Santa Catalina Island, Avalon, CA, United States

The Avalon fuel Dock is located in Avalon, which is a city located on Santa Catalina Island of the California Channel Islands. Avalon is the southernmost city in Los Angeles County and has an estimated population of 3,728. The city itself is primarily a resort community whose waterfront is almost completely made up of businesses catering to tourism. Avalon is visited by approximately 1 million tourists per year, many of which travel via cruise ships. This is where the Avalon Fuel Dock comes into the picture.

In the early 2000s, it was decided that the current fuel dock needed to be rebuilt. In 2009, a $1 million grant was approved by the Coastal Commission for the construction of a new pier. The city had approved plans in 2011 and began searching for a contractor, however plans stalled when the projected cost of the rebuild reached $3 million, which exceeded the budget forecast. The primary reason for the costs to be higher than the official estimate is due to the plans calling for the fuel dock to be constructed out of concrete. After redesigning how the pier would be built, the new dock would be constructed out of wood, which allowed for the project to fall into the $2 million range. Construction of the pier was expected to start late 2015 and be completed by the summer of 2016. Upon completion, the new fuel pier would feature an extended dinghy dock as well as high-speed fuel pumps.

In January of 2016, Portland Bolt supplied the required fasteners needed for the rebuild. Being that the headed bolts needed were larger than what is typically available off shelf, at 1” diameter and 30” long, we were asked to make them from scratch since we have the ability to hot forge a head on any diameter and length. This ended up not being necessary since Portland Bolt stocks this size of A307 hex bolts up to 36” long. The hex bolts, along with some 1” x 34” drift pins, also needed to be hot dip galvanized, which Portland Bolt does in house.

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