Boat Lift Logistics

[feb]

I'm thinking of getting a boat lift but am not sure if I want to deal with the troubles of putting it in and taking it out each year. I can't do it myself and everyone disappears when the water is cold:D

The size I would need would weigh around 500lbs so its not a 1 person job.

How do others get their lift in/out each year?

Do you pay a service? Do you grab 5 of your strongest friends? Are there lifts or something you can buy that aid in the process, maybe a winch or do I need my own personal barge? Do you disassemble into several pieces to make it tolerable to carry.

If you use a service, approx. how much is it?

I have a rocky shoreline that drops off into aboout 2 feet of water, gradually into 4 feet of water so I don't think I can just wheel it in.

[codeman671]

First question is what type of lift are you looking at? A cantilever hydraulic or a cable vertical? Depth constraints are my concern. The verticals do not require much depth, the cantilevers do. We have what I would consider pretty good depth and we cannot use a cantilever in our slips.

Any of the dock and barge companies can install and pull out the lift seasonally. They use either a crane or an excavator. Some people leave them in year round and use a circulator on them. Are you using it associated with a permanent or seasonal dock?

I priced it once, I think it was $300-400 to install and the same to remove. We have 2 sunlift mini's that we do ourselves but these are only a few hundred pounds, but still very awkward.

[Steveo]

A little off topic but I was heading up Alton Bay, just outside the Bandstand and I saw a boat with what looked like wooden posts surrounding it. When I got closer I saw that it was a boat nestled in a boat lift. They guy must have put it in at the public docks, attached the boat in the "lift" position and was slowly driving it down the bay. Probably bringing it out to island home to save the delivery cost. Interesting idea unless it breaks loose.

[Lakepilot]

Our 25' Cobalt is on a lift. We have Watermark put it in and take it out every year. I think the yearly cost is at least $700. They use flotation devices to get it into position.

I put in our small lift for the SeaDoo.