CATSY- DRY SALVAGE

This complicated project, where the priority was to minimize further damage, needed three cranes, and an excavator. A team comprised of Meridian, Commercial Dive Services, and B&G Lifting undertook the 10-hour project with six hours of prep work and four hours of lifting, moving, and flipping this yacht.

On lift day, Friday, January 12, the righting was undertaken in two parts.

Part one involved moving the boat off the two small buildings that it had landed on during Irma, and also the road at the entrance to Nanny Cay that it was blocking. Two cranes – an 85-tonne and a 90-tonne – were used for this operation. Slings were rigged at either end of the yacht, and it was lifted and moved into the boatyard.

Part two entailed the flipping of the yacht. The slings were re-rigged so that they were supporting one hull, the port hull, that was going to be raised to lift the boat onto its side.

Tires were rigged to protect the starboard side of the yacht, which would be on the ground once it was on its side after the initial 90 degree lift.

The two cranes lifted Catsy onto its side without any problems. Once Catsy was on its side and supported by the two cranes, an excavator was brought in to dig a pit to accommodate Catsy’s keel and ensure that it didn’t bear any weight as the yacht was tipped.

For additional control as Catsy was lowered, the excavator’s bucket was placed underneath the uppermost keel.

Once everything was in place, a third, 27-tonne crane, was brought in. This crane’s boom was used to push Catsy over, where the excavator, and the two large cranes controlled Catsy’s roll and descent until the yacht’s hull was safely on the ground.