lake lift advice

[JR8778]

I bought a LakeSide Vertical Lift several years ago. Used the manual big wheel for about 4 years. Took 80 plus turns to get the boat up. Wasn't hard to turn, just a lot of turning. Saved up for a 12 Volt electrical lift 3 years ago with solar charger. Great addition. The remote is great. Pull onto the lift, hit the button until boat is stabilized. Can then cover the boat. Keep the battery on the tender during the winter months.

[hunter991]

i have 4 boat lifts. Jet ski, pontoon, bass boat and my wake boat. Only my wake boat is DC powered which i love. But i crank all the rest and to be honest with a light boat like my 21' pontoon its pretty easy. I would say just having a lift is important rather than letting sit in the water. Now, i wouldn't want to hand crank my wake boat.

[DavidF]

https://www.boatliftanddock.com/prod...l-assist-motor

I've had one of these on my cantilever lift for @ 14 yrs. It works. Is it the best, faster, quietest? No. However, I never want to have to hand crank that lift again. Not hard, just takes so much time and effort.

I have one of these motors too - fantastic. My dock guy got me a used one for $300. Only thing i've done is changed the wheel this year - cheap off amazon, works great.

[ThirdCoastX30]

consider bunk spacing

Just another thing to consider...Not sure if your hull has chines on it or not, but take a look at the spacing between the bunks on whatever lift you buy and make sure they won't be resting on any non flat hull surface if they are fixed. If they're adjustable (spacing) then not an issue. I have a really nice hydraulic summit marine lift that I bought for my previous boat (Malibu 22MXZ) that worked perfect on that hull. However it isn't ideal for my XT22- very difficult to get the boat just right on it due to the chines.

[RxMC]

Maybe that's the case where you live but that is the exact opposite where I live. Here cantilever lifts are what you buy if you want a cheap lift or absolutely need the shallowest lift possible. I'm sure every area is different but go around any of the lakes around here and anyone with a high end boat has some version of a vertical lift from one of the high end manufactures.

No, the cantilever is a simple, solid, near maintenance free lift wherever you live. People with high end boats just buy whatever they're sold then. A vertical lift is most certainly a complex, heavy, and expensive lift. If you have shallow or changing water levels then you do need the vertical.

There's nothing cheap about the cantilever by nature. Mine is heavy duty with top notch build quality the same as the vertical. It costs less because there are far fewer parts and manufacturing costs.

[maxpower220]

https://www.boatliftanddock.com/product/706/lift-mate-dc-12v-wheel-assist-motor

I've had one of these on my cantilever lift for @ 14 yrs. It works. Is it the best, faster, quietest? No. However, I never want to have to hand crank that lift again. Not hard, just takes so much time and effort.

[88 PS190]

Sounds to me like someone is selling cantilever lifts. I haven't heard these kind of negative comments on a product since the last boat show I went to.

The harbor master isn't a cantilever lift fwiw. I don't necessarily like cantilevers.

Vertical lifts are obviously good products, Floe makes some great lifts. But personally if tomorrow I was going to buy a lift I'd be spending 3700 on a Harbor Master not 8K for a Floe.

Growing up I had a summer marina job and one of my tasks was to ride up the lake on a pontoon to fix people's lifts. And regardless of brand if a cross cable broke or more commonly jumped the pulley inside the frame and jammed up the lifts then jam up. Something I don't think most people want to deal with over the weekend when they want to be boating.

[88 PS190]

speaking of lifts what type of lift is this MC on?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1FAIYshKNQ

That's a boat house with overhead hoist and the boat is on hooks to the lift points.

Easily the best if you can afford to build if and are allowed to have one

[bturner2]

Not really. I said I wanted a vertical lift.

Well, I need one anyway. I don't think anyone would choose a vertical lift if a cantilever fit their boat and water conditions.

Maybe that's the case where you live but that is the exact opposite where I live. Here cantilever lifts are what you buy if you want a cheap lift or absolutely need the shallowest lift possible. I'm sure every area is different but go around any of the lakes around here and anyone with a high end boat has some version of a vertical lift from one of the high end manufactures.

[h_2_o]

speaking of lifts what type of lift is this MC on?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1FAIYshKNQ

[osmonet]

The weak point on most vertical lifts is going to be the lifting mechanism as it's what taking the load. Both the Floe and the Hewitt had similar issue after about 10 years of use. The lift tube is the part on the Shorestations to watch and look at carefully when you go to buy one. There's a guy here locally that sells used ones with new cables for $450. For the extra $200 I buy them new with all new internal components. Putting a new lift tube on is not that difficult with 2 people and I've personally put one on each of the lifts while they were in the water and the second one on my current lift by myself. While I managed to do that one by myself I wouldn't recommend it and probably wouldn't do it again.

I agree....the "strong arm" winch that most verticals use is terrible. 3 Neighbors all have broken all fixed, and broke again, and fixed and broke again.

For a vertical I would only go with Floe VSD if you can stomach the $$$. If you have to pull the lifts out for winter, you can retract the legs and expose wheels without swimming. In fact, without getting wet at all. Great for leveling too if lake level fluctuates.

[JohnnyB]

Look at floe verticals and VSD’s. Floe allows you to level all 4 corners within a 1/4”.

Some other lifts with screw drive legs will have a similar experience


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I like this aspect of floe. Others have add on kits to do this.

I love my craftlander. Ordered online, showed up as parts on a pallet, assembled myself and saved some $

Built really stout.

Boatliftanddock.com

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[RxMC]

Sounds to me like someone is selling cantilever lifts. I haven't heard these kind of negative comments on a product since the last boat show I went to.

Not really. I said I wanted a vertical lift.

Well, I need one anyway. I don't think anyone would choose a vertical lift if a cantilever fit their boat and water conditions.

[osmonet]

Look at floe verticals and VSD’s. Floe allows you to level all 4 corners within a 1/4”.

Some other lifts with screw drive legs will have a similar experience


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[bturner2]

Sounds to me like someone is selling cantilever lifts. I haven't heard these kind of negative comments on a product since the last boat show I went to.

All I can say is that in my personal 20 years of ownership and my personal experience working on lifts throughout the years, I have not had the issues or experiences being stated here.