Patent ID: 8398339

Claim:
A method for installing a Tension Leg Platform (“TLP”), comprising: attaching an extension sub to an upper end of a tendon, defining a tendon assembly, and a fixed line between the extension sub and the TLP, the extension sub comprising a cylinder with a grooved external profile and a piston rod at an upper end of the cylinder; attaching a lower end of the tendon assembly to a piling; extending the line through a top connector on the TLP so that the top connector circumscribes a portion of the cylinder; retracting a length of the extension sub, thereby pulling the TLP downward; wherein the top connector is engaged to the external profile of the cylinder after the tendon is stabbingly engaged to the piling, the cylinder axially moving relative to the top connector to a retracted position in response to increased hydraulic pressure in an upper chamber of the cylinder to thereby exert a force on the tension leg platform through the line that pulls the tension leg platform down until a target draft position is reached without ballasting of a hull; and wherein the top connector ratchets down a length of the exterior profile of the cylinder to lock the target draft position of the tension leg platform.