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Might Add Sea Legs After All

What would you do in my situation?

  • Move the boat lift out 250’ to maintain performance and contain costs.

    Votes: 8 44.4%

  • Switch to Sea Legs to gain better convenience and maintain security.

    Votes: 10 55.6%
  • Total voters
    18
Hey Jeff, never owned a lift but it seems like burying the supports even a few inches would make it that much more difficult to remove the lift at the end of the season. Hope my logic doesn't hold up...
 
Michiman said:
Hey Jeff, never owned a lift but it seems like burying the supports even a few inches would make it that much more difficult to remove the lift at the end of the season. Hope my logic doesn't hold up...
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You are exactly correct. The guy who puts it in and takes it out didn’t say anything last year, so I am assuming he was fine with it. Since I will be moving it back out soon on my own when I install the wheel kit, I’ll find out first hand. My guess is the lift jack absorbs all the extra resistance...?...
 
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Do keep in mind that you will loose about 5mph of of top end due to the drag
 
Okay thinking a little outside the box.......If you're willing to spend $7500 on Sea legs and another $3000 on a canopy........How much would it be to have someone come in and dredge the area that you need to comfortably use the existing lift ??? Just a thought........
 
BigKahuna said:
Okay thinking a little outside the box.......If you're willing to spend $7500 on Sea legs and another $3000 on a canopy........How much would it be to have someone come in and dredge the area that you need to comfortably use the existing lift ??? Just a thought........
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Totally legit question, and good idea.

Unfortunately, due to environmental and DNR restrictions, we do not believe that’s an option. Technically we could look into the permit process, but from what we have gathered from the former township supervisor, it simply isn’t granted anymore. :(
 
There are also a couple of Benningtons with Sea Legs at the south shore sandbar. I know one owner wasn't happy with them because it didn't raise his pontoon high enough out of the water for the high winds when he docked it in front of his house.
 
Bone Daddy said:
There are also a couple of Benningtons with Sea Legs at the south shore sandbar. I know one owner wasn't happy with them because it didn't raise his pontoon high enough out of the water for the high winds when he docked it in front of his house.
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That's something to definitely keep in mind!
 
So my latest update on the lake level issue is we moved the lift out to deeper water today. That was much more work than I had thought it would be.

In the pick below you can see our lonely lift 250’ out from the shoreline. After messing with it today, walking in and out from it, etc, I can tell you the decision is certainly starting to lean towards trying to add on Sea Legs next year.

75754C22-7D83-4AAA-A070-9541349F2695.jpeg
 
Vikingstaff said:
So my latest update on the lake level issue is we moved the lift out to deeper water today. That was much more work than I had thought it would be.

In the pick below you can see our lonely lift 250’ out from the shoreline. After messing with it today, walking in and out from it, etc, I can tell you the decision is certainly starting to lean towards trying to add on Sea Legs next year.


How do the pontoons next to you get off their lifts?
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If that’s the option I’d be signed up for sea legs!! I may be a speed demon( for it can be!) but there’s no way I’d be in the water every time, maybe a dingy to tie up to the lift? String a rope between and pull yourself between the two???
 

The neighbor immediately next to me has a 18’ pontoon with a 40hp. It’s so much lighter they use a shallow water canteleaver lift and can pull it off for most of the season. The next closest after that is another lighter pontoon with a 75hp motor, and they too are able to pull off the same type of lift. Mine’s just too heavy for that and needs a vertical lift, which sits higher in the water — if that makes senes.?.

The boat closest in size and weight is two homes down. Their dock goes out 180’, lift at the end of it. By July he is trenching it out, and by late August he has to pull it from the water due to lack of water depth. About 7 homes down you have someone with a lift out there like mine due to a heavier V-haul boat.

It is sadly the nature of many stretches of my lake.
 
adkboater said:
If that’s the option I’d be signed up for sea legs!! I may be a speed demon( for it can be!) but there’s no way I’d be in the water every time, maybe a dingy to tie up to the lift? String a rope between and pull yourself between the two???
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This is what I was telling my wife this evening. As many know, I’ve been flip-flopping on this issue due to my hang ups with performance since last year when we made the performance oriented choice (the lift). :confused:

However, getting the lift that far out there and going back and forth today as I messed with stuff wore on me all day. It will now really come down to the economics of adding the Sea Legs after having invested in this heavy duty lift/canopy set up last year. My wife is very focused on that, which doesn’t bode well for me adding those Sea Legs at the end of the season. :(
 
I’m sure you could find a small little boat even if it had oars and just set the lift up so it can be tied off quickly and easily. I’m assuming you can still pull up to your dock just the lift won’t work?
 
adkboater said:
I’m sure you could find a small little boat even if it had oars and just set the lift up so it can be tied off quickly and easily. I’m assuming you can still pull up to your dock just the lift won’t work?
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You’re correct. Current plan is me going out to the boat to pull up to and tie off at the dock. So long as water is calm (because ours can get very rough with white caps when windy), we can simply have it tied up dockside all day. Thus, it often could be a morning/evening thing. Your idea might make it much more palatable on my end.
 
Sorry, I'm still struggling with this depth question for a vertical lift. My frame would literally rest on the bottom with just the bunks above it. Shorestation says minimum depth of 11" for the 60132 model I had.

https://www.shorestation.com/service/boat-lift-water-depths

I also talked to Scott Feighner at Feighner Boat Lifts in Charlotte MI about their hydraulic shallow water options http://s623324098.onlinehome.us/hydraulic. It's kind of a "reverse sea legs" system. He was extremely knowledgeable and a good problem solver. Might be worth a shot.

This is actually deep water version but you get the idea
 
So do you have buoyancy with your lift at 11” or do you need to add your draft depth to that amount before you have buoyancy with your lift? What is the minimum water depth at which have buoyancy with an R-series ESP with a 250 with your lift? Whatever water level that is I could certainly have it with a lighter S-series SPS with just a 200 on back. My guess is we are talking about 23”-28” of necessary water depth...? Which starts getting me to where I am now with my current lift. Hmm...something to consider. Appreciate the ideas.

I may be following up with Feigner systems in Charlotte as well and bounce around more lift ideas off of them. That said, based on their minimum lift depth, I think I’d have the same problem as I do now. 18” for lift, pulse depth of boat draft = too high for my water depth. I’d hate to end up springing for another lift that doesn’t solve my depth accessibility problems.

On a side note, I actually think I had one of the Feigner’s kids as a student some time back.
 
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I always had ~2-3' to work with so never needed to drop it all the way to float. I was impressed with him, went there to visit before I decided his HydroMax just wasn't going to work for my L shaped dock setup.
 
I have a tri-toon, and use a Hewitt 3800# vertical lift. I lift the boat from under the deck-not from the toons. I can adjust the height of these supports so that there is just 1/2" space between the top of the lift cross members and the bottom of the toons. Can't get it any lower than that. Had to do that one year when the lake level was lower than normal, and I was running out of dock. The deck support vs. toon support probably saved 5-6" in usable water depth.
Also, if your lake bottom has some degree of slope to it where the lift is, you can have the lift follow that same slope, ie all four legs adjusted the same. Yes, I know that a vertical lift performs best when the corner supports are plumb, but if having the lift out of plumb (tipped towards deeper water) enables you to gain inches, it's something that you can do when the water level starts to drop.
 
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