Boat Lift - One last Try

lp20th

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I just purchased a 2021 23’ SX Swingback. I have a boat lift that was used for a 21’ bowrider with a 5.0 liter inboard. The bunks could be changed to accomadate a pontoon boat. The lift can handle the weight of the new pontoon boat but I am looking for opinions if its feasible to handle the width. The bowrider had a 8’ 6” beam as does the pontoon boat. The lift has a 108” width, leaving only a couple acouple of inches on either side and no room for any guides inside the lift framework. The bowrider, I think, is somewhat easier to enter into the lift as its entering into the lift as a triangle first vs. the pontoon boat where you are fitting a rectangle into a rectangle. To me I don't think this is practical and probably should have at least a 120” lift width. I am getting differing opinions but wanted to take one last stab at opinions/recomendations before I put the lift up for sale. It can get windy where I dock as well as having to deal with the current and other boats wakes, so docking can be a challenge at times.
It certainly would be nice to have the lift as it also has a canopy too.
 
We often have docking conditions similar to what you described. We had a 120” lift with canopy originally. Doable, but I would NEVER go any narrower than that. Never! If in a no wake protected marina, I can see some going more narrow. Not me, and not with more windy and wavey docking conditions.

That said, after two years we switched to Sea Legs. We’ll never be docking in a tight space again with those. So much more stress free, although we do miss having a canopy.

My 2 cents based on our personal experience our first two years, sell your current lift. Too narrow. Going to be so tight and stressful. Get something wider. Better yet, get some Sea Legs and not worry about tight spaces.
 
I have to agree with Vikingstaff. When we bought our house it had a narrow lift I wanted to convert too. I tried every which to make it work but finally sold it and bought a new lift. It was a good decision.
You hate to do it but in the long run you'll probably be much happier and less stress docking.
 
I just purchased a 2021 23’ SX Swingback. I have a boat lift that was used for a 21’ bowrider with a 5.0 liter inboard. The bunks could be changed to accomadate a pontoon boat. The lift can handle the weight of the new pontoon boat but I am looking for opinions if its feasible to handle the width. The bowrider had a 8’ 6” beam as does the pontoon boat. The lift has a 108” width, leaving only a couple acouple of inches on either side and no room for any guides inside the lift framework. The bowrider, I think, is somewhat easier to enter into the lift as its entering into the lift as a triangle first vs. the pontoon boat where you are fitting a rectangle into a rectangle. To me I don't think this is practical and probably should have at least a 120” lift width. I am getting differing opinions but wanted to take one last stab at opinions/recomendations before I put the lift up for sale. It can get windy where I dock as well as having to deal with the current and other boats wakes, so docking can be a challenge at times.
It certainly would be nice to have the lift as it also has a canopy too.
What type of lift do you have, I just had my hydrohoist adjusted from my 21' foot bowrider v-hull to my 2022 21L tritoon. I live in a floating home with a built in garage with the slip being 25X10' 4". Boat fits like a glove. The only issue I have is pulling the boat in cross river current (Columbia RIver) I was surprised that there is be a bit less effect from the current on the pontoon boat than the V hull. It does take a few times to get use to the square bow vs the V bow. What helps is to make sure the front gate is open to allow a bit more vision
 
Its an older model, manual wheel, Shore Station boat lift. Nothing special, but has a real nice canopy and I own it. If it were doable it would cost me very little to convert it for pontoon use.

I dock on a one-sided dock with the dock being on the port side so it is difficult to see the dock when coming in. It always helps to have a spotter. With the bowrider once you got part way into the lift you can go into netrual and use the corner boat lift poles to pull you in the rest of the way and get centered on the lift. With the pontoon boat on a rough day I visualize slamming and banging into the lift just trying to first enter into it no matter how careful I try to be. So unless someone has some trick to share I will probably sell it.
 
As stated, leave the bow door open. I sight down the side of the boat pulling in. I hug the side of the lift I can see. If I'm close as can be on one side I know the blind side has plenty of room. I also do a lot of forward/neutral and come in as slowly as possible.
If there's too much boat wakes come around again.
 
