Custom Solutions for Rigging Dilemmas in Hamilton Ontario
The Town of Oakville Marina in Ontario had a reoccurring problem raising and lowering the masts and sails of the vessels as they handled the boats. Due the large volume of craft, the variations in size and space, they needed a custom solution that could do more than one mast or sail at a time. Enter Hercules SLR and ‘The Frankensling!
The solution they used to use was to manipulate each mast and sail individ
ually, but this was time consuming, inefficient work.
Moving multiple masts caused problems as the weight shifted as they
were manipulated, became unstable and were in danger of damage. They needed something that was weight loaded to distribute an even application for the multiple height level adjusting of masts/sail raising and lowering.
The Marina came up with the solution of using slings looped together.
This did not solve the whole problem, but made it more the process more efficient. There was still the strong possibility of damage as multiple slings were harder to control. The marina came to Hercules with the problem, looking for something that was efficient, robust and easy to use. Together we created what is now penned as the Frakensling.
The sling gets attached to the mast or sail of the boat, which allows for a securing point every 12”. This Frankensling is 24ft, but it can be made to any size of specification as needed. At every 12” mark there is a loop to which a line or rigging part can be attached to ensure an even balanced load point at every stage of the moving procedure. The sling can be used at any height and the pattern modified for any type of craft or Marina.
This is a great multi stage variable height sling. It’s a perfect for masts that have more than 1 spreader on them. The current sling for the Town of Oakville Marina is 2” wide and 24FT long. They are looking to refine the design by shifting from 2” wide to 1” wide.
It was pleasure to work with th
e Town of Oakville Marina, and Hercules SLR once again pulled out all the stops to custom make something that made the day to day work of our customers easier.
Doesn’t every Marina need a Frankensling?
Sherry Bohm
Customer Service Representative
Sherry Bohm has worked in the industrial sector for about 20 years, and has recently joined Hercules to increase her skills and share them with her growing customer (fan!) base. She loves dealing with customers and providing them with exactly what they need as sometimes they don’t know
what is the best solution, so Sherry utilizes her experience and background to assist in getting them the correct product(s) or pointing them into the right direction. Her hard work and dedication has resulted in a very close working relationship with the Canadian Coast Guards Ships and Ontario’s Marina’s. Sherry currently works out of her hometown branch of Hamilton Ontario.
