The ship, Skylark IX, is undergoing a full restoration at the museum and moving the fragile vessel called for the use of a five-axle steering semi low trailer, artic, Hiabs working in tandem and spreader beams.
Over the course of two days, the vessel was hoisted on to Galt’s five-axle Nooteboom steering semi-low loader trailer at Rothesay Docks, Clydebank. It was then taken to Dumbarton Maritime Museum, where a public reception was held the following morning, before the onward journey to the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine.
To unload the vessel in Irvine, Galt performed a tandem Hiab lift using a PK88 and PK78 Palfinger crane. Two modular lifting beams were set at 5m to span the hull of the ship, with the beams then attached to each crane to reduce the strain on the hull during the lift.
Andrew Galt, Galt’s operations director, says: “The combined lifting capacity of the cranes is over 20 tonnes, and while the vessel weight was much less than this, having the extra capacity allowed the vessel to be unloaded in a single smooth motion without any difficulties.”