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Boat lifts


Bill_AirJunky

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All the years I've had a boat & kept it on the lake, I'd love to have a boat lift but never have. The last 9 yrs I've been living in an HOA that has a dock with 17 boat slips on a floating dock. Now days I am on the HOA board & making the decisions. If I were to get a boat lift, it would have to work with the floating dock, and not be too much strain on it. And if I were to get one, I'm pretty sure 2 or 3 other people would do it too. So I need to think about how to set this up, ie; building up the dock so it can handle the new lifts, rules on what type of lifts can be used, how & where to store the thing in the winter, etc.

I found these 3 systems that seem like they would work for us.

That Rhinohoist front mount is by Shoremaster, who I believe is a well respected lift manufacturer. They have a local dealer here too. I just hope their priced reasonably too. But heres my requirements:
- Floating lift that will move with the docks (cannot be anchored to the ground at all).
- DC power. Probably solar. But maybe boat power would be a good option (no equipment mounted to the dock at all).
- Has to be manageable in that I will need to haul it out every winter & store it off site.
I think that Rhinohoist front mount would do it all. I'd probably need to use a flatbed trailer to move it to storage. And could probably tip it on end or on it's side for the winter. The only thing that concerns me is the torque that might be applied to the dock as the waves go under the dock/lift assembly.
Anyway, just kickin ideas around & thought some of you would have more than a few cents to add.
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Being on the ocean and having to deal with tides we got one of these and have been very happy

http://sunstreamcorp.com/v-lift.htm

Easy to maneuver around. Puts no more stress on the dock than your boat. Goes up and down in minutes and can easily be taken apart into sections if you want to take it out for he winter.

Also we just have it attached to the dock using 4 dock lines.

Also I believe they are made in Washington state if you want to support local.

Edited by oceanbu
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"DC power. Probably solar. But maybe boat power would be a good option (no equipment mounted to the dock at all)."

You better put more effort in defining the words "equipment" and "mount" cause if you can't anchor the lift to the ground, you are going to need to attach it to the dock...

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"DC power. Probably solar. But maybe boat power would be a good option (no equipment mounted to the dock at all)."

You better put more effort in defining the words "equipment" and "mount" cause if you can't anchor the lift to the ground, you are going to need to attach it to the dock...

Sorry, I'm talking about a dock box with a deep cycle battery & a solar charger on it. The Sunstream is nice in that it's all self contained. We've run old Nyman water pressure lifts with a small water pump on the boat using the boat's batteries on Lake Sammamish in Seattle. The water level used to come up over the top of the dock every year so we couldn't leave a battery out there all the time. Not to mention a solar charger wouldn't do much there anyway.

It's really just an afterthought. I just thought it might be good if there wasn't anything on the dock to trip over or be in the way. The docks have cleats on them though so tieing a floating lift to it isn't an issue.

Edited by Bill_AirJunky
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Sorry, I'm talking about a dock box with a deep cycle battery & a solar charger on it. The Sunstream is nice in that it's all self contained. We've run old Nyman water pressure lifts with a small water pump on the boat using the boat's batteries on Lake Sammamish in Seattle. The water level used to come up over the top of the dock every year so we couldn't leave a battery out there all the time. Not to mention a solar charger wouldn't do much there anyway.

It's really just an afterthought. I just thought it might be good if there wasn't anything on the dock to trip over or be in the way. The docks have cleats on them though so tieing a floating lift to it isn't an issue.

My comments were more focused on the language of your proposed HOA regulation. If don't want people mounting the pump boxes to the dock (seems reasonable), but they clearly have to tie off the lift to the dock, be thoughtful of your selected language such that it prevents the activities your don't want, but allows the behaviour you intend. Otherwise, you will end up wasting a lot more time on the backend fighting with unreasonable people (probably a lawyer--or wannna be lawyer--in your complex), then if you had just really thought through the language of your regulation.

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We have a hydrohoist and they're really well built, raise and lower quickly, and require little or no maintenance. The hardware does put a little weight on the dock especially if it is installed on a narrower finger beside the slip.

