On average the team managed to haul a boat out and place it on its support every 6-7 minutes.
BHPian Jeroen recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
The day after I went back to pick up all my gear from Sirion, was “haul out” day our marina. Some 30 boats will be lifted out of the water and put on the parking area for the winter.
There are several reasons to take a boat out of the water. Ice can severely damage these boats, although these days, it is very rare to have sufficient ice on the rivers. Of course, it does get very cold, if not freezing, and damp on boats that are left out on the water, which takes its toll on the boat and its equipment.
So many owners like to haul their boats out of the water for the winter. A number of our members do it similar to how I did it. They have a winter spot somewhere else.
But the marina also allows members to haul their boats out and put them in the parking lot. It means they can work on the hull for instance during the winter. And it is relatively very cheap!. The five months Sirion will spend inside its “winter berth” costs 4 times as much as the 7 months in the water!! In all fairness, that is primarily due to our marina having stonking low berth fees.
So last Saturday morning I went over to the marina, to have a look and lend a hand. Its an early start. We rent a huge mobile hydraulic crane from crane company “De Boer”. They arrive at around 06.15 and it takes them about an hour to set it up properly
De Boer is well known “crane and haulage” company. My friend Berndt knows them well, they used to sponsor his annual classic car tour. In 2018 their premises were one of the stopping places for our tour.
Have a look here for classic cars and mobile cranes.
When the crane was set up, we all gathered around for a very brief instruction.
- Rule one: The crane driver is always in charge and has final authority on everything
- Rule two: His colleague is the one who guides him with hand and verbal signs/instructions. Do not interfere, don’t think you are helping by giving other instructions
- Rule three: don’t do anything stupid.
The team had made all kinds of preparations. With pumps and hoses at the ready. The best way to clean a hull is when the boat has just been lifted out of the water. However, cleaning the hulls was not allowed until the boats were all on the shore for safety reasons.
Here we go
One of the committee members, Erik, had organised the whole day. He had made a schedule of where all the various boats go. The smaller, lighter ones, are in the far corner of the parking lot, at maximum reach of the crane. The heavier the boats get, the nearer they need to be parked to the crane.
So all the respective boat owners had to show up in the correct sequence at the haul-out jetty.
I could tell most of the folks had done this many many times before. It was a very relaxed atmosphere. People helping each other, chatting, having a coffee and so on.
In true Dutch tradition by about 0900 am the deep friers came out, for a healthy breakfast. Everybody was offered rolls with kroketten and or frikandellen. Dutch snacks.
One small bit of consternation. This gorgeous wooden sloop belonged to Jelle, our treasurer. He bought it only a few months ago. All of a sudden we noticed smoke coming from under the engine cover. We ripped of the engine cover to notice the stop solenoid was permanently energised. So I ran to our barn, known as “the hold”. We have all kinds of equipment and tools. Took a couple of spanners and we disconnected the battery.
On average the team managed to haul a boat out and place it on its support every 6-7 minutes. So pretty good going!
In the far corner, people were already beginning to hose down the hulls of their boats.
More and more boats got hauled out.
I had to leave by about 09.30. So for the next few months not much to see and do at our marina. We have a few social/party gatherings, and the group of harbour masters I belong to will get together. There is a group of volunteers that works throughout the winter on all kinds of jobs. I might go and lend a hand too.
Jeroen
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