Buying a boat lift
 

Hi guys! I'm buying a boat lift for my 35' Fountain. I'm looking for something versitile enough to also accomodate me if I step-up to a larger boat or a cat. I need a lift that gets my boat completly out of the water.

I must admit; the timing for this months Powerboat mag could'nt be better since they do a general survey of the most popular lifts. From reading that article it look like hydrohoist is my best choice.

So, I'd like to ask the board what their expieriences are with boat lifts for offshore boats are. What good, bad, and does anyone have anything for sale?

Thanks for your help,

Joe Mattioli

My experiance with Hyd ro hoist has been excellent,currently have 3, an 8000# and 2-10000 #. Basically trouble free and will adapt to most any boat with a few adjustments.Anticipate how big your next boat will be and buy enough lift to handle it. A 10000# is plenty for your Fountain now,if you are going to upgrade later get a 12000#I have one of my 10000# overloaded now with a 400SS formula,shoulda bought a 15000#. But many dealers will upgrade you later. The bigger the lift the longer it takes to raise and lower,Cat mods are easily added.The are several copies around but Hydro Hoist is the original,their patents just ran out .

A freind of mine has a business installing docks and lifts. Ufortunately, he is in Daytona this weekend for Bike Week. I will ask him what he recommends when he gets back.

Thanks, this is helpful. I'll be checking these out.

Joe M.:)

There is one other reason that the hydra, or any round tank style lift has over the rest. If you buy a 10000# lift and then upgrade your boat, they can actualy add another tank to the center of the lift. That is over course if there is not one there allready. We have a 18000# lift installed by Mark Maasen at Poly Lift, here at LOTO. We can put a 45ZX Donzi or a 39ZSC Donzi cruiser on it and it has no problems. If you would like to talk to Mark you can call him at 800-535-5369, and I am sure he will be able to help you in making the right decision.

If you have any other questions let me know and I will do my best to help you out.

Dan Cramer
Lake Port Marina

Go aluminum or galvanized beams of course and go big on the capacity from the start. Even if you don't go big (10-12K >), you might sell the house some day and the buyer might be intriqued by the lift's built in capacity.....

Rick

has anyone ever tried those bag type lifts? The one taht don;t hav a solid frame? How do they work? Are they ok on the hull or do tehy trap alot of water between eth bags and teh hull?

I would suspect they probably collect a lot of marine growth and would require a lot of cleaning on a frequent basis.....