Stacking up on Okanagan Lake

An eight ton top-running stacker crane from Capria sits at the heart of Mission Group’s new drystack-only Aqua Boat Club in Kelowna, British Columbia. The facility is part of the Group’s Aqua Waterfront Village on Okanagan Lake, a picturesque glacial Canadian fjord.

Mission Group has located the 160-vessel drystack building away from the valuable mixed-use shoreline. It covers an area of 2,801m² (30,150ft²) and has narrow aisles and a 19.5m (64ft) ceiling. The Capria crane was selected for safety and ease of use and as a more appropriate solution than forklifts.
“We looked at our options and travelled to Canadian and US marinas for references,” said Austin Friesen, vice president of Aqua Boat Club. “They voiced many annoyances regarding working with forklifts at heights. We wanted our operators to be able to move with the crane forks so as to mitigate accidents from a loss of depth perception.”
CE-marked and manufactured to ISO 9001 standards, the all-electric Capria crane is semi-automated. As members select an arrival time using the Boat Cloud mobile app, the crane operator is notified of the request. Whether on a lower rack or nearer the ceiling, the operator is in an anti-fall cabin and always at eye level with the boat. This drastically reduces the chance of pulling a boat off centre or hitting an adjacent vessel while working. “Our crew has never been happier,” said Friesen. “The crane is simple to use and there’s no exhaust noise or dust kicked up from tyres.”
Once the boat is off the rack, the operator uses the crane to place it on one of Aqua Boat Club’s loading trucks that then transports it to the water for launching. When the member arrives, the boat is fuelled, potable water topped up and a complimentary bag of ice placed on board.
The club currently moves 86 vessels a day but expects to move more when it increases its ground loading slips from nine to 16. Once construction is finalised, the club will accommodate 193 boats of up to 9m (29ft 6in) in length.
Aqua Boat Club operates from May to September and operates an optional Boat Sharing Programme. Members can choose from one of the club’s fleet of brand-new premium sport boats.

Marine focus for new website

A sharper focus on Capria’s marine-specific solutions can now be found on the new website www.thestackermachinery.com

Monica Capria, who heads up marketing and business development, explained the rationale: “With a company the size of Capria and the scope of industrial machinery we manufacture, our drystack solutions were somewhat obscured within our general industrial website,” she said. “This new site better showcases how marinas and drystack businesses can increase productivity, profitability and customer satisfaction.” She explains that, with a standard set-up, the all-electric system can remove a boat of up to 13m (43ft) and 10,000kg (22,050lbs) from a rack and have it floating in less than three minutes.
The bi-lingual website is tailored to the needs of marine professionals. It provides a detailed comparison of how the Capria solution compares to a traditional forklift solution and how it can be incorporated into new construction or existing drystack sheds with minimal downtime.