Hubris
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Show me me the specs. Note also that this dock is not fixed to pylons, so it's being used as a barge.
EZ Dock Floating Work Platforms
The manufacturer markets them for carrying equipment.
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Is that... a mattress? What is that lol
EZ Dock is the brand name, and the company even markets its products for use as floating work platforms.
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I consider myself an expert in not dying.
No one with a Height Safety Clearance is going to work from a platform which is not certified for that use.
It's up to you to prove that this contraption is certified. Spoiler: it's not.
Anyhow, while I look forward to reading your final witty retort, I'm happy to let you engage in whatever practices you deem to be safe while I do the same. Good day sir.
(Not parent commenter) lil hedge makes it harder to argue! And more clear to me about experience/intuition vs. some specific dataset on hand.
Hope this comment doesn’t feel pushy - emphasis on my additions:
The lift is likely on a gimbal. If the wheels on one side of the lift are 1cm higher than the other, that would move the platform at the top by 8cm or something. If both guys are on one side of the platform that could be enough to make the whole thing tilt by another 1cm at the wheels, and so on.
From what I can tell, that lift is not designed to be operated on a plastic barge. So, ostensibly:
That dock is not designed to carry equipment, certainly not an elevated platform, and is not designed to be operated as a barge.
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When you port somewhere, you can rent a vehicle or take a taxi to places not in the port town. If you want to travel to various tropical islands, you can fly or float, it's not like there are a bunch of transportation options that can take you everywhere.
I'm not saying that rail is a worse option, I'm saying that cruises are fun, and that's why people go on them, which was the initial question I responded to.
Clearly you've never experienced what a cruise is like. You're coming to these conclusions that just aren't based on reality. A cruise ship is a small town full of entertainment. If there were no entertainment, yea, floating in the ocean would get boring after a few hours, unless you're into that kind of thing. They are mobile resorts, and when you wake up, you're in a new location. They aren't over crowded, except when everyone is boarding and leaving, but that's true with literally every form of mass transportation.
Some people take cruises and never leave the boat. They like to relax by the pool, enjoy the spa, partake in on board activities, gamble in the casino, eat all of the included free food or drinks, or whatever.
I'm not defending the environment part, or the legally sketchy stuff, but they're entertaining.
You're coming to these conclusions that just aren't based on reality.
I'm sharing subjective opinions based on my own preferences and lived experiences. Sorry they don't match up with yours, but we're having a disagreement about big boats, not a crisis of reality.
Clearly you've never experienced what a cruise is like.
Correct, because they don't interest me, and I'm not convinced enough by the people that like cruises to warrant spending the money on them.
There are thousands of existing "small towns full of entertainment" I'd rather go to than a cruise. I don't need my resort to be mobile, and if I want to end up in a new location, I'll book travel to that location. I don't need to go on a cruise to relax by a pool, or enjoy a spa, or partake in any of the mundane activities offered on board, or gamble in a casino, or eat food and drink drinks. Cruises don't offer anything unique that I can't find somewhere else, other than the novelty of being a cruise, and that novelty just doesn't interest me.
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EZ Dock Floating Work Platforms
The manufacturer markets them for carrying equipment.
A drill is equipment
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Actually the rule is that if they were fully just over water they would be ok to not wear a harness but due to there being a platform beneath their working area OSHA would require harnesses with connections made to ceiling or a guide line installed for working at those heights. This is also true if you are between 2 boats for work as they are still seen as more dangerous.
But open water in a boom lift? Yeah, no harness needed.
I was also thinking strapped to the ceiling would be the safest
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You're coming to these conclusions that just aren't based on reality.
I'm sharing subjective opinions based on my own preferences and lived experiences. Sorry they don't match up with yours, but we're having a disagreement about big boats, not a crisis of reality.
Clearly you've never experienced what a cruise is like.
Correct, because they don't interest me, and I'm not convinced enough by the people that like cruises to warrant spending the money on them.
There are thousands of existing "small towns full of entertainment" I'd rather go to than a cruise. I don't need my resort to be mobile, and if I want to end up in a new location, I'll book travel to that location. I don't need to go on a cruise to relax by a pool, or enjoy a spa, or partake in any of the mundane activities offered on board, or gamble in a casino, or eat food and drink drinks. Cruises don't offer anything unique that I can't find somewhere else, other than the novelty of being a cruise, and that novelty just doesn't interest me.
