Jump on board a floatplane and you can quickly gain appreciation for the beauty of your surroundings. Located in the picturesque, sea-side capital of Hobart, Tasmanian Air Adventures recently hired Bellingham Marine Australia to provide moorage for the company’s floatplane operations located in the heart of Hobart’s bustling waterfront. The project originally called for a steel pontoon system but after looking at the feasibility of a steel system the owners decided to go with Bellingham’s concrete option. Christiaan Durrant of Tasmanian Air said, “After a thorough analysis, concrete was more cost effective and required less on-going maintenance than steel.”
The new floatplane pontoon is a first for Bellingham Marine Australia. It is configured in an L-shape and features Bellingham Marine’s innovative telescoping pile system. This is the company’s fifth project to utilize this innovative pile design. “The beauty of the telescoping pile for this project was that it provided all the benefits of a pile anchored pontoon system with the added benefit of safer moorage for the floatplane,” said Bellingham Marine General Manager John Spragg. “Without the pile protruding above the surface of the pontoon the pilot does not have to worry about the possibility of clipping his wing and damaging the plane.”
The new pontoon is situated in Constitution Dock along Kings Pier and accessed via a new aluminum gangway and gate also from Bellingham Marine. Additional features include 500mm freeboard to accommodate easy loading on and off the floatplane and provision for power and water.
Tasmanian Air offers sightseeing tours of Port Arthur and the surrounding Hobart area. The area is known for its historic buildings, natural beauty and dramatic coastline. As the world’s leading marina design-build construction company, Bellingham Marine produces Unifloat® concrete floating dock systems as well as timber and metal frame systems. The company also produces Unistack® dry stack systems for marinas worldwide.
Contact:
Bellingham Marine, 22 Sinnamon Rd., 17 Mile Rocks, QLD 4073, Australia bmi@bellingham-marine.com www.bellingham-marine.com.au
Unifloat, Unideck and Unistack are registered trademarks of Bellingham Marine.
