Site Description 



La Salle Park is located on the north shore of Hamilton 

 Harbour, at the western end of Lake Ontario. A location map, also 

 showing bathymetry and fetches, is shown in Figure 1. The prevailing 

 wind direction is from the southwest, especially during the May to 

 October boating season. Strong winds also blow from the east and 

 northeast directions. The modest fetches at La Salle Park (less than 

 4.5 km) restrict typical significant wave heights and periods to less 

 than 0.75 m and 3 s, respectively, while extreme values are less than 

 1.25 m and 4 s, respectively. Currents in the harbour near La Salle Park 

 are negligible. 



The moderate wave climate and relatively large water depths of 

 7 m or more make the FTB a practical wave protection alternative for the 

 marina at this site. A conventional bottom- resting breakwater would be 

 prohibitively expensive for a marina here. An FTB of the Goodyear 

 design was assembled and installed in the Spring of 1981 (Figure 2). 



The Goodyear design (Candle and Piper 1974) assembles basic 

 modules, which consist of 18 tires in a 3-2-3-2-3-2-3 arrangement, into 

 a flexible breakwater mat that is one layer of tires thick (Figure 3). 

 The La Salle Park FTB uses conveyor belting to bind the tires together 

 to form a module, and to interconnect the modules. The FTB mat is 

 moored with steel chains to concrete gravity anchors. Construction 

 details and costs for the La Salle Park FTB can be found in Bishop and 

 Gallant (1981). State-of-the-art construction practices and materials 

 are discussed in Bishop et al . (1983). Performance of the breakwater to 

 date has been fully satisfactory. There have been no maintenance 

 requirements during the first three years. 



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