San Diego has a new lighthouse, sort of!
\nThe leggy iron tower that has stood beckoning ships at the lower tip of Point Loma since 1891 has undergone a full restoration. Now the old rust bucket is in good standing for another century. And just in time.
\nStraightening a three-degree tilt of the upper two sections and rooting out layers of lead paint and desecration from rust-jacking was no easy feat for independent contractor, Neil Gardis of \u2018Ohana Industries, Ltd. and his team of three: Nickolas Bliler, Ryan Strack, and Kevin Goodman of San Diego.
\n“From the start, we were more than aware of the lantern and watchroom precariousness,” Gardis explains. “The upper section supports had deteriorated significantly. A three-degree list doesn\u2019t seem like much but it\u2019s a ton of trouble when you realize that there\u2019s metal failure of support points holding 120,000 pounds. It\u2019s a double whammy!” A QUICK HISTORY
\nThirty-seven tons of ironwork rolled into town on rail flatcars from Trenton, N.J. in July 1890 intended for San Diego\u2019s new lighthouse. This lighthouse would supersede the operation of the little Cape Cod structure that has graced Point Loma since 1855. The station would be re-established at a lower elevation where the fog and low clouds were less likely to obscure its light.
\nPoint Loma Lighthouse was commissioned on March 23, 1891, and has since been the operational beacon at San Diego. Automation in the early 1970s replaced the need for on-site personnel, and thereby, the tower\u2019s deterioration began in earnest. Other forced priorities overtook regular maintenance. Alas, the future of the iron skeleton remained sorrowfully uncertain. TO THE RESCUE: U.S. COAST GUARD FINANCE OFFICE
\nIt seems when lighthouse properties are sold into private or non-profit ventures that those monies are used to rehabilitate other U.S. lights. In June 2017, San Diego\u2019s leaning tower was awarded a contract for restoration because of its historic significance and location at the southwestern-most point of the continental United States.
\nInitial Coast Guard (hereafter, USCG) condition assessment of the lighthouse had called for abrasive blast cleaning of the entire tower, and removal and replacement of cast iron components showing greatest deterioration. In September 2017, multi-level scaffolding was constructed around the lighthouse, which for many months was wrapped in plastic sheeting. Abrasive blast cleaning removed rust and layers of paint (some, lead-based). This prepared surfaces for new coatings, although at this point, a sacrificial generic paint was given to avoid \u2018flash rust\u2019. Ultimately, at least three coatings were applied to everything. As the Gardis team\u2019s disassembly of the upper lighthouse sections began, it became evident that the condition was far beyond USCG anticipation. Gardis sent a quantitative report with a revision of work to the design office in Oakland. “There was no mechanical way to replace some items and not all,” Gardis says. “A multitude of cast iron components would require complete replacement, or be \u2018recast\u2019\u2014about 20,000 pounds of it.”
\nCastings were fabricated in Jacksonville, Fla., in an exhaustive process requiring wood molds and sacrificial sand molds for every piece. Fortunately, the original architectural drawings exist and dimensions were taken from these. Delivery of castings arrived bit by bit, the last not until mid-2019. Though the project took two-and-a-half years instead of six months, and $2.1 million, the end result of this massive restoration is a structurally sound and like-new lighthouse. LIGHTING THE WAY AGAIN
\nA rotating, third-order Fresnel lens served Point Loma Lighthouse until 1997. The rotation had ceased so it was removed by Coast Guard personnel in 2001 and placed in storage at Cabrillo National Monument. The giant prismatic lens, a modern marvel of the1890s, gave way to a small, rotating Vega-25 beacon placed on the outside gallery railing. All the while, the tower stood condemned.
\nIn 2005, a new structure \u2014 known as the Assistant Keepers Quarters\u2014was completed at San Diego\u2019s only National Park to display the lens. It stands today for all to see at Cabrillo National Monument.
\nDuring restoration work, the functioning Vega beacon was taken from the railing and attached with the sound signal on a platform behind the lighthouse.
\nOn March 4, USCG Aids to Navigation Team, Sector San Diego, but the \u2018icing on the lighthouse cake.\u2019 To the excitement of these author-historians, present for its first flash, a modern VLB-44 array was installed in the lantern, precisely where the giant lens was once positioned. The next day, San Diego\u2019s operational lighthouse sent the first signal to sea, again.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
San Diego has a new lighthouse, sort of! The leggy iron tower that has stood beckoning ships at the lower tip of Point Loma since 1891 has undergone a full restoration. Now the old rust bucket is in good standing for another century. And just in time. Straightening a three-degree tilt of the upper two […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":257460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11560","_seopress_titles_title":"Beacon back lighting the way \u2013 \u2018New' Point Loma Lighthouse restored","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[12360,11560,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-257461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-duplicate","category-la-jolla-village-news","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}