Lift pontoon off trailer to lower onto dollies

Dho

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I want to lift my SX21 onto some dollies so I can fit it into my garage for winter storage.

Any ideas for how I can do this besides spending $2k on something like gohoist.com? I don't even know if the boat will fit in my garage with my truck, so I'm looking for a solution that I can at least try out one time, because if I can't fit the truck too, then I'm going to find somewhere else to store for the winter.
 
Can you borrow or rent a scissors trailer ?


 
Bottle jacks, blocks (providing you are proficient in cribbing) and patience.
Honestly, and I'm not trying to be snarky at all, if you need to ask, you should not be attempting this.
Once things begin to go sideways, there may not be a path to recover and correct.
Someone could get hurt and worse yet, you could damage the pontoon.
 
I lifted my former boat off of it's trailer and onto cribbing with a floor jack. But the trailer was a "between the toons" type where the deck of the boat rested on the trailer and the pontoons were not supported. I had to do this to access all the fasteners to strip the boat down to replace the carpet with vinyl.
 
I have done it with a bunk style trailer. I strengthen the roof trusses in the barn and used jacks and cribbing and chain hoists. I was a long time ASE Master Technician. It is not simple or safe.
 
You could do it with 2 cradles and two 2-ton engine lifts from HF. They run around $250 a piece. You need a cradle that spans the toon eyes like I’ve seen some dealers use.
 
Seems like the easiest approach is to rent a scissor trailer and drop it down on dollies. We can rent them by my cabin for $15. My 71 year old neighbor does it each fall so that he can push the pontoon in the garage given the height of his garage door. Takes about 5 minutes. Dollies are made out of 3x3 landscape timbers. Just remember to trim up the motor.
 
Disconnect the front winch and rear straps. Back up real fast. Slam on brakes just before the trailer enters garage. May take 2-3 attempts. Sorry, that's all I got.
 
This is how Red Green would do it in the handyman corner.
 
Seems like the easiest approach is to rent a scissor trailer and drop it down on dollies. We can rent them by my cabin for $15. My 71 year old neighbor does it each fall so that he can push the pontoon in the garage given the height of his garage door. Takes about 5 minutes. Dollies are made out of 3x3 landscape timbers. Just remember to trim up the motor.
If you're not planning to borrow a scissor lift, you're likely to have the same result as this. Don't try anything but a scissor lift please. Spend the $15 or $50 to borrow it for an hour.
 
$15 to rent a scissor lift …wow!
I would bet around me, if you could even find one to rent, you’d pay at least $75/hr with a 1 hour minimum.
 
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