wick drain industry. APE looks forward to working with US WICK DRAIN on the next phases of the Craney island port. If you have a current or upcoming job contact your nearest APE branch to see just how much APE can offer to you. GO APE.