We were approached about the possibility of using the ScaffFloat system to lift vessels and other heavy items up from the seabed and/or out of the water.
We fitted threaded stainless inserts to a batch of floats, and leaving the bottom insert open to the sea, we connected the top inserts to a manifold and air pump. This enabled us to flood the floats and then push air back in to force the water out, allowing us to control the raising and lowering of the main deck. We added flotation towers in the corners to control stability and did a small scale test on the river, sinking the pontoon to 0.5m below the water and lifting a 7t deadweight and two small boats out the water.
This exercise proved the system is capable of this function and we are now planning a full scale test where we will lift a large 15t commercial vessel out the water for maintenance works.
