From Waterline, the official magazine for members of the Marina Industries Association of Australia Limited: 

Gold Coast Marine Centre at Coomera has announced two new appointments to its team.

Tim Sayer has been appointed as General Manager and Grant McMahon has taken up the role of Yard Manager.  Tim was previously Director of Sales and Marketing at luxury boat builder Riviera, and Grant also worked at Riviera where he was in various production management and new product development roles over a 26-year period.  With the addition of new staff, GCMC has boosted its service offering with the purchase of a new self-propelled submersible lift.  Manufactured in the United States, the machine is a revolutionary system suitable for the safe and efficient haul out of boats with almost any hull design and construction.  The machine is expected to be ideal for the haul out of catamarans, houseboats and other multi-hull vessels which the Gold Coast Marine Centre specializes in.  It will be commissioned by February 2010 and become the first of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.

Sea-Lift bound for warmer destinations at Marina Island Pangkor, Malaysia.

The November/December issue of Marina World features an article highlighting the Sea-Lift's recent global momentum.

By Nick Marshall for All At Sea

$1 MILLION DOLLAR INVESTMENT WILL BRING HAUL-OUT COSTS DOWN

St. Maarten Shipyard N.V. has confirmed that an order has been placed for a 75-Ton KMI Sea-Lift, with delivery slated for spring/summer 2010. The Sea-Lift lifts a vessel, whether catamaran or monohull, from beneath, with a system of air bunks to spread the load along the whole length of the boat. St. Maarten Shipyard's Carl Vaughan is excited; the yard's estimated $1 million investment (that includes the lift and the slipway) will cut haul out time considerably, as well as costs.

The Sea-Lift requires just one operator, and demonstrations show a complete haul out being completed in 60 seconds. Whereas it can take two hours to haul out an 80ft x 40ft catamaran with a crane, and cost the owner $4,000, the Sea-Lift slashes manpower overheads and time, bringing the cost down to the $1,000 band. The Sea-Lift can expand/contract and articulate, enter the water beneath the hull, and lift a boat 10+ feet in the air, ready to transport smoothly into a covered shed.

Currently St. Maarten Shipyard has a 90-ton and 110-ton crane in operation. Plans on the horizon are to add a 120-Ton lift that could cope with boats over 100ft, and even a 320-ton lift, which Vaughan admits is some "three years away." The aim is to establish the yard as a full-service shipyard with the capability to extend the yachting season in St. Maarten for boats that require yard work.