Advice For Lifting A Sailing Yacht With a Crane

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Hello,

I have only ever had my Rival lifted with a travel hoist. Later this year she will be transported to a yard on a truck where I shall have her lifted off and placed into a cradle by a crane i.e. a single point lift. I know many folks on here do this every season at their clubs and yards, so I would appreciated any tips and advice. The Rival is 41' LOA, 12' Beam, 10 tonne displacement. She is a strong old lady, solidly built.

Thanks,

BlowingOldBoots
 
Use spreaders to avoid crushing forces.

I always used to tie ropes to the strops and secure them both fore and aft to avoid the nightmare of slipping during the lift.

Paul
 
spreaders are vital. you will likely have to undo the backstay to accommodate them - use a halyard tied down to near the companionway to support the mast. no need to rope the strops unless you have a long keel in which case its vital - once saw a new island packet slipping through the strops, but is not a risk with a normal fin and skeg. The forces involved are trying to pull the slings towards each other not away. Finally you need long ropes attached fore and aft so people on the ground can control swinging.

dont do the lift if the wind is more than 20kn - we've played conkers with yachts at the club in high winds and it was expensive.
 
BlowingOldBoots said:
Hello,

I have only ever had my Rival lifted with a travel hoist. Later this year she will be transported to a yard on a truck where I shall have her lifted off and placed into a cradle by a crane i.e. a single point lift. I know many folks on here do this every season at their clubs and yards, so I would appreciated any tips and advice. The Rival is 41' LOA, 12' Beam, 10 tonne displacement. She is a strong old lady, solidly built.

Thanks,

BlowingOldBoots
Click to expand...

Use a reputable crane company who are used to lifting boats. Tell them the weight and dimensions of the boat. Ensure they know all other relevant details... their responsibility anyway... they may want to visit the site in advance. Trust them. Its their business ... they know what they are doing

If they have to reach at all, ( unlikely if the truck can come alongside the cradle) the crane capacity will have to be considerably more than the weight of the boat.



Crane that used to come to the yard I am based in has a capacity of 25 tonne... The heaviest boat is about 4.5 tonnes but the crane could then reach over the bank to lift them and position them in the storage area where required.


With a solidly built boat and long slings spreader bars are NOT necessary.



DSCF0314.jpg
 
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Spreaders are not necessary if the crane uses brothers (long chains that go between hook and strops). Go to this page http://www.eastcoastsailing.co.uk/backissues.html and download the ECS014 back copy and turn to page 20 for the tale of how we do it. (The rest of the magazines are not a bad read either). Done this a dozen times now. I would ask the crane company for an operator experienced in lifting boats and that they will use brothers. Would agree with Paul's advice re tying the strops. You will see we do not but you will see that the boats are perfectly level. The crane operator who we have used every time will not lift until the strops are perfectly positioned.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I am buying 2 x 300 mm wide 20 tonne strops and have measured the centre of the lift by halving the water line, which more or less coincides with the mid point between the yard marks for the travel hoist sling. The yard is an industrial yard and I have sufficient space for a straight lift, slew and lower into a cradle without any outreach.

I noticed in the ECS article that blocks are used to hold the slings away from the gunwale. I was planning on this but I was worried about point loading, however, long slings reduce the compression load (or brothers) and the blocks will stop the straps fouling the teak cap on the gunwale. I watched a few videos on YouTube and saw that either long slings or brothers are used where spreaders are not.

The mast will be off the boat, the fuel tanks and water tanks empty and all the equipment removed, including the stanchions and guard wires. This amounts to about 3 tonnes. The crane is owned by the company who own the yard (industrial winches onshore/offshore) so I assume the driver knows what he is doing but I have not decided yet whether to use this crane or not, its rated at 30 tonne and they do have a 4 leg chain bridle. The trucking company is an experienced yacht mover and they have a special low loader cradle to haul what is a big load. They can arrange cranes, so I will talk to them about crane hire.

I appreciate that a crane company with experience of yachts is preferable and it also removes any responsibility from the yard who have kindly offered the use of their crane and driver. The more I think about it the more a dedicated crane and driver supplied by the trucking company is a good idea.

Thanks folks. Its all rather exciting, a plan beginning to come together. I am fed up driving each winter 3 hours to the boat, faffing about and coming back home. The boat will be within walking distance of the house. I should be able to get after a long overdue refit and actually finish what I have started.

Regards,

BlowingOldBoots
 
What do people have against securing the strops. It doesn't do any harm. probably won't be required, but if there is a slip and they weren't secured. Oh dear!


When they moved the boats at the museum they lifted them over the buildings to a new storage facility in the car park. I think they used a 100 ton crane.


