Deck-Dolly

Description

As a Club located in South Florida, Woodfield has prepared for and experienced a number of hurricanes. As we prepare the facility for a storm, one of the areas that takes the longest to close down is the pool complex. To prevent damage from blowing furniture, over 300 lounge chairs must be stacked and moved to a secure area. This is taxing and time-consuming work. To make the process more efficient and less strenuous, we developed a modified dolly to move the lounge chairs.

The modified dolly, nicknamed the deck-dolly, allows us to stack 10-12 lounge chairs at a time and easily move them to the storage location. It is much safer than individually moving lounge chairs and is an immense time-saver. Traditionally, it took 13 people more than four hours to complete the work. By using the dolly method, eight people are able to clear the pool deck in less than two hours.

Implementation

To create the deck-dolly, we use a four-swivel caster furniture dolly and affix a plank of ½ inch plywood, 3ftx8ft, with the furniture dolly secured in the middle. By placing the furniture dolly in the middle, we are able to slide stacked lounge chairs on and off the deck-dolly with ease.

Staff members were thrilled with the deck-dolly. Not only did it make the pool deck clearing process safer and more efficient, but it also made the work a lot less strenuous.

Hurricane preparations are an extremely busy time at the Club with many staff members spread throughout the grounds to close each area before the storm. Efficient use of time and staff is critical to a successful closure. The deck-dolly made a big impact in our pool complex closing procedure and freed up staff members to help elsewhere on property.