Boat Lift and Transport

[Pwh4788]

I need help!

I have a Westerly Riviera currently marooned in a club boat yard at Eastney. Although they have a lift, it is broken and I'm completely hemmed in by other boats by the side and in front of me that I think have now taken root. I need the services of someone that can lift my boat either over a perimeter fence and to a yard where I can be launched, or over the boat in front of me. The boats are parked length ways so it looks a safer proposition to lift it over the fence which is 8ft high. The boat could then be placed on a cradle from where it can launched. Does anyone have anyone they can recommend or suggest. I'd like to get it into the water before the end of the season (or next season!).

Paul

 

[duncan99210]

Need to know which yard you’re in so folks can understand the problem. It’s not going to be easy to sort, as it seems that you’re asking to use one yard land to stand a crane on to lift the boat out of another yard.

 

[Pwh4788]

Eastney as per original message. Southsea Marina is the closest other marina. The boat will need to be transported from one yard to the other, albeit a very short distance, it can't just be lifted from one yard in dropped in another.

 

[ribdriver]

The issue often comes down to insurance and ownership (therefore permissions) of the yards. How long until they repair the hoist?

 

[Pwh4788]

It's anybodies guess how long it will be before the hoist is repaired. Ideally I'm after a solution rather than another problem!

 

[tillergirl]

Lifting 8 ft vertically is no problem with a crane hire. But the daily cost of a crane is exorbitant these days. The cost of the H & S has escalated the costs in recent years; I was quoted over £900 for 30 minutes lifting or the last occasion and a half day hire was refused. The lateral move is also critical. If the lift has to be jibbed out, the ability to lift the weight needs a large crane. If the boat is one side of a wire mesh fence and the crane is the other side of the fence and the boat is to be placed just the other side of the crane, little problem. But if the boat needs to be jibbed out a significant distance and large crane will be required. The last time I had TG lifted a 30T crane was used and TG weighed about 8 tons. On each lift the distance moved laterally was nothing more than the width of the crane so little jibbing was required.

 

[duncan99210]

If there are others needing to be lifted to launch, it may be a viable proposition to hire a crane and lorry/trailer for the day and split costs between you. You’ll need the agreement of whoever own the land you’re proposing to place the crane on, the owner of the land you’re boat is standing on and the marina/yard where you’re aiming to launch from.
in addition, the crane company will need to survey the location and determine if it’s possible to do as you propose. As tillergirl says, any significant reach will require a heavier crane which will have implications in terms of what state the ground is in where you’re proposing to site the crane.
So, first off, seek permission to do the job. Then If you get nodding heads on that, approach some local crane hire folks for their opinion on feasibility and cost.

 

[tillergirl]

And adding to Duncan's thread, you need to be sure about responsibility and insurance. The crane hire costs will either include such things or at a reduced cost place those things on you. The wharfage charges provided access only. I had to provide a responsibile person (me) and I had to produce a risk assessment and plan. Not too difficult to write a risk assessment but then as the responsible person I had to brief everybody and manage it. When involving several different actors, there is now the need for coordination and management.

 

[Lucky Duck]

Without the necessary insurances being in place I would be very cautious about accepting any responsibility relating to the lifting of boats so in my view it would be much better (although more expensive) to go with a contract lift where the crane company 'owns' the entire process.

 

[Stemar]

With a crane of any size, you'll need a survey of the land it's to stand on, which adds significantly to the cost. My club is stuck with the current supplier because of this. We need a 200 tonne crane to pick up three tonnes from the far side of the compound and put it in the water. It isn't cheap!

 

[Daesal]

Maybe a mix of Little Grebe and Duncan suggestions is the way forward.
I operate a hiab crane lorry and there is a lot involved besides just the lifting process. As people say Risk Assesement HSE Qualified operators and banks men. Also very very very important to establish who is the responsible person if and when anything goes wrong. "Anything" doesn't have to be a boat falling , it could be a loose spanner falling from the lifted boat and scratching someone else's boat or injuring a person on the ground. Even a minor scratch can result in a lot of time with insurance and possibly courts if the scratched person is not accommodating to a reasonable fix.
Possibly approach the boat yard and say that you understand that machinery breaks sometimes but you would also like to get your boat out before the season ends.
Also approach other people in the yard and see if they are willing to contribute to the hire of a crane or alternative lift.
Then ask the boat yard to hire in a crane . It is important that the boatyard themselves hires in the alternative because then the responsibilities lie with them and the crane operator and not you.
OPTION 2:
Maybe the Boat yard is struggling financially and does not want to say.There are quite a few cases of people not paying their fees at the moment. Perhaps also suggest that instead of hiring in a crane you put the hire cost towards fixing the boat yard lift? Its a bit shaky(er) ground but depending on the yard might be the way forward. You would have to get in writing that your boat and the boats of the other contributers would be in the water by a set date though.

 

[crewman]

Any chance of temporarily removing the fence? Might make the lifting operationa easier.

 

[Catalina36]

There's only one boat club which fits this description in which case the crane would need to stand on the highway to make the lift and because there's a verge it would be unable to get closer than 5 feet to the fence - further away if it had to deploy hydraulic pads. I'm guessing that there's no way you'd get permission to do that since the road would have to be closed for the duration.

 

[Lucky Duck]

It is possible to get road closures so that cranes can work in the roadway but there is a cost involved!

 

[francophile51]

One would, imagine in this situation, that many owners at this yard are stuck with the same problem. The lift, are there no plans to fix it?

 

[Catalina36]

It is possible to get road closures so that cranes can work in the roadway but there is a cost involved!

It's a bus route and also the only road to the lifeboat station and the ferry. Closing it seems highly unlikely.

 

[Lucky Duck]

I don't see bus route being an unsolvable issue but the later two sound rather problematic.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Lifting 8 ft vertically is no problem with a crane hire. But the daily cost of a crane is exorbitant these days. The cost of the H & S has escalated the costs in recent years; I was quoted over £900 for 30 minutes lifting or the last occasion and a half day hire was refused.

My vague memory from the "Elizmor" saga is that the lift cost somewhere in the region of £10k. Or was it £20k? A substantial amount, either way.