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Need a Boat Lift

kaydano

kaydano

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Hey guys! I was looking for some lift info and thought I'd drop in. I haven't been around here in a few years, but I see the same characters are still here keeping the site alive! Semper, Vikingstaff, LakeLiving, Jack, BigKahuna, Link (wow, I hadn't thought about that picture of you in years until just now), others...

Life got busy. We still have our original 2012 24SSL with the 150 Fourstroke. Love that boat. Can't ever see trading her in. I attribute the longevity to the guys on this site that helped me get the right boat the first time. I've always said this site sells more Bennington boats than anyone will ever know. The only thing that's really changed for us is we bought a place on a lake, and I need a lift. Whenever someone asked me if I was "living the dream", I'd always say "no, just dreaming of the life". Now that we have a place on a lake, we're finally living the dream!

Anyway, I used to have an old PDF from Bennington on the spacing for the Express Tube package, but I can't find it. I was hoping someone can point me to it.

Also, the new place came with a floating boat house, but no lift, so I'm looking for recommendations on brands. Since the boat house floats, I assume the lift has to float with it (vs one that sits on the bottom of the lake). Looks like the lake level varies a good 8-10 feet each year. I'm hoping to hear about some brand names of recommended lifts, and also the ones to stay away from (which is just as important).

Anyway, it is good to check back in here. Not sure why I left. For many years I read every single post on this site. Years. But then it grew to where I couldn't keep up. Maybe that's why I let it go...

Glad to see many of you are still here though. This site is important for many reasons. And I wish Carl was still around (RIP).

Dano
 
Welcome back. We all miss Carl.
 
HI! Been a hot minute Kaydano. Congratulations on moving lakeside. It truly is amazing! I hope you guys enjoy it as much as my wife and I.

I don’t know anything about floating docks, so hopefully some other members have some experience with them. I swear someone posted about one recently: either they have one, or they were looking for one.

Nice to see you pop back in. You’ve been missed.
 
Welcome back! I don’t have a floating lift so not much help here.
 
Never seen a floating boat house. But if the house floats, seems to me like you would want a lift that is attached to the boat house, ie part of the house structure. Like those vertical cable lifts that pull up from the ceiling structure of the house. Not a Hewitt, Craftlander, etc type of lift.
 
Something like this. Yes, this is shown on a fixed dock, but if your floating dock has proper roof framing, seems like it would work.

Course, you need to make sure that the floating capacity can handle the added weight of the boat.
Sorry for the bad picture.
 

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Great to hear from you Kaydano and a big congrats on the lake house! Kept our boat on a 10000 lb. lift for 2 seasons. The dock floated but the lift was stationary. Check out the pic. Hope you stick around!!! https://photos.app.goo.gl/MNuZ98hV9bGjbfDT9
 
I would think that once you have your lift installed, you can quickly adjust the supports using your boat as the template. At least, that’s what our local dock/lift company does.
 
The lake level fluctuates 10 feet or so throughout the year, and the slope of the bottom of the lake is steep, probably 20 degrees slope with a rocky bottom. And, it's close to 20 feet deep at the motor end of the boat (there's a ~30 foot walk way from the seawall to the dock, then another 40 feet or so to the far end of the dock in addition to that. So, a lake bottom mounted lift would have very long legs! And my boat would probably poke through the roof in the winter as the dock sank.

Good suggestion about the roof suspended lift, but I don't think the structure was designed for that. So, I guess I'm quickly narrowing things to a dock connected lift. I'm thinking as I type here... Thanks for the suggestions to help me narrow this down.

Weight. I weighed my boat and trailer at a CAT truck scale ~10 years ago. If memory serves it was 5500 lbs (boat motor, gas, gear and trailer). I may have even posted that info here way back when! I'm not sure what a standard trailer weighs. 1500 lbs? Maybe more? I'm thinking minimum 5000 lb lift

But, it's a big lake (LOTO) and not sure the pontoon will survive the wakes from the big yachts (we'll try to make it work) so I'd like the lift to be capable of holding a bigger boat later (if needed someday). Can't imagine not having the Bennington, but if it means no boating a lot of the time, it would be tough call.

