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Oops!!!

11K views 59 replies 26 participants last post by  mad_machine 
#1 ·
This is Canoe Cove Marina's travel lift yesterday. Not sure what exactly happened yet, but it did have a boat in the slings at the time. Apparently no one was hurt.:eek:
 

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#3 ·
I don't know what it was trying to lift, but my wife and I have spent many an hour sitting in the cafe next door watching this operator run this crane, he gets pretty cocky with it sometimes.
 
#6 ·
That's what I think he did too. That, or the crane itself folded up.
This guy just goes a little bit too fast for my likeing sometimes. When he does water a boat he kind of gives it a little swing in the slings and shoots the boat out of the end of the piers slip. They are very busy down at Canoe Cove right now so he would have been in a hurry.
 
#13 ·
Yup, it's a lot safer where it is :)
The story as of this morning is that they are not sure what happened but one wheel of the lift mounted the guard at the edge and drove over it into the drink (a large drop!). Apparently they have had occasional issues with steering. Basically at this time they do not know if it was operator failure or mechanical failure. They had a large power boat (50 ft?) in the slings and were attempting to splash it. Apparently it was already in the water (so it didn't fall) and they were trying to give it a push out. It is now at a nearby marina after having received substantial damage.
It is unknown at this time if the lift can be salvaged - lots of broken bits and twisting. The boat yard is up the creek without a lift (or paddle) and may have to bring in a mobile crane to launch boats that are currently in the yard. It is too early for any decisions. My boat wasn't supposed to be splashed until sometime next week. I am not sure if I will be trapped beyond the time needed for the repairs :(
 
#12 ·
I've always wondered why travel lifts don't have more such mishaps. Even if everyone is trying to be careful and attentive, it only takes a momentary distraction ......
 
#14 ·
There is a pre-stressed piling manufacturer where I live that has several of them and use them to move hundreds of huge concrete pilings a day. They have had several fatal accidents, mainly from trying to do things too fast.
 
#15 ·
We just got back from Canoe Cove and the hoist looks pretty bent up. Even if they are able to use it again it will need a serious going over and some obvious heavy repairs. The main cross beam is twisted and bent.
You can see the tire marks on the guard rail where it went over the edge.
Too bad for the marina, I really like the guys down at Canoe Cove. Really easy to deal with.
 
#16 ·
I worked in a yard for a short time and have spent a LOT of time in them. The only really safe way to handle a straddle carrier is with 3 people - one driving and two spotting.

I've seen people running them alone and it's just ASKING for trouble. If they didn't have side guides at least as high as the sidewall of the tires they were just waiting for this one - especially if they have a cowboy driver.

Those things are dangerous heavy equipment - nothing to get casual with. It's very lucky no-one was killed.
 
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#17 ·
One of the yards at Marina Del Rey has a travel lift with a remote control. It allows the operator to get a much better look at things as the TL moves around, AND it should keep the operator much safer.
 
#18 ·
when I was much younger, the local yard had a lift, the son of the owner used to run it. To this day I do not know how he managed -not- to splash the lift
 
#24 ·
Just wanted to shed some light on what ACTUALLY happened and clarify ALL of your wrong assumptions.

All proper steps and procedures had been followed by the operator at the time of the accident. Nobody was rushing, cutting corners or doing anything dangerous or out of the ordinary. Safety has and always is number 1. There was mechanical failure beyond the operators control causing the machine to veer off its proper path during a routine launch. Nobody was hurt. The 50 + ft powerboat being launched was already floating at the time of the accident. It was easily moved free of the lifting area and taken to a neighbouring marina to be lifted for assessment, where only minor cosmetic damage was found. The lift spent the night in that position and was lifted by two large cranes today. There is no twist in its frame. It is designed with an articulating coupling/bushing to minimize damage in case of such an event. It will be thoroughly examined by a rep from its producer and several other companies that do routine evaluations and inspections. I feel the comment about the operator being a hot dog is unfair and unjustified. Probably stated by someone that has no experience or clue about machinery operation. But everybody has an opinion right? Furthermore, accidents happen. Thousands of accident free lifts occur annually at Canoe Cove. I'm sure that the pleasant experiences far outweigh the bad ones. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Hope it answers all your questions.
 
