Boat lift helper

[Fatroll]

I put my lift in today and I used the Boat lift helper. If you pull yours every year, I cannot recommend it enough, especially if you are moving it over tough terrain.

 

Check it out.

 

http://boatlifthelper.com/

 

 

 

 

[Fatroll]

This stays attached to the lift and you fill the bags to get the lift out in the fall. I had to move it a few feet out, it was a quick fill with a compressor and it was floating again.

[Waternut]

Given that there is no price posted on the web, I'm guessing it's pretty expensive. Do you have a ballpark estimate for this thing? I would love to have something like this for when the water drops towards the end of the season and I need to push the boat lift out. However for $1000+ which is my guess, I think a water hose for clearing the lift feet and cross braces along with a shovel to pry the lift off the bottom will have to work for me.

[Fatroll]

about 1300, so it is pricey. For me, it was worth it. I currently keep my lift at another persons dock, and I may need to move the lift to another location in the future. Plus, the terrain is brutal. If you have and easy slope, or sand, it may not be worth it.

[Waternut]

@OB What kind of lift do you have? All the cantilever and hi-lift versions I've seen just use tension and cables to raise it so when I lower mine without any weight, the cables just go slack when the bunks start floating.

[6balls]

@waternut I've got a similar lift so the only way I can use the bunks is to lash the cradle to the frame...still then have to get the stuff out from under there once placed.

My brother has a wheel kit where the big plastic wheels intentionally take on water. Roll the lift into the water and the wheels float the thing for 5-10 minutes as they take on water...so just hold it where you want and allow it to sink.

In the fall use air compressor on the wheels and it blows the water out and it floats. Similar conceptually to what @fatroll is doing...though the wheels are nice for moving around once on shore whereas those bladders would not help there.

I have not invested in either yet. We push it into the water, one guy hangs from canopy frame so I can lift the other side up and slip a tube under the frame. It's not too tough to move it with once one end floating. We put it where we want it and repeat the guy hanging on the far canopy frame so I can get the tube out and let it go. It's still real work. Coming out in the fall we just use the truck.

[PatM]

I have a similar lift to OB's. I ratchet strap 8 five gallon jugs to the out riggers and float it out to where I need it, release one of the straps, let the leg settle in and release the next. One person five minutes. Getting it out I ratchet strap the jugs to the bunks and lower it until it is released. I would be interested in the boat lift helper though it would save a lot of setup time. @Fatroll do you know how much they are asking for the lift helper?

[Fatroll]

1300-1500

you can get bigger bags for bigger lifts, but the standard did the job nicely.

 

[Shortenit]

@waternut, I have a cantilever (Hewitt) as well. I made up a temporary reverse winch system that winches the cantilever down. Made a bracket to mount a regular trailer winch that bolts to the same post as the wheel operated up winch is, couple screw eyes in the frame at the bottom, 2 holes in the cantilever arms, 3 sailing pulleys with snap links and some good rope. We crank it up all the way, slide some dock floats under the bunks, Tubes like @OB uses will work too, slack off the up cable and crank it down. Rises the lift right out of the muck, float it to shore and haul it out. Has worked great for 5 seasons. It is a little heavier on the winch corner so we offset the dock floats to that side.

That said, just 5 minutes ago I ordered the lift helper from Tim as I have moved my lift to an area that is much shallower and I want the lift frame to be up higher to make it easier to get close to shore. With the lifthelper it should basically be floating on the surface as opposed to below the water line. If I didn't move I would have kept using my old system.

[Shortenit]

@Pat M, I just paid for the 7ft lift size, $1395 + $89 shipping. 6' is $1345, 7' is $1395, 8' is $1495. All plus shipping.

[Waternut]

I think I just found my new lifting procedure. Thanks @Pat M

[Shortenit]

@waternut, to float it out how are you planning to lower the bunks with all that buoyancy attached?

[Waternut]

@shortenit Open the caps and flood the jugs. Seems like the safest and most efficient way to lower the whole lift once it's in place.

[Shortenit]

@Waternut: Am I missing something? Sure that's how you float it out there to position and lower it into place, that's easy. But aren't you going to remove it at the end of the season? How do you lift it off the bottom to float it to shore to take it out without a way to lower the bunks with flotation attached? @PatM, has hydraulic down power to do that. If you have enough water it can be done with diving lift bags attached directly to the bottom frame and then inflated. Unless it's just a new lift and a one way trip in since you will leave it in year round?

[BraceMaker]

@shortenit - your lift modification is what the old farts used to do when they all had big steel tub frame lifts - only they had Styrofoam board sandwiched between plywood then banded together.

 

These two nearly 80 year olds would put on chest waders - haul the foam floats out, lift the bunks up, slip the foam under, slacken the cable then pull the chain off the bunk, wrap it around a 3rd pulley, and reattach, then they'd spin the wheel till the lift floated, slap on the wheel kit, and haul it up onto shore with a lawn tractor. They did both of their lifts same day and were done for the season, and it didn't take em much longer than 15-20 minutes a lift.

 

We just use a high lift off roading style jack to lift one side up till a wheel can be pushed down and inserted (ballast some of it with pink antifreeze so the wheels don't float so well) - then it gets hauled up with a come along.

[Waternut]

@Shortenit Sorry I guess I wasn't being clear. I don't ever remove my lift from the water. I just move it a few feet a couple times a year because my boat slip is a bit shallow and when the water drops a foot or so by the end of the season, I need to push it out to make getting the boat on and off a little easier.

[Bobbyroy]

I used to simply drag my old TY off the back of the trailer onto soft grass. Then rig it and use the mast as a lever to heel it almost onto its gunwales so I could remove the keel. Reverse the process for installing the keel again.

[Shortenit]

@Waternut, now it makes sense. I'm jealous you can leave it in all year. It pays to live where there is no ice!

@BraceMaker, I do a similar wheel thing with my lift, unfortunately I have so much muck on the bottom I also have to put out connected 2x12's for them to roll on. Pain in the a**, but we addicts do what we have to......

[TDET]

Try 55 gal drums. They hold up the lift nice!

[Harrybb]

My Ace brand has a gear and two pulleys with a fan belt. When the big gear locks up without the grease the elc motor will spin the small pulley and burn up the belt or squeal.

[TDET]

[WBLskier]

I have a sandy bottom but 200 feet too move the lift out. I put a pulley on shore bought 350 foot cable and put the lift on wheels hook the cable to the lift up to shore through the pulley and then back out to the boat. Drive away the noat and the lift is up on shore. Use a winch on a pole to raise the lift to put wheels on. Very easy as long as the wind is calm.