The beautiful platform
We always have a problem, it's finding the famous platform for turtle releases... Yes, as part of our collaboration with the CESTMed, we're going to participate in a turtle release! To put it simply, the CESTMed collects injured or weakened turtles, puts them back in shape in tanks by providing them with all the necessary good care, then releases them once they are in good shape to go back to sea. But hey, we don't can't decently launch a turtle from the top of our ketch... That's a hell of a treat for a recovering turtle. As a result, we racked our brains to invent a kind of platform that would attach to the side of the Lab and allow the turtle to be gently deposited in the waves. We very quickly come up against a physical problem : how to balance the forces so as not to damage the boat? What materials (not too expensive) would be strong enough to support the weight of the turtle and two crew members?
We phosphorus for a few days, then one morning, surprise, we receive the visit of the municipal workshops of Étel who very kindly offer us their help to progress the work. We are all pleasantly surprised, and we gladly accept this unexpected help.
The 2018 team
The next day, Ulrick Devos from the workshops visits us. This guy can do it all! He tells us about his work in carpentry, metallurgy, electronics, chemistry, ... a real Mac Gayver. In short, we explain to him our turtle platform problem and he begins to think. He immediately hit it off, telling us that he loves this type of challenge, we are delighted!
3 days later, he finds us on the boat and there THE PLATFORM IS ALMOST READY !! In addition, for once, this platform is the best of zero waste! The shock absorbers? Municipal garbage can wheels. Structural bars? Collected from the metal barriers. Junction pieces? Recycled in the trailer of an old truck. The rot-proof wooden structure? Intended for landfill. The rubber ? Table legs...
In short, now we have a great custom platform zero waste removable, so a huge thank you from the whole Sea Plastics team to Ulrich Devos who found the perfect solution to the turtle problem!