Boat lifting and rotating device

[beawyte]

Hi!
I'm actually at university and I need to develop a project for boat owners. My idea is to create a boat lifting device that can allow you to rotate your boat horizontally to easily access your engine for maintenance. I'd like to know if you think it's a good idea and if you would have some specific needs for that kind of device.

Thank you very much and have a nice day!

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Boat lifting and rotating device

actually there are several post on this subject. they are used more for refinishing the hull of the boat, rather than engine maintenance. easy way to flip the boat, for sanding, glassing, painting, etc.

 

[beawyte]

Re: Boat lifting and rotating device

I forgot to mention that the lifting device is in water already. I don't know if it was you were talking about for the multiple answers but I never saw a product like that yet, if there are any, can you give a name?

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Boat lifting and rotating device

they are all home made. who would want to tilt a boat over the water, a fortune of tools would be lost. marina's have travel crane lifts, for large boats, smaller boats have trailers. do not think you will find a market for what you are proposing. i've been playing with boats for 50 years.

 

[beawyte]

Re: Boat lifting and rotating device

Sorry for the bad explanation but the rotation of the boat would be horizontal, not vertical, for example like a mary-go-round, not to put the boat upside-down.

Sorry

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Boat lifting and rotating device

what is the purpose, when you can pull a boat out of a slip and back in, in 3 minutes. sell me on the idea. you are going to have to anyway to make it work.

 

[joed]

Re: Boat lifting and rotating device

There are many device for lifting boats out of water for storage. Just google boat lift. I am trying to understand why you would want to rotate it.

 

[beawyte]

Re: Boat lifting and rotating device

Well, the goal is that you can lift your boat off the water (nothing new on this part) but you can rotate the boat once in the air so you can easily access your engine. For example if you need to repair something on it, you rotate your boat and you can fix it from the pier without being all wet...

 

[QC]

Re: Boat lifting and rotating device

The problem is that you can get in a boat, so there is no need to be able to reach anything from a pier as you stated. That's not to say that engine maintenance on inboards is not difficult due to access. My concerns are not about getting wet or that the boat being horizontal will give me better access, but that there is very little room for my arms, too far to reach in under the bilge etc. These things are not solved by orientation although I could see how standing in my garage, no, never mind . . . I can literally think of no engine maintenance and repair that would be enhanced horizontally.

If we are still misunderstanding, help us. If not, let us help you with an invention that may be of use. What are the rules?

 

[tommays]

Re: Boat lifting and rotating device

The lift you are talking about is pretty common here because of limits in dock space many places dry store and launch 50 to 100 boats per day on a weekend


Even my 24 ' sailboat is built with a lifting eye on the keel to allow it to be dry sailed if you want

 

[bomar76]

Re: Boat lifting and rotating device

Hate to break this to you:

This concept (lift and rotate boats) already exists.....


They call them Hurricanes.

 

[Bigprairie1]

Re: Boat lifting and rotating device

First, it is probably becoming apparent that the majority of boat people here are not seeing there way to clear to this idea being needed or useful at this point and I agree with most of the previous posts myself.
Second, in the interest of keeping things moving forward for you 'project wise' perhaps the boat voices out there have some ideas on what they do think would do some good?
Despite there being a major bunch of boat/motor/marine stuff out there. Some useful, some not so much...there is always room for a new and better idea.
So....who's creative? anyone want to wade in here? What do you want? What do you need? What product never worked for you?
I'm going to give it some thought myself.
BP

 

[External Combustion]

Re: Boat lifting and rotating device

For boat maintenance roatation about the X axis is highly desirable, about the Y axis is doubtfull, about the Z axis "what's the point?"

 

[Solittle]

Re: Boat lifting and rotating device

My boat sits on such a device. It is called a trailer and I have ready access to the engines.

 

[Bigprairie1]

Re: Boat lifting and rotating device

Why don't we take a short break from beating this initial idea to complete death. I think we all get the point now and I think Beawyte does too.
Any alternative preferred product requirements out there?
BP

 

[Captain Caveman]

Re: Boat lifting and rotating device

I'll fan the flames. There are two uses that I see for this device:

1) As stated, to turn your boat about 90 degrees so that you can work on the outboard from your dock. My shore is all rocks so jumping into the water to fix something sucks. Of course, I can easily trailer my boat...but not if it breaks near the cabin. I think that this is a niche market, for folks with old motors like mine and bad shoreline.

2) Rotating your boat 180 degrees so that you can go straight out. This might benefit:
...A) Boat owners who have to go through emergent vegetation when they leave their docks.
...B) If you have a prevailing wind coming straight into shore, it could keep your boat pointed into the wind versus taking waves from behind.
...C) If you live in the north and boat when the ice is coming onto the lake, you know that you should keep your boat facing forwards. This way, when you come out in the morning and there is a crust of ice on the lake/around your boat, you can break ice with the bow instead of the stern. Backing through ice doesn't work well.

That all being said, there might be some modifications that can make this young man's project more of a success. What else would we like to see out of a boat lift? What else could benefit boat owners? A better system for cleaning off/out invasive species and weeds?

 

[rimojop]

Re: Boat lifting and rotating device

If it's priced right, it would sell around here.
Almost all boats are lift stored. Most of these guys dont have trailers, as they are not allowed to store them in their yards.
I have a mobile marine repair business and have a hell of a hard time doing lower unit service on some of these lifts. Just make sure its big enough.
Most of my customers have 30-40 footers with either twins or triples.
The ability to service outboards, trim tabs, and thru-hulls would be great.
Good Luck.
Rick

 

[5150abf]

Re: Boat lifting and rotating device

I don't think boats break enough to warrant spending that kind of money on a just in case product and I would imagine people with enough money to buy this product don't work on their own boats anyway so I would switch your main selling point to turning the boat in place, like in a channel.
A local lake has miles and miles of narrow channels off the main lake and trying to turn a larger boat around is a real pain.
If you could come up with something that will spin the boat in a channel you would have a viable product.
It would have to handle boats up to say 26-28' both mono hulls and pontoons but then you run into clearance issues as you would need 10-12' of clearance around the boat to spin it.

You have a very good idea, you just need to figure out where it can be used.

And you say "university" which makes me wonder if you are in the states, boating in the US is alot different than in Europe or Australia so where would your main market be?

How much time have you spent around boats?

 

[beawyte]

Re: Boat lifting and rotating device

Thank you all for your help, that's exactly what I wanted, a true opinion of what you were thinking!

The price of the device would be a little bit higher than a normal lifting device but not that much, the system is quite simple and a Z-axis rotation doesn't need a big motor, like maybe 1-2 HP. So I'd say 5000$ more than a lifting device, but I need to look at it, I started but I'm not done.

The main market would be in Sweden (I'm in an exchange year here) and partly the rest of Scandinavia. I am with two Swedish students so they know a little bit about the market over here.

For myself, I don't have that much experience in the boating industry, that can be a problem but that's why I'm asking on a forum where people knows what they are talking about.

And as Captain Caveman said, another advantage of the rotating part is that you can always leave the pier forward so it's less dangerous to break the engine (for this part I have experience, my cousin did it last summer )

Thank you very much!

 

[old-gubbins]

Re: Boat lifting and rotating device

I know NOTHING about lift style docks, but if they lift a boat out of the water, but leave it suspended over the same position, can the boat be put in either bow first or stern first? Does the lift lie parallel to land or at right angles? I assume bow/stern at right angles to land.

If so, for work on the stern, could the lift be made to travel in a straight line for - say 4 feet so that all the stern and drive gear is then suspended over dry land?

Would not a straight traversing mechanism be cheaper to make than a rotating one?

O-G