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NPORS Boat Hoist Training (N136)
A boat hoist lifts a vessel out of the water in two or four slings and carries it across a yard with nothing holding it in place except the way the slings were set. The NPORS N136 is the ticket for it, and the training is as much about the hull under the slings as it is about the machine above them.
Why candidates choose Acadame
What makes our N136 Boat Hoist different
About this course
The NPORS N136 Boat Hoist category covers the mobile boat hoist used in marinas, boatyards and inland waterway facilities: a portal framed travelling machine that straddles a dock, lowers slings around a vessel, lifts it clear of the water and carries it to hard standing for storage, survey or repair. It also covers the return journey, which is the one that goes wrong more often, because a vessel coming out of a cradle sits differently to one floating free.
A boat hoist is lifting equipment, so the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 apply to it. A lifting operation must be properly planned by a competent person, appropriately supervised and carried out in a safe manner. The hoist itself needs thorough examination on the LOLER cycle, and the slings, being lifting accessories, are examined at least every six months. Alongside that, PUWER 1998 requires the operator to have adequate training, which is what this category evidences.
The practical difficulty is that every vessel is different. Displacement is rarely what the owner says it is, the centre of gravity moves with fuel, water and gear, and the underwater profile decides where a sling can safely bear. Stern gear, shafts, P brackets, rudders, log impellers, bilge keels, bathing platforms and bow thrusters all dictate sling position, and getting it wrong damages a hull or lets a vessel move in the slings. Add wind on a high topsides, a dock with limited room either side, ground conditions on the hard, and the fact that there are usually owners and staff standing closer than they should be. The course covers all of it, along with the exclusion around the lift and communication between the operator and the person on the dock.
- The legal frame: the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, PUWER 1998 and LOLER 1998, including planning, supervision and thorough examination
- Machine knowledge: the portal frame, hoisting gear, steering and travel systems, controls and safety devices
- Assessing the vessel: displacement, centre of gravity, hull form and underwater fittings
- Sling selection, positioning, protection of the hull and checking slings before every lift
- Lifting clear of the water, settling the vessel in the slings and travelling under control
- Setting down on cradles, keel blocks and chocks, and releasing the slings safely
- The dock and the hard: ground conditions, clearances, wind, exclusion zones and communication
- Pre use checks, defect reporting and the thorough examination regime for the hoist and the slings
How completing this course helps you
- The NPORS N136 Boat Hoist category on the operator's NPORS record
- A traditional NPORS card for marina and boatyard work, or a Red Trained Operator or Blue Competent Operator card carrying the CSCS logo where the operator also works on construction sites
- Operators who set slings from the hull outwards rather than from habit
- A yard where the lift is planned, the area is cleared and the person on the dock and the operator are agreed on the signals
Who should attend?
Marinas, boatyards, inland waterway facilities, yacht clubs with their own lifting gear, repair and refit yards, and commercial operators who lift workboats and small craft. It suits yard staff new to the machine, experienced operators who have never held a card, and cardholders coming up for renewal. It is an operator category rather than a lifting supervision qualification: where somebody plans the lifts, sets the exclusion arrangements and supervises the yard, that is a wider competence and the appointed person route is worth looking at alongside.
Entry requirements. You should be above minimum school leaving age, and most employers set eighteen. You need to be fit enough to work outside for a full shift and to move around a dock safely, with eyesight and hearing adequate for the work, and able to follow spoken and written English well enough for the theory test, with reading support available on request. No prior card is needed for the novice route. Where the CSCS logo version of the card is needed, a CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass taken within the last two years is required, which we can book. Tell us at enquiry what hoist you run, its capacity, the layout of your dock and the range of vessels you lift.
Ready to take the next step?
Choose a delivery option, compare dates and book with confidence, or ask MB and get an answer straight away.
Course content
What you will cover
Classroom on the law, lifting duties and vessel assessment, then practical lifting at the dock, finishing with the NPORS theory and practical test.
The law, the machine and the vessel
- The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, PUWER 1998 and LOLER 1998 as they apply to a boat hoist
- Planning a lifting operation, supervision, and who is competent to plan it
- Thorough examination of the hoist and of the slings as lifting accessories, and the records
- Machine knowledge: frame, hoisting gear, travel and steering, controls and safety devices
- Capacity, load distribution across the slings and what an overload looks like before it happens
- Vessel assessment: displacement, centre of gravity, hull form, stern gear and underwater fittings
- Sling selection, positioning, hull protection and pre use inspection of accessories
- Dock and yard management: clearances, ground, wind, exclusion zones and signals
Operating the hoist
- Pre use inspection of the machine and of the slings before the first lift of the day
- Positioning the hoist over the dock and setting the slings for the vessel
- Taking the weight, checking the vessel is settling correctly and lifting clear
- Travelling with a vessel in the slings, including turns and changes of level
- Setting down onto a cradle or keel blocks and releasing the slings safely
- Launching a vessel from the hard, including checks before it enters the water
- Working with the person on the dock, using agreed signals and keeping others clear
- Parking, shutting down, securing the machine and end of shift checks
Method of assessment
How the N136 boat hoist test works
NPORS assess the category with a theory test and a practical test on the machine. Both run with us, because Acadame is an NPORS test centre as well as a training provider, and the pass goes onto the operator's record without a second booking.