I'm saying the conclusions you're coming to that are wrong are things like, your stuck in a port town, or there's nothing to do out at sea. That's it. I'm not trying to convince you to go on a cruise, I'm still in reference to the OG question, why would anyone get on a cruise. You provided counter points that I'm refuting as not factual. You've not experienced a cruise, and you shouldn't based on your feelings towards boats, but you speak as though you have and are providing anecdotes.
Cruises aren't for everyone, but they are entertaining, that's the whole point I'm trying to make.
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I don't know. When I go to a city as a tourist, I typically stay for 4 to 7 days before moving elsewhere, so that I at least have a very vague idea of what the place is like. One afternoon isn't enough time to do anything, you can see a museum and have a coffee, which is nice, but doesn't tell you much about the place.
I suppose it's another way to visit, but it's odd to me.Sometimes it's not about the city you port in. I've been to St. Kitts a couple of times and have kayaked, snorkelled, toured, and chilled on a beach. I've gone SCUBA diving during a stop in Puerto Rico, and horseback riding in St Maarten. I mentioned it in another post, but now I would be willing to book a week long trip in some of the destinations I've been to with a confidence that I'll enjoy it.
Most of my vacations are to single destinations, but the sampler platter that is a cruise is fun too, just for different reasons.
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I'm saying the conclusions you're coming to that are wrong are things like, your stuck in a port town, or there's nothing to do out at sea. That's it. I'm not trying to convince you to go on a cruise, I'm still in reference to the OG question, why would anyone get on a cruise. You provided counter points that I'm refuting as not factual. You've not experienced a cruise, and you shouldn't based on your feelings towards boats, but you speak as though you have and are providing anecdotes.
Cruises aren't for everyone, but they are entertaining, that's the whole point I'm trying to make.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]your stuck in a port town
I said you're basically limited to coastline and port cities to point out the contrast to other modes of travel that aren't nearly as restricted. You either missed that point, or you're being pedantic.
there's nothing to do out at sea
My point was that without cruise ships, there would be nothing to do out at sea. Cruise ships solve the problem of "there's nothing to do or at sea", but in an unnecessary and dumb way, in my opinion. So again, I think you missed the point of what I was trying to say.
Ultimately I don't really care what anyone's opinion on cruises are. What I do care about is making sure I'm understood correctly, hopefully this helps.
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I’ve been invited on a few cruises.
I was in the navy, and immediately launch into a tirade about how top heavy and unsafe those things are.
“Well it’s never been a problem for us”
Okie dokie, I took statistics, so hard pass all the same
Statistics about top heavy cruise ships being unsafe? I suppose germs, but since you preceded that they are unsafe with being top heavy, I'm guessing you weren't talking about germs.
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It can’t be flexible, it is AI then
I just see it bending there. I can't say that it's definitely AI, I just see something clearly experiencing strain under the load, and that isn't safe.
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(Not parent commenter) lil hedge makes it harder to argue! And more clear to me about experience/intuition vs. some specific dataset on hand.
Hope this comment doesn’t feel pushy - emphasis on my additions:
The lift is likely on a gimbal. If the wheels on one side of the lift are 1cm higher than the other, that would move the platform at the top by 8cm or something. If both guys are on one side of the platform that could be enough to make the whole thing tilt by another 1cm at the wheels, and so on.
From what I can tell, that lift is not designed to be operated on a plastic barge. So, ostensibly:
That dock is not designed to carry equipment, certainly not an elevated platform, and is not designed to be operated as a barge.
Oh man. This is just using legal speak to water down my comments. It's lemmy, I'm not on trial.
The lift is not "likely" on a gimbal. It is balanced on top of a floating thing - that's a statement of fact. If the subject of the statement can rotate around a point like said floating thing then it's a gimbal.
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EZ Dock is the brand name, and the company even markets its products for use as floating work platforms.
As janky as it looks in the image, I've seen entire cranes mounted on those things.
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your stuck in a port town
I said you're basically limited to coastline and port cities to point out the contrast to other modes of travel that aren't nearly as restricted. You either missed that point, or you're being pedantic.
there's nothing to do out at sea
My point was that without cruise ships, there would be nothing to do out at sea. Cruise ships solve the problem of "there's nothing to do or at sea", but in an unnecessary and dumb way, in my opinion. So again, I think you missed the point of what I was trying to say.
Ultimately I don't really care what anyone's opinion on cruises are. What I do care about is making sure I'm understood correctly, hopefully this helps.
there’s nothing to do or at sea
Just being out on the sea is by itself a worthwhile experience, in my opinion. At least the first time. like flying, it is super boring sitting in a plane for multiple hours. But the first time being above the clouds is cool.
