Modular subsystems on steel frames sized to fit the smallest leg of the transport chain — helicopter sling-load, 4×4 trailer, light-truck flatbed, ATV trailer, even raft or pack-animal. Skids arrive at site, are craned or rolled into position, and bolted together to form the complete plant. Engineered for sites where neither a road nor an ISO-container envelope works.
The Transport-Chain Argument
Sites that can take a flatbed truck or an ISO container handle the packaged or containerised variants more technically. Skid-mounted plant earns its premium where the last leg of the transport chain is the constraint — a helicopter that can lift 2.5 t internally and 4 t externally, a 4×4 trailer with a 1.5 t bed, an ATV-towed sled, a Pisten Bully on a glacier, or a porter team into a national park. Designing the plant so the largest single piece never exceeds the worst-case lift turns an impossible logistics problem into a manageable one.
The Worst-Case Lift Sets the Skid Size
| Transport Mode | Max Single Piece | Max L × W × H | Typical Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Helicopter internal (med utility) | 2.0–2.5 t | 3.0 × 1.5 × 1.5 m | Mountain and polar access; weather-window dependent |
| Helicopter sling external (med utility) | 3.5–4.5 t | 4.5 × 2.0 × 1.8 m | Same access, larger pieces, longer flight time |
| Heavy-lift helicopter sling | 9–12 t | 6.0 × 2.4 × 2.0 m | Where heavy-lift charter is justified by the duty |
| 4×4 trailer | 1.5 t | 3.0 × 1.5 × 1.5 m | Forest tracks, ranch roads, established gravel |
| Light truck (5–7 t) | 5 t | 4.5 × 2.0 × 2.0 m | Single-track roads, mountain passes |
| ATV / quad sled | 0.4–0.8 t | 1.8 × 1.0 × 0.8 m | Snow-tracks, ice-roads, beach landings |
| Inflatable raft / barge | 1–3 t | 3.0 × 1.8 × 1.5 m | River access, no port, island delivery |
| Pack animal / porter team | 0.05–0.10 t/piece | 1.0 × 0.5 × 0.5 m | National-park or expedition delivery |
Once the worst-case lift is known, the plant is decomposed into pieces that fit it. A complete potable-water plant for 50 people might decompose into 8 skids each under 400 kg for a porter-only site, or into 3 skids each under 2.5 t for a helicopter-only site.
How a Skid Is Engineered
EN 1090 EXC3 welded steel frame, hot-dip galvanised. ISO-compliant lifting eyes / corner castings on each skid for repeatable craning and sling-load attachment.
Camlock or storz couplings on hydraulic interconnects; plug-and-socket on electrical; pin-connectors for instrumentation. Assembly time on site under 30 minutes per interface.
Removable hood or tarp during transport; permanent canopy or cabin attached to the assembled plant on site. Components rated IP66 as baseline.
Pumps, valves and instruments selected from common-parts catalogues so a service kit fits any skid in the fleet.
Insulation, heat tracing and HVAC sized for the site environment. Arctic and desert versions available.
Battery / solar / fuel-cell power options sized to suit. Each skid can be self-powered for fault tolerance, or the fleet shares a central power skid.
Building Blocks
Inlet pump, strainer, flow meter and collapsible equalisation tank.
In-line and flash mixing with coagulant and polymer dosing.
Compact inclined-plate clarifier or skid-mounted DAF cell.
Multimedia, GAC or cartridge filtration with backwash.
Brackish-water RO and UF surface-water pretreatment.
UV reactor, hypochlorite generator or chlorine dosing.
PLC, HMI, satellite modem and UPS in one cabinet skid.
Generator, batteries, transformer and MCC in one skid.
Compact sequencing-batch reactor for greywater and small sewage.
From Skid Drop to Operating Plant in 1–5 Days
Skids delivered to site by truck, heli or pack-line. Each skid carries its own paperwork.
Ground anchors or pad foundation for the heaviest skids. Lighter skids ground-mounted on bearing pads.
Crane or hand-pump pallet jack to position each skid. Bolted to ground or to adjacent skids.
Quick-connect process, electrical and instrument links between skids. Cabling routed in clip-on trunking.
Charge with water, run through automation cycles, take it through full duty cycle and hand over.
Applications
Helicopter-only mountain refuges, ski lodges off-piste, summit research huts. All-arctic engineering.
Pack-team-delivered water plant for ranger stations, research huts and remote conservation outposts.
Skiff or raft delivery to small islands with no quay. RO desalination skid sized to porter-load envelope.
Pisten Bully or snowmobile-towed skids for season-summer camps on ice shelves and glaciers.
Helicopter-fly-in skids for upstream oil & gas drilling pads where a road is months away from being built.
Cargo-aircraft delivery of palletised skids for disaster response within 48–72 hours of activation.
All five product families.
Hub PageFor sites with road access.
Read MoreFor ISO-container logistics.
Read MoreLong-baseline environmental and process research.
Read MoreSource-water characterisation before committing.
Read MoreEN 1090 EXC3 skid fabrication.
Read MoreTell us the worst-case transport leg and the duty — we will engineer the skid decomposition and estimate within two weeks.
Our expertise spans multiple industries with sector-specific water treatment solutions.