Engineered for the Canadian Shield

Concrete piers must sit below the frost line, or they heave. On a 45° slope with a 48" frost line, that pier hole would need to be 67" deep—and on cracked, fissured Canadian Shield rock the true frost line is often impossible to predict. Instead, we anchor track legs directly into bedrock with sealing cement and anchor bolts where possible. On forest floor, we trench out organic material, fill with pea gravel for drainage, set a 3"×2"×¼" angle iron footplate, and pin it with rebar stakes. Each track leg carries less than 1,500 lbs under a fully loaded car, and the triangular support geometry eliminates torque on the footings—so footings stay light, low-impact, and stable.

Some shorelines drop in two distinct grades—a flatter upper section, then a steeper cliff. A standard single-pitch lift cannot keep the car level across the break. In 2011, we developed our own two-pitch track and car system. The track uses three sections—upper, a circular-arc curved section, and lower—while a second “pipe track” runs parallel and displaced uphill. Above the curve, an oversized chain holds the car level. In and below the curve, the car is connected to the dolly with an oversized hinge, and “back-riggers” with rollers that ride beneath the pipe track to keep the car perfectly level the entire run.

Our captured-wheel system makes derailing through ice or snow accumulation mechanically impossible. Optional ice scrapers clear the top of the track during winter use. Industrial-duty motors and synthetic-lubricated Nord-Gear reducers operate reliably through Canadian winter extremes.

Three independent systems protect the car: (1) A slack-cable brake—if the cable goes slack by less than an inch, both gravity and a coil spring drive 4140 steel brake dogs into the track, stopping the car within a fraction of an inch. (2) An over-speed brake driven by a German elevator overspeed governor fires above 0.5 m/s. (3) A slack-cable motor shut-off kills the hoist motor the instant the cable loses tension. Should a brake trip occur for any reason, the car can still be safely raised to the upper station. Riders never get stranded.

All passenger lifts run on 3/8" compacted aircraft cable with a breaking strength over 15,600 lbs. (Actual operating loads are typically under 1,000 lbs.) Grooved 10" winch drums machined at Bracebridge Machine Shop from heavy-wall pipe provide a smoother ride and extend the life of the cable. (Most competitors use 6" drums.) The hoist cable attaches to the top end of the dolly, placing the lifting point above the car’s centre of gravity so the car is inherently stable.

Each lift runs on a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) executing our proprietary lift control system programs. It reads user buttons, track-mounted proximity switches, and station gate limit switches. It controls the motor through the VFD and operates automatic station gates. Optional features include auto-shutoff after inactivity (minutes to days to never), a PARK button that returns the car to a chosen station, wireless remote operation from car or boat, and integrated control of dock and garden lighting.