Cranes

[GJ0KYZ]

Does anyone have any experience with cranes aboard ribs? I'm thinking of larger craft fitted with small knuckle cranes like those made by Maxilift. I was wondering how these affected handling when underway and when loading equipment aboard.

[martini]

What sort of weight/reach are you thinking? I'm trying to guess what you're plotting to do here but nothing springs to mind!

Big rib down to the estuaries then crane the jetski in for the shallow bit?!

[GJ0KYZ]

Originally Posted by martini

What sort of weight/reach are you thinking? I'm trying to guess what you're plotting to do here but nothing springs to mind!

Big rib down to the estuaries then crane the jetski in for the shallow bit?!

That's it in a nutshell. Jetskiing to France, even when supported by a rib, would be something you'd do only on the calmest of days but if I got a bigger boat (e.g., a Ribcraft 10.5 or 12m) with a crane and a cradle then the ski could go in the boat and I could unload it in Granville and then Bob's your uncle - more power and more glory.

A friend of mine came around this afternoon to deliver some firewood and his truck had a Maxilift crane that could lift over a tonne but which was really small and only weighed 350kg itself. Posh jet skis weigh about 480kg so obviously you'd need a big rib. Santa, are you reading this??

[gotchiguy]

Originally Posted by GJ0KYZ

That's it in a nutshell. Jetskiing to France, even when supported by a rib, would be something you'd do only on the calmest of days but if I got a bigger boat (e.g., a Ribcraft 10.5 or 12m) with a crane and a cradle then the ski could go in the boat and I could unload it in Granville and then Bob's your uncle - more power and more glory.

A friend of mine came around this afternoon to deliver some firewood and his truck had a Maxilift crane that could lift over a tonne but which was really small and only weighed 350kg itself. Posh jet skis weigh about 480kg so obviously you'd need a big rib. Santa, are you reading this??

No need, just get one of these (or an adaptation on the idea).

Essentially a large rib with an inboard but instead of a swim platform it has a cradle for a jetski

You could even fit it with jet propulsion so you could already get extremely close and then just reverse the jetski off the back

I remember reading the article in rib int a few months back

http://www.ribmagazine.com/site/inde...=997&Itemid=84

[Erin]

Didn't Richard Whatshisname have a crane on board his Aluminium rib/boat/thing with the 4 outboards to load and unload his quads and motorbikes when he took them from Jersey to France. Perhaps he'd be able to offer some advice.

[GJ0KYZ]

Originally Posted by Erin

Didn't Richard Whatshisname have a crane on board his Aluminium rib/boat/thing with the 4 outboards to load and unload his quads and motorbikes when he took them from Jersey to France. Perhaps he'd be able to offer some advice.

Yes he did; where is he now by the way? I haven't seen his boat for ages. The idea would be that the jet ski cradle would bolt to the deck and so be removable allowing me to crane a motorbike onboard when need be. All this will be taking place after I win the Christmas lottery of course. Incidently, has anyone ventured out today? It's blo*dy freezing. My poor sponsons will have shrivelled up in this weather.

[martini]

I've had similar thoughts but with taking my Zodiac on the big boat for inshore exploration. But rather than using a crane I was going along the lines of a ramp at the back. Got the idea from seawork where I took out the zodiac hurricane Mach II European demo boat. Just had a pair of runners that went over the engine box down to the swim platform with a winch to pull the sib up. Great idea, would work well for your application but needs to be an inboard powered mothership obviously.

[gotchiguy]

Originally Posted by martini

I've had similar thoughts but with taking my Zodiac on the big boat for inshore exploration. But rather than using a crane I was going along the lines of a ramp at the back. Got the idea from seawork where I took out the zodiac hurricane Mach II European demo boat. Just had a pair of runners that went over the engine box down to the swim platform with a winch to pull the sib up. Great idea, would work well for your application but needs to be an inboard powered mothership obviously.

Ok fine, just ignore me

Originally Posted by gotchiguy

Essentially a large rib with an inboard but instead of a swim platform it has a cradle for a jetski

You could even fit it with jet propulsion so you could already get extremely close and then just reverse the jetski off the back

I remember reading the article in rib int a few months back

http://www.ribmagazine.com/site/inde...=997&Itemid=84

[martini]

Originally Posted by gotchiguy

Ok fine, just ignore me

Sorry I'm out using the iPhone, link was taking forever so I gave up!

[Erin]

I remember now - it was Gilpin. Link to pdf attached. No sign of a crane though but haven't read it all.

http://www.marinekits.com/downloads....n=press&id=156