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Washing the boat on the lift


MadDogMike

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A while back in another thread I asked, "Is there any natural / bio-friendly soap I could use to wash the boat while it's on the lift and not pollute the lake?" But I didn't get any answers. Now I've found the BioKleen line of boat cleaning products like this and this. They say they are "Environmentally Friendly, Non toxic, Biodegradable, Non Aerosol, Ozone Safe, Phosphate Free and Safe for Marine and Aquatic Life." Good reviews on Amazon. Anybody got experience with these products, or got any others to recommend?

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My boat shop talked me into using something called, "Hot Sauce" and it seems to work really well.  It takes out water spots and adds wax.  Anyone else familiar with it?

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On 7/9/2016 at 11:41 AM, Fred4 said:

My boat shop talked me into using something called, "Hot Sauce" and it seems to work really well.  It takes out water spots and adds wax.  Anyone else familiar with it?

Very popular product for a good reason. Works great!

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On 7/9/2016 at 10:41 AM, Fred4 said:

My boat shop talked me into using something called, "Hot Sauce" and it seems to work really well.  It takes out water spots and adds wax.  Anyone else familiar with it?

I use Hot Sauce after the weekend is over and I put the boat on the lift to rest for the week.  Works wonders getting the water spots off and puts a great shine on it.

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Any car wash soap is OK to use. Its all Biodegradable. Just pick your brand of choice and don't buy into the "BIO" name (or pay extra for it)

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Whatever you do, NEVER NEVER get under your boat while it is on the lift   

NEVER. 

 

These lifts fail all the time.  Ive owned boats for six years and have had 3 cable snaps.  Probably more than average but the point remains 

Not worth your life to clean a boat.

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1 minute ago, bamaboy said:

 

These lifts fail all the time.

Ummm... no. That is crazy that you had 3 cable snaps. Maybe your hoist is undersized for your boat or something is defective on it. I have had one hoist for 16 years, same cables, never an issue. Cables are going to get replaced next year just as a precaution. Other hoist I have had for 5 years, no issues with cables. There are literally hundreds of these permanent 4-post cable style hoists on my river and I have never heard of anyone who had a cable snap.

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On July 11, 2016 at 9:03 AM, Skin2Win said:

I use Hot Sauce after the weekend is over and I put the boat on the lift to rest for the week.  Works wonders getting the water spots off and puts a great shine on it.

Love the boat bling stuff.... Every Sunday night boat gets pulled out and wiped down inside and out.... Just put the quickie wax and vinyl condition sauce on last night.

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5 hours ago, Raimie said:

Ummm... no. That is crazy that you had 3 cable snaps. Maybe your hoist is undersized for your boat or something is defective on it. I have had one hoist for 16 years, same cables, never an issue. Cables are going to get replaced next year just as a precaution. Other hoist I have had for 5 years, no issues with cables. There are literally hundreds of these permanent 4-post cable style hoists on my river and I have never heard of anyone who had a cable snap.

I've heard of a number of them - inlaws have had the cable snap twice.  Theirs is a 4000lb cantilever lift with a Response LXI on it.  In their case one of the snaps appeared to be from rubbing on a pulley that wasn't turning and the other from rubbing cable on cable in the winch spool.

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5 hours ago, Raimie said:

Ummm... no. That is crazy that you had 3 cable snaps. Maybe your hoist is undersized for your boat or something is defective on it. I have had one hoist for 16 years, same cables, never an issue. Cables are going to get replaced next year just as a precaution. Other hoist I have had for 5 years, no issues with cables. There are literally hundreds of these permanent 4-post cable style hoists on my river and I have never heard of anyone who had a cable snap.

On our old hoist we had the cable snapped multiple times (2-3) throughout twenty years of having it.  Got a new hydraulic so don't have to worry about cables now.  Both are not permanent hoists, so maybe that's the difference? (wouldn't think so though).  I hear of cables snapping on hoists here in Michigan more than you think.

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6 hours ago, bamaboy said:

Whatever you do, NEVER NEVER get under your boat while it is on the lift   

NEVER. 

 

These lifts fail all the time.  Ive owned boats for six years and have had 3 cable snaps.  Probably more than average but the point remains 

Not worth your life to clean a boat.

