New winch & hoist make light work of Whitefriars Venture

27 Jan New winch & hoist make light work of Whitefriars Venture

West Country Boat Repairs have recently installed a new winch and hoist system, allowing us to handle larger boats with ease – it certainly helped us with this Venture, which is one of the Whitefriars Sailabilty Boats, enabling wheelchair users to access the water, as well as being accessible to a range of other users with diverse needs.

The boats are moored on the water, and this one was beginning to suffer from osmosis and had become home to a large number of freshwater mussels.

Step 1 – We brought the boat in on its road trailer. We then undid the block on top of the keel, connected the boat up to the hoist system and lifted it up, leaving the keel on the launching trolley. First time round we didn’t have quite enough height in the workshop to lift it clear, so we had to remove the trolley wheels!

Step 2 – TLC treatment to gently roll the boat over onto mattresses, a job that would have taken many more poeople if done manually.

Step 3 –  a good old clean up!

Step 4 – We repaired a nasty hole on the side

Step 5 – We repainted the affected area with a special epoxy paint designed to prevent osmosis and applied a frehwater antifoul treatment.

Good as new and ready to get back on the water!