Woolverstone - no more lift-outs!

Earlier this year I was in Woolverstone whilst they had a crane there. It was one of th biggest I have seen lifting boats and it certainly needs a long reach due to the slope of th basin. By comparison the crane at Chatham seems so small, but it works from a concrete pad alongside the basin. They lift boats up to about 40ft but currently are doing lifts in batches, but not every day.

Looking at why Woolverstone craning is unprofitable is easy to see.
 
I would be surprised of Foxes packed up and tried to redevelop for housing.. It is in a complete dump of a place.

But Wolvestone is a different proposition on a very attractive location. Except as Leighb says.

Leighb said:
As far as planning is concerned, when MDL first acquired Woolverstone Marina, they applied for outline permission to build apartments on the cliff above the Marina. This is a Conservation area and an AONB and Babergh DC made it pretty clear that such permission would never be granted.
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Thread drift I know, but I must confess I can never work that one out.
Prevent development in an area so people benefit by not being able to live there and have to live in a housing estate where no one has a view of anything other than next door. On top of which the planning wallahs deliberately make if difficult to drive there by not allowing parking . Then people have no facilities to use if they do visit the area managed for their benefit or they cannot get there in the first instance because there is no public transport.
 
Swinging moorings have to find somewhere to go mostly for insurance reasons. Many use marina pontoon berths vacated by berth holders who like hardstanding during winter. They could be the ones hardest hit.
 
Kukri said:
Woolverstone. It’s a hard really, and it doesn’t extend to LWOS. It’s the original WW2 landing craft building operation slipway.
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Woolverstone own it, but both RHYC and the school have the right to use it. The school have transferred their rights to Neptune Sailing.
 
Tomahawk said:
So there is nothing to prevent them using a dipping travel hoist like Fambridge or Morgans?
Even less to stop someone having their own launching trailer?
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There are two slipways, one upstream of the old pier, which is where they used to launch yachts using the cable system and is entirely MDL's property and they charge you to use it. The old WW2 hard downstream of the pier is a pretty crumbly structure, fine to launch dinghies but not safe I would think for anything heavier.
However as you say there is no reason why they should not use a modern self powered dipping travel hoist on the other slip, I imagine they just don't want to bother.
 
Apropos of nothing, I was wandering around SYH at Levington the other day and was surprised to see that they have no fewer than 3 boat hoists!
 
Leighb said:
However as you say there is no reason why they should not use a modern self powered dipping travel hoist on the other slip, I imagine they just don't want to bother.
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Odd for a marina service that has lots of room.
Bit like going to the dentist for a full service and finding out they do fillings but no extractions. Just a pay and display boat park then.?:)
 
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^ MDL are doing their bit to preserve the local scenery; this is the conservation area for WW2 fuel jetties. As may be seen, there is no room for a boat hoist here without permanently damaging the character of the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty:A2DF6EE7-6493-4DB9-8ED2-87805AF8484B.jpeg
 
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Kukri said:
^ MDL are doing their bit to preserve the local scenery; this is the conservation area for WW2 fuel jetties. As may be seen, there is no room for a boat hoist here without permanently damaging the character of the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty:View attachment 123126
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That picture shows the newer MDL slipway which was used for cradle launching until they built the crane dock, - now apparently rotting and unsafe - beyond the pier is the wartime slip way, which I think was extended by RHYC in the 60s? In the foreground you can see some of the remaining wartime chocolate bar concrete hardstanding
 
Leighb said:
That picture shows the newer MDL slipway which was used for cradle launching until they built the crane dock, - now apparently rotting and unsafe - beyond the pier is the wartime slip way, which I think was extended by RHYC in the 60s? In the foreground you can see some of the remaining wartime chocolate bar concrete hardstanding
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Although cradle launching on a slipway is OK for smaller boats, I don't think it's suitable today for the types of boats which are now mainly residents at Woolverstone.
 
To my mind a cradle is preferable than dangling on a crane hook. The amount of damaged windex's
over the years must keep the company in business
 
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