Nipigon, Ontario
Trenchless Technology, September 2003
 | LTL Directional Drilling Services Ltd., Thunder Bay, Ontario, recently completed a 2,600-ft bore on the shoclassine of Lake Helen Reservation, located off the north shore of Lake Superior in Nipigon, Ontario. The crew used a Vermeer D50x100a directional drill to complete the bore, then installed a 12-in. water intake line for a new water system with high-density polyethylene from the shoclassine of Lake Helen between 6 and 30 ft below the lakebed. Divers were also hired to retrieve the drill stem from the bottom of the lake, while removal of the drill heads and installation of reamers were carried out on barges. Before pullback, crews set up 8- and 14-in. pre-reamers. A 16-in. Superflute Reamer was employed for the final pullback, which took about 24 hours of non-stop drilling. Over the 11 days it took the crew to complete the bore, obstacles such as silty clay ground, the water table and tornado-strength winds that almost capsized the boat were all overcome with help from the dedicated local workforce.
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