#28 ·
I have never seen the Canoe Cove travel lift operated in anything but a safe cautious manner. Last year they hauled a boat I worked on after it was on the hard - a Grand Banks 58. Canoe cove said it was their heaviest lift up to that time. Their tarvel lift has a 50 metric ton load limit. The Grand Banks was almost at max load and if the tanks had been full it would have been too heavy. It is always used with a remote as far as I know. I heard that the remote malfunctioned and one wheel did a 90 degree turn and over the track onto the wood walkway beside the track, which it fell through.
 
#29 ·
....I heard that the remote malfunctioned and one wheel did a 90 degree turn and over the track onto the wood walkway beside the track, which it fell through.
Having witnessed a few thousand lifts over a lifetime, I'm having a hard time visualizing this. First, how does only one wheel allow for this? If the other side of the lift didn't turn, they would have been fighting each other. Also, I usually see lifts move so slowly that a Stop button should have done the trick before it got off the track.

I'm not condemning the marina, I've never heard of them. But, the story just sounds off, if the operator wasn't able to notice a wheel turn 90 degs in time to stop everything.
 
#33 ·
I don't buy the 90 degree argument either.
There is a rubber mark on the guard rail about 6-8 feet long and then the wheel went over the edge.
So what, the wheel turned 90 degrees and then was dragged down the side of the rail and then fell in the water.
Doesn't make sense.
What was dragging the crane with it's wheel turned 90 degrees for 6-8 feet?
Was a sling hooked on a boats gear?
It looks like the tires sidewall was rubbing the rail and then it mounted it and fell over the other side.
 
#35 ·
What kind of remote control does it use? Is it wired or wireless? Either way, any time you are remote controlling something like that you are relying on maintaining a connection to the machine, and if you lose that connection, how can you stop it? Presumably they would have some fail-safes to prevent it going out of control, but things still go wrong.
 
#36 ·
First off, nobody will be getting sued. At least nobody here on this website.
As far as I know it is still legal to voice ones' opinion and ask questions.
This lift was radio controlled and so are many other pieces of heavy equipment.
I have run self propelled rock crushers, hogs and soil screening plants, all radio controlled and if I ever had a problem with a radio, usually it would either work or not.
If I were to have a radio that was not working properly it would simply not be used because it would be far too dangerous.
All radio controlled heavy equipment I have run have manual override controls and numerous panic stop buttons placed around the machine in various locations and so did this lift. If the machine were to loose contact with the radio the machine would either continue to do what it was last told to do or it would simply shut down, depends on the vintage. It would not start to do wierd stuff all by itself because of a lost radio signal.
If there have been issues with this machine in the past the operator can refuse to run until it has been properly fixed.
If the owner has said to run it anyway well thats a whole different story.
My biggest problem with all of this is the area in which this happened is an area that the boat owners are required to be during launch. This is not an employee only area. If they were running a faulty machine in a public area that's a concern.
 
#38 ·
I've never seen it done in 40 years of hanging around and working in boatyards.

In fact I've never even heard of it until now.

Definitely qualifies as "Cowboy".
 
#39 ·
I've been around boat yards my whole life and no, I have never seen anyone else do this pendulum manouver either. That's why we were so surpized when we saw the guy do it.
I don't know if that's what he was doing when this happened but the lift is bent up pretty bad. They are disassembling it for repair.
It is sitting toe in about 18" and at least three of the bolting flanges have been pulled and distorted out of shape. One of the flanges even popped a bolt off.
It landed on it's engine and stuffed the entire engine compartment and it's contents up into the frame.
In the mean time they do have a stationary crane set up, but the Travellift will be down foe a while.
 
#40 ·
I think its one of them new fancy quick launch lifts.
 
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