Found some pics. The center slip is ours. I think its 12x34, plenty huge for our boat. The other two slips are the neighbors. You can see the floats under the dock. The neighbors have lifts with air chambers/pontoons that pump air in/out to lift the boat. Not sure I like that idea as much as something based more on cables and pulleys. Everything that holds air eventually leaks.

3559442_P24.jpg20240405_151912.jpg
 
Have you had an opportunity to talk with the “neighbors” about their lifts. I would have your same concern, but at least it presents an option for you. Also the Wavearmor floating lift linked above by CLDave may be a great option too.

We’ve boated on Table Top lake a number of times over the years - used to take trips to Branson with kids back in the day about every 5-7 years. We’d rent a double decker tritoon for the day and just cruise, tube, swim, and sight see. Such beautiful scenery down there, and a wonderful different experience compared to boating up here. Enjoy LOTO! Here amazing things about it, but also hear the big boat wake stories for those that have pontoons down there. Careful with those big boat wakes!
 
We have a boathouse with pilings driven into the lake bed and our water stays relatively constant year round. We have a 6,000 lb lift that is attached to the boathouse structure. It has thicker beams where the cables attach to support the boat. The 6,000 lb lift has always seemed adequate.
 
This is a picture of my lift when it was initially installed. 3 bunks are 3 2 x 10's layed flat.
 

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My trailer has dual bunks for each of the 3 tubes... I have full strakes on all tubes too. I like the flat 2x10 bunk idea Lay Lake shows above (seems it would be more forgiving on exact placement of the boat) but is it okay to support the boat on the keels directly? I guess I've seen boats in dealer parking lots that are siting on flat boards on keels, so it must be fine.

Taken to the extreme, one could cover the entire lift width with 2x12s and a 5 year old could park the boat. That'd be overkill, just sayin. Our slip is 12 feet wide. It would be nice for wife/kids to be able to use that entire 12 feet to bring the boat in (and not have to worry as much about hitting anything like a tight slip would) and then just raise the lift where ever the boat is (if it was totally covered with planks). Hmmm...
 
kaydano said:
My trailer has dual bunks for each of the 3 tubes... I have full strakes on all tubes too. I like the flat 2x10 bunk idea Lay Lake shows above (seems it would be more forgiving on exact placement of the boat) but is it okay to support the boat on the keels directly? I guess I've seen boats in dealer parking lots that are siting on flat boards on keels, so it must be fine.

Taken to the extreme, one could cover the entire lift width with 2x12s and a 5 year old could park the boat. That'd be overkill, just sayin. Our slip is 12 feet wide. It would be nice for wife/kids to be able to use that entire 12 feet to bring the boat in (and not have to worry as much about hitting anything like a tight slip would) and then just raise the lift where ever the boat is (if it was totally covered with planks). Hmmm...
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If the entire area was covered with wood planks…the flotation of the wood would likely be greater than the weight of the framing, and the entire platform would rest at water level. Not ideal for driving the boat onto.
 
Good point.
 
Joeb14 said:
If the entire area was covered with wood planks…the flotation of the wood would likely be greater than the weight of the framing, and the entire platform would rest at water level. Not ideal for driving the boat onto.
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Sounds like a job for some SANDBAGS!!!
 
Hey Derrick! Glad to see you still have your boat...
 
kaydano said:
Hey Derrick! Glad to see you still have your boat...
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Nope, sold it a while back unfortunately. Kick myself all the time. Although I'd be really mad this year as the lake I boated in is in a National Park and they actually closed it to boating this year as they found one cluster of zebra mussels and are trying to stop it before it is prevalent in the lake. Although many have been trying to get motor boats banned on it for years. Even they are out of luck as they don't allow ANYTHING in, no inflatables, no paddleboards, no kayaks, nothing!
 
Sorry to hear you let the boat go.

There's still hope. Someday...
 
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