The lift I had was originally made for a smaller boat. The lift is 114". I have a Q25. We haven't replaced the lift purely because of cost as we would also have to change the dock (we have a slip around the lift). We have about 6" to spare on each side of the lift, so we only put the boat in the lift when it's not too windy and when we get a break in wave action from other boats. We are careful and usually just drive it straight in with no problems as you get used to it after a while. On weekends when we are using the boat, we just park on the dock.
 
We had a 120" wide lift and I couldn't imagine using a narrower one with only a few inches of clearance on each side. I would agree the 120" is the way to go if you can....
 
I am looking for opinions on whether it is better to have a lift that is under the toons or that lifts the body of the tritoon...
 
I am looking for opinions on whether it is better to have a lift that is under the toons or that lifts the body of the tritoon...
There are a lot of opinions in previous posts about this very topic. As Illinois pointed out above, both are structurally okay and have been approved by Bennington via member and dealership inquiries in the past.

Thus, I recommend considering what works best in your situation. Variables that can make one more diserable over another may include variables such as shallowness or depth of lake, type of pontoon, dock, land, marina situations and/or requirements, personal taste, ease of storage options in off season (if necessary), and so on.

We originally had a cradle bunk system for our tritoon. I really prefer that structurally for support of a heavier tritoon with a big/heavy motor. However, due to seasonal shallowness of our lake, this type of lift added nearly 6 extra inches of necessary height/depth clearance that we didn’t have late season.

We switched to sea legs, which is somewhat more akin to lifting from under the body. This has worked just fine for us with the bonus that it allows us to go to all the way to where the pontoons would otherwise basically beach on the lake bottom.

Hence, our personal preference, cradle bunks under pontoons, is not well suited to our lake shallowness conditions, so we made a switch and are perfectly happy. Both work. Under certain circumstances, one might work better than the other.
 
Just installed the new bunks on our boat lift today. They are 14' long by 10" wide aluminum bunks, and they are heavy! I had to get three people help me just to set them on the lift, then I removed the old and installed the new.
 

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Just installed the new bunks on our boat lift today. They are 14' long by 10" wide aluminum bunks, and they are heavy! I had to get three people help me just to set them on the lift, then I removed the old and installed the new.
Why so heavy ? Is it treated covered in aluminum ?
 
Why so heavy ? Is it treated covered in aluminum ?
They are all aluminum, looks to be about 1/4" think with supports built throughout. In total size they are about 4 inches tall so that's alot of metal in one bunk.
 
Just installed the new bunks on our boat lift today. They are 14' long by 10" wide aluminum bunks, and they are heavy! I had to get three people help me just to set them on the lift, then I removed the old and installed the new.
I have the same bunks and very pleased with them. Pricey, but worth it.
 
I put Neoprene on top of them with outdoor carpet adhesive. It said to keep them dry for 5 days. I waited over a week to mess with them. I had to flip them over to drill the holes for installation, and the neoprene peeled off of one but not the other two. I put it back down and let it sit a few more days. I put the boat on the lift for the first time with the new bunks yesterday; they work great! The boat is now fully supported in the back and under all three toons. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Yes, they were pricy! These three 14' bunks cost me 1,800.
 
I put Neoprene on top of them with outdoor carpet adhesive. It said to keep them dry for 5 days. I waited over a week to mess with them. I had to flip them over to drill the holes for installation, and the neoprene peeled off of one but not the other two. I put it back down and let it sit a few more days. I put the boat on the lift for the first time with the new bunks yesterday; they work great! The boat is now fully supported in the back and under all three toons. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Yes, they were pricy! These three 14' bunks cost me 1,800.
Everything has gone price ballistic! I priced adding current factory pontoon cradles to our Hydrohoist...$2700. Don't need/want them right now, so will wait for a better deal on something else.
 
That is really crazy. I bought mine a month or so before the pandemic and if my memory serves me right, I paid 1200 for all three.
 
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