1. Enquiry and group
Tell us how many operators you have and what each one has already done. NPORS allow three candidates with one instructor and one machine on the training routes and four on the experienced worker test. We quote per group, because the length follows the numbers.
2. Pre course check
We confirm the route each operator needs, check any existing cards, look at the hoist, the slings and the thorough examination records, agree which vessels can be used for the practical, and take the details NPORS need.
3. Training
Classroom on the law, lifting duties and vessel assessment, then practical lifting at your own dock with the vessels you actually handle.
4. Theory test
The NPORS theory test covering legislation, machine knowledge, capacity, slings, vessel assessment and yard safety.
5. Practical test
You carry out pre use checks, set slings, lift a vessel, travel and set it down, assessed against the NPORS test specification for the category.
6. Registration and card
We register the pass with NPORS and the N136 category goes on the card, as a traditional NPORS card for marina work or a CSCS logo card where the operator also works on construction sites.
After the course
The slings are accessories, and accessories have their own cycle
Under LOLER, lifting accessories are thoroughly examined at least every six months, while lifting equipment that does not lift persons is examined at least every twelve. In a boatyard that means the hoist and the slings are usually on different cycles, and the slings are the part that lives outside, gets dragged along a hull and quietly wears. Operators should be inspecting them before use as well, and the course covers what to look for and what to reject.
The other half of the yard's duty is planning. LOLER requires a lifting operation to be properly planned by a competent person, appropriately supervised and carried out in a safe manner. In practice that means a documented approach for routine lift outs and launches, a plan for anything unusual, a clear exclusion arrangement while a vessel is in the air, and agreed communication between the operator and the person on the dock. We leave you a plain summary of what that involves.
- Pre use inspection routine for slings as well as the hoist
- N019 Report of Thorough Examination where the yard inspects its own lifting equipment
- N402 Slinger Signaller for staff attaching loads and giving signals on other lifting work
- CITB Health, Safety and Environment test booked with us where the CSCS logo version of the card is needed
Build your course
Who is coming, and how many
We do not run these to a timetable. The course is built around your people: how experienced they are and how many of them there are, which is what sets the length and the cost. Pick the mix and we will come back with a date and a price.
The course builder needs JavaScript. Without it, tell us how many people and what experience they have and we will price it up.
N136 Boat Hoist FAQs
Three days for a novice on the NPORS test sheet, with a maximum of three candidates on one machine. An operator already doing the work can sit the shorter experienced worker test, which allows four, and a refresher is normally a day. We confirm the exact length once we know what each operator has done.
Yes. It is lifting equipment, so the lift must be properly planned by a competent person, appropriately supervised and carried out in a safe manner, and the machine and its slings must be thoroughly examined. Slings are lifting accessories and are examined at least every six months, while the hoist itself follows the twelve month interval for equipment that does not lift persons.
From the hull, not from habit. The underwater profile dictates it: shafts, P brackets, rudders, log impellers, bilge keels, thrusters and any fitting that a sling could bear on. Where the yard has sling marks or a record for a regular vessel it should be used, and where it does not the operator has to assess the boat before the slings go under it.
Only as a starting point. Displacement figures are often optimistic and the actual weight varies with fuel, water, gear and anything stored aboard. Operators work to the hoist capacity and to what the machine is telling them, and stop if a lift does not feel right.
Only where the operator also works on construction sites, which needs a CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass taken within the last two years. For marina and boatyard work the traditional NPORS card covers the same category to the same standard.
Yes, and it is usually the best time because there are real vessels to work with. There are no scheduled dates, so we fit around your programme, including working across a weekend where that is easier than losing operators midweek.
As few people as possible. There should be an exclusion around the machine and the vessel while it is in the air, an agreed way of communicating between the operator and the person on the dock, and a clear instruction that owners and visitors stay outside it. The course covers how to set that up and hold it.
There is no legal interval. The general expectation is that operators are reassessed from time to time rather than at a fixed period, and three to five years is common practice across plant operation. We would reassess sooner after any dropped or shifted vessel, a change of machine or a long absence.
NPORS courses are priced per course, not per person. What you are paying for is the instructor, the registered tester and the machine time, so the figure turns on four things: the category, which route your operators need (novice, experienced, conversion or refresher), how many people are coming, and whether we run it on your site or at one of ours. It is also why a squad works out considerably cheaper per head than sending operators out one at a time. Use the course builder on this page: tell it who is coming and it works out how many days the course takes and how many times it has to run, which is what the price is built from. Then ask us and you will get a figure for that exact group rather than a list price with conditions attached.
We run NPORS courses across the UK rather than out of one fixed centre, and for most categories the better answer is that we come to you: your operators are assessed on the machine they will be using anyway, nobody loses a day travelling, and for a group it costs less. If you would rather come to us, we have centres at Trent House in Stoke, Pride Park in Derby, Europa House in Manchester and Kingsway House in Liverpool. Tell us where the work is and we will say honestly which way round makes more sense.
There is no fixed timetable to wait for. NPORS courses here are run to order, which means the dates are built around your programme rather than ours, and a single operator or a full squad can normally be booked in within a couple of weeks. If you have a card about to expire or a start date to hit, say so when you enquire and we will work to it.
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