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The polluting the waters they go bit is one of my only concerns to push back against. Depends on the ship but they shouldn't be actively polluting the water and when they do it is a mistake or the annoyance of lack of laws letting someone be lazy.
Food waste is sterilized and neutralized to be be able to either dump into the ocean if it can or be disposed of later. All trash is sorted and recycled or burned for fuel with scrubbers removing heavy pollutants from the smoke stack.
Quite a few ships actually get unprocessed gas as the processing generates the lubricant they need for the engines and allows for less chemical release at the site of the processing. And is offloaded once spent to chemical handling companies.
They even purify their own water before dumping it using algae and enzymes before uv sterilizing it.
They just mess shit up in ways that are also hard to explain, such as oasis class ships were so large that then traveling to Venice had an issue where the vibrations of the motors were shaking the foundation of the city and causing parts to collapse. Their wake churns algae from water oxygenation and so much more. But they are more or less just a city on the water with all the ups and downs of a regular one with more classism.
There are a lot of things they’re supposed to do that they don’t.
FoE has “report cards” on the major companies and they’re all awful.
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EZ Dock Floating Work Platforms
The manufacturer markets them for carrying equipment.
Huh.
I did actually look at their website but I didn't notice this section. Amongst their manuals this "floating work platform" doesn't get a mention, only their dock.
All of their manuals basically say "observe local safety regulations".
Honestly I feel silly looking this up because this whole set up is so absurd. Anyhow, here is western australia's relevant regulation and it says that Elevated Work Platforms should only be used on solid surfaces on pdf page 37:
Relevant risk control measures when using EWPs should include [...] ensuring the EWP is only used on a solid level surface, unless it is designed for use on
rough terrain,Therefore, using an EWP on a barge is not an appropriate work safe practice.
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Huh.
I did actually look at their website but I didn't notice this section. Amongst their manuals this "floating work platform" doesn't get a mention, only their dock.
All of their manuals basically say "observe local safety regulations".
Honestly I feel silly looking this up because this whole set up is so absurd. Anyhow, here is western australia's relevant regulation and it says that Elevated Work Platforms should only be used on solid surfaces on pdf page 37:
Relevant risk control measures when using EWPs should include [...] ensuring the EWP is only used on a solid level surface, unless it is designed for use on
rough terrain,Therefore, using an EWP on a barge is not an appropriate work safe practice.
I'm no expert on whether it's codified as a work safe practice, nor am I out to convince anybody to get on such a rig. For what it's worth, I'm just sharing what I've learned as a sailor, and what I see here is a lot of folks certain that this is crazy because of their intuition that it'll tip over easily. With that it of the way...
Based on my intuition, there was simply no way a 747 could even toodle around the tarmac, much less fly, just by blowing some air out the back. Big ones weigh 500 tons! Then, I learned the power of air and lift intimately by putting a specially-shaped piece of Dacron up a metal pole on top of a boat. Experience updated my intuition, and I'm not even slightly nervous about flying anymore.
Similarly, from the other direction, my intuition said that there's no way a boat could stay upright with parts (mast, cabin, tuna tower, stacks of containers, water park and shopping mall deck, etc.) so high above the waterline, and so little hull beneath it. But I've learned intimately the effects of primary stability, and ballast. With my intuition changed, this setup looks fine.
I've had the experience, too, of working in a boat yard. At the end of the season, the owner drove the crawler crane onto a barge not much bigger than the one in the image, and we used it to yank boat mooring anchors out of the lake bed. Even a heavy weight on the end of the crane boom barely affected the trim of the barge. I've walked on many an EZ Dock section, and experienced that sections like this have immense primary stability, too.
Indeed, by my back of the envelope calculations, that 20' by 20' EZ Dock barge would take in the rough range of 75 tons of force to capsize. (Easier to submerge it!) Even with the 32' lever arm of the scissor lift, that's still more than 7 tons of lateral force needed to capsize it. I don't know the numbers on what it takes to capsize the scissor lift itself, but given that I know that the barge is going to stay quite level, and that there's no lateral force on the scissor lift platform in this scenario, it seems that they'd be fine even without the straps lashing the lift to the barge.
Anyway, I did a reverse image search, and did not find an original source. I have no idea how common this is, but I did find a comment thread from 4 years ago on the red site with comments from a user who said he called a local company that rents out Rotodocks (a very similar product) which claimed that they do it all the time.
Hope that is interesting, and yeah, absolutely, get the numbers from a real engineer before putting yourself in situations like this.
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EZ Dock is the brand name, and the company even markets its products for use as floating work platforms.
Well, that makes more sense than it being a mattress lol