Swallow_2.jpg



Swallow_12.jpg



Swallow_15.jpg



The older boats had custom made cradles

Dolly_3.jpg



Dolly_5.jpg



Dolly_15.jpg
 
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BlowingOld Boots,

yes, good move securing the slings together fore and aft; contrary to some assertions here it's not just long keelers which sometimes need this, when the hoist / crane driver is new and stomps on the brakes I've seen some real heart-in-mouth moments as the forward sling rides up the ' rocker ' curve of a fin keelers' forefoot, they got away with it but a close thing.

I've been involved with hoisting boats by mobile crane or travel hoist twice a season since 1978 and never seen spreader bars used or the need for them - might be for wide cats & tri's but the chain & sling combination seems to work well.

If you're involved, remember to have long lines, well belayed fore & aft, to drop before the lift for people to handle or maybe spin the boat in the air.

Do tie fore & aft slings together though, one side will do; probably not necessary but might keep your heart going a few years longer !
 
If you are lifting straight from the low transporter to a cradle alongside then the boat is never going to be more than a few feet off the ground so most of the usual problems of using a crane for handling boats - lift and reach will not be a problem.
 
BlowingOldBoots said:
i.e. a single point lift.
Click to expand...

I'm sure you've got everything sorted with the crane driver. However, I've usually heard single point lift used in reference to dry sailed racers with a single strong point inside and a hole in the coachroof to get the hook through, so there is potential for confusion with the term.
 
I made the blocks as the strops would otherwise bear directly on rubbing strake plus it distances the strops from the capping rail edge as you say. They work ok and there is never any paint damage; does need four people to hold them in place while the crane takes up the tension. I think for a first time lift I would use retaining lines on the strops - we did until we became confident with the positioning over a number of lifts. You need also to mind your guardrails; depending on the shape of your hull when the strops are slack it looks like they will clear the guardrail but as the tension is taken up they might just place some unfair tension on the top rail. Usually just an issue near the cockpit. Probably worth slackening first time.
 
lpdsn said:
..... single point lift used in reference to dry sailed racers with a single strong point inside ....
Click to expand...

Yes, you are correct, a single point lift is from a single connection to the load. Thats not what I meant in this case and thanks for the prompt, it is a four point lift, I was indeed mixed up.
 
+1 to using a crane company with yacht lifting experience. I've been instructing dinghy sailing this week and have needed 3 different types of safety boat to cover Bosun, Optimist and Topper sailing. Each boat has a different CofG and lifted differently using a single point crane with a four-point frame and two strops. Without prior knowledge or a lot of faffing around it could be dangerous.

When lifting our 22' Musketeer out recently I was lucky there were some experienced hands at the yacht club and a knowledgeable crane driver to take the guess work out of it - just google 'boat launch fails to see when they get it wrong...

DSC02340_zps75150acf.jpg
 
Seajet said:
yes, good move securing the slings together fore and aft; contrary to some assertions here it's not just long keelers which sometimes need this, when the hoist / crane driver is new and stomps on the brakes I've seen some real heart-in-mouth moments as the forward sling rides up the ' rocker ' curve of a fin keelers' forefoot, they got away with it but a close thing.
Click to expand...

I agree - it happened to my Hurley 22 (long fin). I was watching it being lifted out of the water and just as it came over the quay wall the front rope shot forward, the boat plummeted, I legged it and was very surprised not to hear an almighty crash behind (or on top of) me. When I looked back the boat was hanging by the bow fitting - the strop had fortunately caught on the fitting's slight projection from the hull!
 
the only other points are to know if you have any protruding underwater bits, such as transducers, which might get squeezed by the strops.

I suspect, though that they are hidden near the equivalent to the garboard strakes on the delightful Rival. :)
 
Sorry to be pedantic here but the crane operator needs to prepare a 'lifting plan' beforehand.

This is to ensure that they have all the relevant info to ensure that the load is properly secured, lifted and the area of travel defined well beforehand.

All professional lifting companies will know and do this.
 
Many will say spreaders are not required, and they are correct - as long as the strops are positioned over the bulkheads - I have seen MANY quality boats broken by single point lifts with no spreaders where the strops were poorly positioned.

To reduce the risk of damage to the toe rail and rubbing strake I would prefer to use a frame or spreaders in favour of just strops.

Tying the strops so they cannot slide off is vital and very easy to do.

and gently does it!!
 
The crane driver will know what he is doing, as will the boat yard.
All they will want to know is, will the fore, or aft chains need shortening to ensure an even lift.
If you don't know, don't worry, they will soon tell when they pinch her up.
The next thing is try to get the strops as close to a bulk head as possible, and if you have wooden rubbing strakes they may appreciate a bit of protection.
 
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