French Port Upgrades Weighing Technology on Boat Hoist

The Brise Lames marina in Anglet, southwest France, has installed four wireless load shackles and a multi-load cell monitoring and logging system from Straightpoint onto a 25t mobile boat hoist. The hoist, manufactured by Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin-based Marine Travelift Inc., already possessed weighing technology but it has been in operation since 2002 and the end user required more accurate measurement of vessels, which are typically removed from water for maintenance. Straightpoint’s French distributor, Traction Levage, provided the solution in four 6.5t wireless load shackles, which were an ideal fit with two pick up points on either side of the boat hoist that moves on four rubber tyres beneath uprights in the corners of the lifting machine. Installation involved integration of two shackles onto both ends of two flat slings, which pass under boats. The logging system provides simultaneous data and the ability to print load reports, whilst confirming mass and centre of gravity. Dave Mullard, business development manager at Straightpoint, said: “It was very important for the end user to have accurate load information. Not only is this key to the ongoing safety of boat lifts to prevent overload situations, but also they charge their customers based on weight of vessel. The heavier they are, the more expensive the cost of lift, for example. Now, the boat hoist operator can implement an accurate billing system and give customers access to the data upon which those calculations are based.” Mullard added that the wireless load shackles were ideal for permanent installation in an outdoor environment, explaining that contained within the aluminium enclosures is a new internal chassis providing IP67 / NEMA6 environmental protection even with the battery cover plate missing. He said: “The installation demonstrates the suitability of Straighpoint systems to Marine Travelift and other boat hoists of varying type and capacity, to the point where they could almost become ubiquitous in such applications. We will work closely with Herve Capdeville, of Traction Levage’s Bordeaux facility, who facilitated this installation, and other distributors around the world to that end.” The 25t unit, which operates at a facility in Port de Bayonne, is from the manufacturer’s low capacity range to 100 tons, but the maximum capacity of its C-Series goes up to 1,200 tons. Straightpoint wireless load shackles are available from stock in capacities from 3.25t to 500t, meaning similar ease of installation can take place even on the largest models.