Don't want to derail this thread. But, we had at least 2 cables snap in under 4 years. When that boat slams down, it's scary. Thankfully, no one hurt, including the boat.

Steve B.

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13 hours ago, Raimie said:

 

No pulley, cable winds onto a grooved reel so the cable can't rub against itself.

 

Exactly, that's where you get into trouble.  The cable rubs and eventually starts to fray and one strand at a time breaks until the remaining strands snap.  Mine snapped once - SCARY!!  Since then I inspect the cable and pulleys periodically.  Had a pulley freeze up on my this year already, replaced it.

That said - always "lock out" the energy source.  In this case, gravity is the source.  If you are going under a lifted item have a secondary fixed support under it in case the regular mechanism fails.  Pretty standard thing to do.  There is no way I'd get under mine without it being locked out.  Typical stuff we learn in First Responder training and OSHA safety compliance.

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13 hours ago, Raimie said:

Maybe we are taking about different hoists....

No pulley, cable winds onto a grooved reel so the cable can't rub against itself.

DSC_0014_zpsqaun2not.jpg

 

Does this type of lift stay in the water year round?  What keeps the boat from swaying back and forth like a swing?  It doesn't look like the rails are attached to the posts......

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A bit off topic, but thanks for everyone responding.  I had never heard of a cable snapping, and I initially dismissed that as nonsense.  But obviously it isn't.  Guess I'll need to find something to span the opening in my dock for when I need to get under it.  My (car) lift at home has built in locks, and I always use jackstands when I have a floor jack.  But I had just never thought that the lift on my dock could fail.  SO thanks, again!

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3 hours ago, Skin2Win said:

Does this type of lift stay in the water year round?  What keeps the boat from swaying back and forth like a swing?  It doesn't look like the rails are attached to the posts......

It's permanent. It swings a little, but gravity does a pretty good job slowing it down.

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On 7/14/2016 at 10:47 AM, 67King said:

A bit off topic, but thanks for everyone responding.  I had never heard of a cable snapping, and I initially dismissed that as nonsense.  But obviously it isn't.  Guess I'll need to find something to span the opening in my dock for when I need to get under it.  My (car) lift at home has built in locks, and I always use jackstands when I have a floor jack.  But I had just never thought that the lift on my dock could fail.  SO thanks, again!

I also have a friend whose boat lift worm gear corroded somehow and caused the boat to drop. And it was a new lift, I think about a year old. Turned out to be a manufacturing defect. 

What do you need need to do under your boat anyway? I've had a boat lift for 7 years and have found practically zero reasons to get under my boat. If I absolutely had to, I'd get the trailer and pull the boat out of the water.

 

On the original topic, thanks for those who recommended the Hot Sauce. I'll try it out! What about their other exterior products, "Quickie Sauce" and "Toon Sauce?" 

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1 hour ago, MadDogMike said:

I also have a friend whose boat lift worm gear corroded somehow and caused the boat to drop. And it was a new lift, I think about a year old. Turned out to be a manufacturing defect. 

What do you need need to do under your boat anyway? I've had a boat lift for 7 years and have found practically zero reasons to get under my boat. If I absolutely had to, I'd get the trailer and pull the boat out of the water.

 

On the original topic, thanks for those who recommended the Hot Sauce. I'll try it out! What about their other exterior products, "Quickie Sauce" and "Toon Sauce?" 

If you have a cantilever lift you can tie the front cross members together so the cable is redundant.  There would have to be a spontaneous failure of a major aluminum structure for it to come down.

I just cleaned the bottom with acid per @Michigan boarder.  Not possible on the trailer.

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17 hours ago, MadDogMike said:

What do you need need to do under your boat anyway? I've had a boat lift for 7 years and have found practically zero reasons to get under my boat. If I absolutely had to, I'd get the trailer and pull the boat out of the water.

I don't own a trailer, so that isn't an option.  But to answer your question, changing a prop is one case that would seem to be a somewhat common thing for someone to do at some point or another.

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41 minutes ago, 67King said:

I don't own a trailer, so that isn't an option.  But to answer your question, changing a prop is one case that would seem to be a somewhat common thing for someone to do at some point or another.

Untangling a rope, tightening FAE clamps, cleaning, checking the prop nut, checking swim platform pins... the list goes on.

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