Below you will find some pictures of the transport of my Rival and lift at her winter refit yard. For those who are interested the costs are: -
Lift Out At Largs: £450
Transporter: £350
Slings: £600
Crane Hire At Yard: £400
Transport Insurance Added To Boat Insurance: £25
Cradle eBay: £750
The transporter arrived late at Largs and as such I lost the opportunity to use a free crane at the refit yard which the owner kindly offered. The delivery of the yacht was now delayed until the following Saturday so I had to rent a crane to lift her as the yards crane driver was not available.
All in all it was a hassle free experience. I was annoyed at the transporter as he had to drop the trailer and boat off at his yard and leave it for 5 days, while he took another boat to Sweden with the only tractor unit he had. Such is life.
The cradle was great. Very easy to use. The 4 legs sit flat on the ground allowing the yacht to be slewed very low over the legs and onto the base. Then it was just a matter of pivoting the 4 legs up and turning the screw jacks until the pads pressed against the hull. All the load is taken on the keel with the legs providing lateral stability only.
The Rival 41C displacement is specified at 10000 kg, so I allowed for 12 tonnes when I added up the fuel, water and stuff onboard. Technically, you only need two 6 tonne slings but I wanted the width to be the same as the travel hoist slings to spread the load and offer more surface area for friction as the slings could slip as the slings run at an angle to the hook. With the slings at the back and front of the keel to hull join the yacht lifted slightly bow up first; this is just a bit closer together than the lift points which are about 1' from the keel, both ends.
The HIAB in Pic 3 lifted the yacht off the trailer and was just a tractor unit with the crane behind the cab. If the boat transporter had one of these it would be a great service as there is space in front of the transporter cradle - they brought a transit van with them which was parked up in this space; this was the escort vehicle. The operator used a remote control and just walked about reviewing the load as the lift progressed. The remote allows for very slow movement and reads out remaining lift capacity at whatever reach the boom is at. We got to 98% of the 10 tonne capacity at the HIAB's out reach to the truck. The down side is that the HIAB has a limited reach compared to a mobile crane. The HIAB was parked at right angles to the cradle about a meter from where the stern would be. The transporter was placed parallel to the HIAB about 3 meters away. This was right on the limit of the HIABs lifting capacity at that out reach. It's important that the crane supplier understands the space they will have to work in.
If you are transporting North or South from Oban, the police are now insisting on a police escort, so that will be another £700. Central belt just requires the escort vehicle which blocks off roundabouts and stops overtaking when the load has to move out. I followed them from Largs and they must communicate by radio as it was very coordinated e.g. when the transporter passed a lay-by with a truck in it, he would pull into the middle of the road with the escort van blocking both lanes from behind.
Largs Yacht Haven staff were very good. They lifted the boat out early because of the risk of high winds and lowered the mast, all for the same price. My son and I removed the boom, spinnaker and whisker poles, wind generator, cockpit hood, guard rail wires, anchors. The mast was stripped of lights and antennas but I strapped the rigging and lines down the side. It was important to check that the mast supports on the truck and straps are not crushing the furling foil.
I own the web slings so they are available for use, see the for sale section (I will lend them out for a donation).
Nice report - thank you.
I'm glad it all worked out so well as you seem to have been planning this for a wee while now.
I'm very jealous as I've always fancied bring my boat home to be worked upon for the winter.
We have the room but it would require a Chinook for the final lift, which would add to costs considerably..
I'm suprised by how cheap the transit was and how expensive the lift onto transport was. £450 for a lift onto a lorry? - I think I'll continue to keep well away from the Scottish Solent.
(I can't be done with this Merkin habit of quoting weight in thousands of pounds - it always seems very clumsy. Not that we're entirely free of it on this side of the pond: the manual for my old Colchester lathe quotes its weight as 1500 lb.)
You see- isn't that just life in a blue suit? There we are fantasising pleasantly about a forum heliocopeter and it all gets technical. I just hope you realise that should the loony left get the yes vote, you'll have to be returning yon heavy lathe, an its an awfy lang way tae Colchester.
claymore wrote:You see- isn't that just life in a blue suit? There we are fantasising pleasantly about a forum heliocopeter and it all gets technical. I just hope you realise that should the loony left get the yes vote, you'll have to be returning yon heavy lathe, an its an awfy lang way tae Colchester.
The Colchester factory is, sadly, long shut. The world no longer turns on Colchester lathes it would seem. I visited it once in the 1980s on the promise of a quick tour, but they were having industrial relations "issues" that day, so no tour possible.
