Mobile Crane Service Along the Colorado River Corridor

One Road, Many Small Towns

The Arizona side of the river reads as one long corridor. Bullhead City at the north end, then Mohave Valley, Willow Valley and Arizona Village, then Topock and Golden Shores at the interstate crossing, then Crystal Beach and Lake Havasu City, then the Parker Strip, Cienega Springs, Bluewater and Parker. AZ-95 connects nearly all of it.

Because we sit in the middle of that string, both directions are workable. North to the crossing is under 35 miles. South to the Parker Strip is about the same. The ends of the corridor, Bullhead City at 63 and Quartzsite at 76, are third tier runs that get booked rather than dropped in.

Water Work Is Its Own Discipline

A boat is not a box. The weight is unevenly distributed, the hull will not take a sling in the wrong place, and the whole thing wants to swing. Dock sections are worse, because they are long, light, awkward and usually have to travel over something before they land. That is rigging work more than lifting work.

Add water to the setup and the constraints multiply. The truck has to sit far enough back to be on solid ground and still reach past the bank. On lots that step down from the road, the load lands well below the outriggers, which means the operator is working blind for part of the travel and needs a spotter he can hear.

Steel near water corrodes fast. Dock frames, lift structures, ramps and rails all wear out, and when they do the crane pulls the piece so it can be repaired or replaced, then sets it back where it belongs.

• Boats and personal watercraft in, out and onto trailers
• Dock sections, gangways, ramps and pilings
• Boat lift frames and cradles pulled and reset
• Riverfront HVAC, spa and equipment sets over the bank
• Boat hoisting for service, storage and relaunch

Season, Wind and Traffic

The river corridor runs on a season. Boats come out in autumn and go back in spring, and both of those are crane weeks for somebody. Winter fills the RV parks and the resorts. Summer weekends put so much boat traffic on AZ-95 that our own drive times change, which is why summer weekend windows are wider than weekday ones.

Wind on open water is different from wind in a subdivision. It arrives with no warning and it moves a suspended load hard. On riverfront jobs we watch the water surface as much as the forecast, and we will put a load down and wait rather than fight it.