A floating dry dock. Cool!
As we draw nearer to our hurricane hideout of Grenada, we have again been discussing hauling out our boat to do a bottom job. What do you think of this for a haulout option: a floating dry dock? Pretty cool!
FYI, that is a 60′ catamaran getting their bottom done in these pics.
Speaking of haulouts and boat work, we were happy to be reunited with a couple of our traveling companions from last year, Bob and Janice on s/v Tsamaya. They were obviously really serious about trying to avoid us because they even went to the trouble of having their blue boat repainted white (gelcoat actually, not paint). Well, it didn’t work, we found them anyway. 🙂 The boat looks great, as do they, and we had an enjoyable time sharing stories on their boat last night as the sun set astern of us.
Cool but sounds expensive. Just sayin’. Hoppy Easter.
Perhaps. It might also be less money.
Small world. We met Bob & Janice in Gananoque years back. I guess blue hulls get pretty toasty down there.
Yes, they said changing the hull color made a huge difference.
Is that dry dock actually floating when it is in use, or simply when it is being moved from place to place.
It looks as though it is on pillars that screw down at each corner in the pic.
Whatever it is, it’s a very good idea!
Mike
Yep, it’s floating. This kind of dry dock is really cool- they flood it so that it sinks, pull the boat into position, then pump air back in, just like how a submarine surfaces. The spuds on the corners poke into the seabed to keep it from spinning around or drifting- it would likely be quite a handful to keep under control in any significant wind without them.
The concept scales pretty well to any scale. There’s one like this (but bigger) in Hamilton, ON that lifts 500-foot freighters out for bottom painting. It’s ridiculously cool to go right up to it and look up at a propeller the size of a house.
I bet that would be cool!
What does a haul-out in that dry dock cost, please?
Mike
Good question. I’d like to know too.
Ok that is wicked cool! Is it cheaper or more expensive to have it done that way? I wonder what the advantages and disadvantages are and how it’s done. I need a full report on this Mike 🙂
I don’t know how the prices compare but one big advantage that I see right away is that THEY CAN’T DROP THE BOAT!
To whom it may concern,
Where do I get information on this floating dry dock. Who is the manufacturer, where is this
one located. We would like to entertain the idea of purchasing one of these Dry Docks for
our 60 ft Day Charter Boats.
Thanks,
Paul Luginbluhl
nativeskies@aol.com
The Martinique phone number on the side of the lift is: 0696 220 440
Who is the manufacturer of this Dry dock
No idea.