 Wiggins forklift at Sanibel Harbour Yacht Club |
Following a year of planning and anticipating, Sanibel Harbour Yacht Club (SHYC) added a huge marina forklift that weighs 217,000 lb. (97,650 kg).
The Marina Bull forklift W8.4M2 LoPro model from Wiggins Lift Co Inc has a 60,000 lb (27,000 kg) lifting capacity at 96 in. (2.4 m) load centre with vertical movement up to 55 ft. (16.8 m) high and 12 ft. (3.7 m) negative, says Chad Edmonds, general manager of SHYC in Fort Myers.
Al Paradela of Taylor Machine Works Inc represented Wiggins Lift in dealings with the SHYC. Paradela in Miami, Florida is regional sales manager for Taylor's direct transactions in south Florida. Louisville, Mississippi-based Taylor represents Wiggins Lift in Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina and Tennessee.
Paradela characterised the W8.4M2 as "the largest marina truck we have sold".
Another forklift at the SHYC marina is a Wiggins LoPro model with a 32,000 lb. (14,400 kg) lift capacity.
In its Marine Bull LoPro line, Wiggins incorporates rustproof and polymer matrix composite materials in the tilt operator console, one-piece steps and lightweight engine cover. Initially introduced in 2007, the LoPro models have a stainless steel-coated steer column and steer motor, stainless steel components in critical areas and zinc-based coatings on the mast and chassis.
Wiggins Lift of Oxnard, California is a fully integrated manufacturer of rough-terrain and industrial forklifts.
"Those of us who watched the assembly of the massive piece of equipment were surprised at the amount of work it took to both deliver it to our premises and to put it together," Peter Mazzagatti, yacht club president, says in a March newsletter to members. "The manufacturer has told us that this is the largest negative mast forklift in the world."
After the 19 February delivery and the subsequent assembly, the SHYC staff conducted trials of the forklift with the manufacturer's mechanics onsite prior to putting it into full-time usage.
Mazzagatti expressed appreciation to SHYC board members Nick Googin, Nick Amelio and Rich Levine "for their tireless efforts during the last year of this project".
SHYC, a private condominium association, operates a boat dockominium. A boat owner owns the dry dock space in which the boat is located and pays county property taxes on the in-water slip and condominium fees directly to the association.
"Dockominiums are not that common, and most that were built around 2006 have been converted to public rentals," Edmonds notes. "In Lee County, we are the only true dockominium that survived the real estate crash."
Sanibel Harbour is three minutes from the Gulf of Mexico, near San Carlos Bay and Pine Island Sound and across from the barrier Sanibel Island.