Lift-in will take place on Saturday, May 25. This will be dependent on the dredging activities.
A committee to review our lift process is being formed. The committee will also be organizing the lifts.
Currently we are bringing in 2 cranes to lift about 60 boats. Each crane costs about $600 per hour (including the time to drive to and from Stratford), plus the cost of the lift crew. Last fall we lifted about 50 boats into the parking lot and 7 boats onto the north wall. It doesn’t take long to lift a boat from the water to their cradle usually 5 to 10 minutes. Each time we move a crane, the move takes 20 to 30 minutes. On the north wall, we need to move the crane for almost every boat. In the parking lot, the crane makes 2 moves.
Several years ago we successfully came up with a plan to optimize the lifts in the parking lot. With the purchase of the hydraulic trailer, we can move boats under 15,000 pounds further into the parking lot than the crane can reach. This will allow us to shorten lift time for many boats, because the lift is faster if the crane doesn’t have to reach as far. It will also give us room at the harbor side of the parking lot for some heavier boats. Possibly we could to lift all the boats onto the parking lot. The limitation is the ability to lift some of the heavier boats (4 to 6 boats) from the water, over the grass and onto the parking lot. That may or may not be possible, but the mandate of the committee is to see if it can be done safely.
We may still need 2 cranes, but if we can finish the day a few hours earlier, there would be crane savings.
We will have 2 cranes this spring for lift-in. One challenge will be to lift Chimera from the parking lot to the water. It is one of the heavier boats. If we can lift it, we should be able to lift all the boats next fall.
The committee is looking for people who can help organize lift-in and lift out and also people with the technical background to do the lift planning.