AGC members support boatshop revamp
In the fall of 2012 AGCs Seattle District began a partnership with the Center for Wooden Boats (CWB) to improve and repair CWB facilities. The most difficult project to come out of the relationship was the installation of a hoist system to mechanically raise historic small craft out of the water and into the floating boatshop.
This complex project was designed and engineered under the supervision of Dan Chandler at OAC Services and his team of professionals. OAC redesigned the existing boatshop by changing the roof line at the north end of the shop and strengthening the rafters to accommodate the 30-foot steel I-beam that cantilevers out over the water.
In photo CWB recently hoisted it first historic Blanchard knock-about from the water into the boat shed for repairs -- a task that for thirty years had been accomplished with sheer manpower using a cranky old float plane drydock.
Dan then recruited other northwest companies to build the project. BNBuilders provided a team of carpenters for two weeks to complete the retrofit of the shop and installation of the beam. Additionally they footed the bill for the construction materials provided at cost by Gray Lumber. BNB also recruited Precision Electric to rewire the area affected by the retrofit. Yakima Steel fabricated and supplied the custom beam for the shop while Scott Galvanizing of Ballard finished the raw steel. Ballard Hardware donated the trolley for the I-beam and Al Wirta of Wirta Architectural in Sultan fabricated the overhead winch and pick-frame system capable of pulling a one-ton keelboat out of the water.