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I use air dock and love it. ive had it for 7 years now and have had no problems that were the fault of the airdock. I do have to take it out of the water in Winter so nothing freezes.(we get well below freezing here). I used to use an electrical outlet to blow up the bags but after this summers flood the outlet was inoperable so I put an inverter in the boat... SO much easier!

http://www.airdock.com/

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I use air dock and love it. ive had it for 7 years now and have had no problems that were the fault of the airdock. I do have to take it out of the water in Winter so nothing freezes.(we get well below freezing here). I used to use an electrical outlet to blow up the bags but after this summers flood the outlet was inoperable so I put an inverter in the boat... SO much easier!

http://www.airdock.com/

I've seen these AirDocks & debated on buying on myself. It's tough to find anyone who owns one & will comment on them. Most people who have one, want to sell it & upgrade to a "real lift". But their still using it so it can't be all bad. So you still have a pump box on the dock, right?

BTW, I put in inverter on the boat a couple years ago. Mounted it right to the amp rack by the batteries. It gets used to run a blender..... probably the 2nd most used piece of equipment on the boat the last couple summers!!

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Hydrohoist is the standard around here. Folks pull them out to move them, etc. The advantage of this lift is it puts no more stress on the dock than a moored boat.

Here too, I've had the bu on one all summer great lifts.

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I've seen these AirDocks & debated on buying on myself. It's tough to find anyone who owns one & will comment on them. Most people who have one, want to sell it & upgrade to a "real lift". But their still using it so it can't be all bad. So you still have a pump box on the dock, right?

BTW, I put in inverter on the boat a couple years ago. Mounted it right to the amp rack by the batteries. It gets used to run a blender..... probably the 2nd most used piece of equipment on the boat the last couple summers!!

Honestly, years ago I came home to my husband and said" I got a Christmas bonus and i'm gonna buy something inflatable. Boobs or boat lift my man?" we went boat lift all the way (OK.. I already have the other) The air dock was less expensive than the other types so we bought what we could afford. we also use a pontoon boat for a dock so we couldnt use any lift that was heavier than the "dock". My husband always took care of dealing with putting the boat on the lift and I never thought a lot about it. Now that he is gone I deal with it myself. I wont lie, It was a learning process because you have to get the boat centered on it (but after a few tries it gets easy) There is the box mounted on the dock (air compressor?)that has an access in the rear for the electrical cord storage and on top it has the 3 valves to control each of the 3 air chambers(R,L & bow) . Once you are happy with boat placement you flip the switch and the bags start to inflate. you can adjust each chamber as necessary by simply turning a valve. to remove the boat, just open all valves. In severe weather I dont have to worry about any torque issues. I can usually get the boat up, stored, cleaned and covered in 20 minutes by myself. Other lifts probably require less time but i know i will never damage my boat because of the lift. A storm came thru one time 3 summers ago.. didnt think much abt it but when i went to remove the boat from the lift one of the side chambers got twisted around the shaft ( boat was on lift kinda sideways at stern). Sadly I had to go under the boat with a large kitchen knife to puncture the bag so I could release the boat. Man, that was some sturdy material. I thought I might drown trying to cut this stuff... not like I didn't already want to drown myself for not checking everything thoroughly before turning the prop (yep my 1st rookie mistake) That wasnt the lifts fault but my own fault. If I had to buy another lift I would most likely buy another airdock.

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I've been around a handful of lifts, never heard anything but good things about Hyrdo hoist or the air lifts. I like the idea of the shoremaster although have not seen one in person.

I think the airdock's have an appropriate use case as well - there were quite a few of them in San Francisco Bay when I was there, although the guy who has one in our current freshwater marina gets a TON of build-up on his lift and boat... My sense is that it seals in a lot of moisture/particles and can cause a dirty bottom... outside of that they seem to last in harsh environments.

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I think the airdock's have an appropriate use case as well - there were quite a few of them in San Francisco Bay when I was there, although the guy who has one in our current freshwater marina gets a TON of build-up on his lift and boat... My sense is that it seals in a lot of moisture/particles and can cause a dirty bottom... outside of that they seem to last in harsh environments.

This weekend is our yearly wash the lift party. Dirty job. a handful of teenagers and lots of scrub brushes. a half a day and its out, scrubbed clean and stored for the winter. My hull is white and the hull is in good shape except in one spot but i do not think it has anything to do with the lift.

check this! Dude saved his car with an airdock.

floating-porsche-bladder-1wtrmk-336x450.

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This weekend is our yearly wash the lift party. Dirty job. a handful of teenagers and lots of scrub brushes. a half a day and its out, scrubbed clean and stored for the winter. My hull is white and the hull is in good shape except in one spot but i do not think it has anything to do with the lift.

check this! Dude saved his car with an airdock.

floating-porsche-bladder-1wtrmk-336x450.

That is awesome! 2 in 1 use.

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