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Slip with a lift or no lift....?


Afun

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Don't leave your boat in the water.

Check out Craigslist. There is a used hydrohoist for under 3k at concord. Have Sea Tow yank it to wherever you choose, then you can get hydrohoist install it.

Look at Ft. Loudon marina. It is right next to Tellico and is reasonable.

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I would love to have my boat on a lift, but it is not a big deal to pull it out for a cleaning every 4wks or so. A few of the slips at our moorage have lifts. I could put one in, but have chosen not to because of cost. It sure would be nice though.

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Lift for sure, or trailer it each time. I live on the water, but still like trailering, so I can travel and surf multiple lakes and rivers all summer. Love going to my favorite lakes, but trying to hit a new lake each year is fun.

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Lift for sure, or trailer it each time. I live on the water, but still like trailering, so I can travel and surf multiple lakes and rivers all summer. Love going to my favorite lakes, but trying to hit a new lake each year is fun.

I like all the lakes here, so I do trailer for that reason. I just want more usage out of my boat.

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Where I am lift is a must. Lake blows up and I see boats coming off buoys all the time or boats tied to dock getting thrashed hitting the dock. Also keeps it out of water when not in use so easier on gel coat. Also if you ever have to maintain center it's much easier

x2....my boat is 99 and not a mark on it as the former owners kept it on a trailer and I bought a hydraulic lift (solar power ) and love it. Our lake is clear but soft water and stains easily....a short gas up at the marina usually leaves a slight ring at the water line

Edited by Sliderfiii
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I'm on an access dock and we can't have lifts. Get a lift if if you can. Water blisters will start to invade the gel if you don't wax enough. Mine started after acid washing it and not waxing enough.

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We keep our VLX on a lift with canopy. Couldn't image storing it any other way (if I had the option). I've never had a bird issue, but have seen others get a nest. Just be proactive. The only issue we've had was the canopy legs attract spiders. The first couple years it was really annoying, until a neighbor suggested I spray a little spider repellant around the edge of the canopy and slip. No more spiders! I still suggest putting your cover on the boat overnight.

If it's available to you and the price is reasonable--do it.

Sorry for the thread jack Afun. but i would love to know what you are using for spiders. I have a serious breeding colony on my dock, thanks

FWIW, i vote lift... you will not regret it.

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Sorry for the thread jack Afun. but i would love to know what you are using for spiders. I have a serious breeding colony on my dock, thanks

FWIW, i vote lift... you will not regret it.

I had our local pest control guy come out and spray around our dock for $30 bucks. I think they have access to better bug juice.

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No Doubt! Tennessee is Lake Heaven of the East!

So what should I do...keep trailering? Every time I go to a gas station , I get into a 30 minute conversation about the boat. Water Blisters on the gel coat....Yikes

Edited by Afun
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So what should I do...keep trailering? Every time I go to a gas station , I get into a 30 minute conversation about the boat. Water Blisters on the gel coat....Yikes

Water blisters are a possibility but not necessarily a probability. Sort of depends on how the glass was laid up. With boats like ours (custom built with marginal repeatability) it is sort of luck of the draw. Some boats will blister like crazy after a short period of time in the water, some you can leave in the water 6 months at a time with no issue. Depends who was running the chopper gun that day. I would not take the chance. Becides, do you really want to have to do all the hull cleaning every 2 weeks??

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Becides, do you really want to have to do all the hull cleaning every 2 weeks??

More like 2 or 3 times a summer for me. We don't have power on our dock. So maybe once a month we pull the boat up to the house (about 2 blocks away) and clean things up, make any equipment adjustments needed, maybe even haul it to another lake for a change in scenery. At that point cleaning the hull involves getting out the garden hose & spraying it off, nothing more. I usually spend FAR MORE time vacuuming it out, cleaning the glass, removing any rub marks from the gelcoat, and just general cleaning.

We have 17 boats on our dock so inevitably we are all doing the same thing. And there are probably 200 other boats on the lake doling a similar process. In the 9 yrs living on this lake, 7 yrs on Sammamish with thousands of boats around, and 3 yrs on Lake Washington with who knows how many boats, I've only seen one case of hull blisters.... on a Mastercraft.

Not dealing with the lines or chaos at the public launch is soooo nice. I can ride my motorcycle or golf cart to the boat, far less wear & tear on the truck, and it takes minutes instead of an hour to get on the water. Every year we are the first on the water & last off. Riding after work when you only have an hour or two of daylight left is the best.

Edited by Bill_AirJunky
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So what should I do...keep trailering? Every time I go to a gas station , I get into a 30 minute conversation about the boat. Water Blisters on the gel coat....Yikes

I could definitely understand why you would want to keep it on the water: "Turn-key boating", less gas by not trailering, less hassle when you want to go, easier to get others to go boating at the last minute. But I would suggest using a lift and a good cover on a new boat, so you can sleep well at night.

For me, I just have too much fun having the boat at home in the garage. By living on the river, I could just leave it docked at the house, which would be good through the week, but makes it a hassle to take out each weekend, when I want to trailer to a local lake. Plus, for my situation, the time it would take me to put the boat up on the lift, and remove all the expensive items (boards, racks, etc.), and cover it; is way more than the 5 min to trailer, straps on, and get on the road. Obviously, the further you are from the water, the more that equation shifts towards leaving it at the lake.

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Afun,

Lift or not, put it on the water. I'd be shocked if you didn't get WAAAY more use out of it when it's on the water. I can drive the hr to the cottage and be on the water with all the toys faster than if I had to hook it up at home and trailer it to the river 15 minutes from my house. May not make a huge difference on weekends but on weeknights after work I'm already pushing it with earlier sunsets. I wouldn't still be going if I had to trailer to the river.

  • Like 1
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I keep mine in dry storage if I call ahead they can have the boat in the water for me. I am a little particular about the cleanliness of my boat just couldn't leave it on a lift due to said spiders and other critters. Also two marinas on Douglas have been trashed by storms I the past 3 years. Mountain Cove was completely destroyed.

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I would get the lift if it's within financial reach, but I wouldn't let not having the lift keep you out of a slip. We have ours in a slip at a local marina with no lift, going on our 7th season with it now. Have had no issues related to being in the water for months at a time. I will take it out a couple times a summer and do a good cleaning, which is easy to do with the right cleaner. You don't need to pay someone to acid wash the boat, just use a 50/50 mix of lysol toilet bowl cleaner and hydrogen peroxide. It gets even the brownest river scum off my hull with minimal effort with a brush and garden hose.

As others have mentioned, having it on the water and not having to trailer it, you will get so much more use out of it. We regularly go out after work on weeknights, and if we have things going on on the weekend, it's still easy to get out for a couple hours at a time just because it's so easy to get down there, take the cover off and go. If we had to trailer it, we would likely use it less than 50% of the amount that we use it now. Especailly with a family with small kids (4 and 1), it's a much easier sell to get the wife and kids packed up to go not having to trailer, launch, and retrieve the boat.

Put it in the water, lift or not, you will not regret it!

  • Like 3
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