Adjusting lift help
 

Hey all,

My MCOB sits on a lift that's perfectly level. Probably great for a closed bow but it catches enough rain every now and then that all the water doesn't make it back to the bilge pumps. I'd like to raise the front of my lift so that the water rolls back to pump out.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a vendor for the parts or any great ideas? Here's some pictures of what I'm working with.

http://captainyarrr.demand-performan...ages/lift1.jpg
http://captainyarrr.demand-performan...ages/lift2.jpg
http://captainyarrr.demand-performan...ages/lift3.jpg
http://captainyarrr.demand-performan...ages/lift4.jpg

Looking at it right now, would there be any harm unbolting the padded supports, screwing a couple 2x6s down with tapered ends to them and replacing?

A couple ways to do this. You can raise the front lift arms up a hole or two on the brackets that are bolted to the dock. Depending where the rear lift arms are bolted into the dock brackets you may be able to lower them one to get the desired result. The other way would be to order bunk extensions and then raise the front of the bunks up the desired amount. This past spring I added the extensions on all four mounting points as I moved my bunks out so they better fit between the boat's strakes and I needed the extra height to avoid the keel hitting the frame.

Here is a pic of the bunk bracket extensions. You can see where you have multiple holes to where you can move up the bunks. I went up 3 inches I believe so I had to add the little brackets you see in the first pic so the cross brace would reattach to the upright.

I got the all the hardware from Poly Lift in Osage Beach.

Here are a couple more pics that better show what I am talking about in terms of the extensions to raise the bunks up on the uprights.

Just move the tanks forward about an inch.

Two questions on that:

The idea of that is the weight of the engines should sag more creating the desired drop?

I can't think off the top of my head how they are attached. Is that easier than it seems?

That looks really clean. How much did those run?

Moving the tanks would be the most difficult, and I would think lease desirable, way to achieve your goal. I know on my lift I cannot move the tanks forward as the fittings for where the hoses attach to the tanks are right behind the rear frame. No way you could move the tank forward without drilling and tapping holes forward of the frame. I believe the tanks are centered where they are for a reason and I would leave them be.

Can't remember off the top of my head. I don't think I have a receipt as I know Geno at Poly and he just sent me the stuff without anything formal to document the transaction. They come in two lengths and I went with the shorter of the two as I did not need to go up that far. Everything including the galvanized hardware was really inexpensive Is your lift a Galva? Your local lift sales/installer might have that hardware in stock.

Really though, the easiest thing to do is raise the lift arms in front. Just make sure to recheck your bunk depth afterwards since it is a back on lift and adjust your chains accordingly. No more than you would go up you should be OK. Most every lift (back on) on my dock has the front arms mounted higher than the rear as the walkways run downhill from the center walk towards the end of the slips. The dock was built in the 70's and is well beyond needing to be replaced.

Here is my lift with vertical bunk extensions for my Skater.[ATTACH=CONFIG]548669[/ATTACH]