Homemade boat lift

[Seadoomanls]

I live in Florida and I live on a lake and I want to build some kind of boat lift to get my 15' Bass Boat safely out of the wake of other boaters. It doesnt necessarily have to get my boat out of the water completely, just enough to where it doesnt get affected by the wakes and slammed into the dock. Any ideas/pictures? And please, lets not get into the topic of permits and what not, I will deal with that once I have a solid plan

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Homemade boat lift

What kind of boat weight are we considering lifting? If it is a light boat, you may get away with bolting timbers together. If heavier, you will need some galvanized steel and some welding or bolting abilities.

 

[robert graham]

Re: Homemade boat lift

How about buy or build one of those ramps with slides or rollers that you could just run your boat up onto. Cabelas and Boater's world has some in their catalogs that you could look at to get some ideas on construction. They use these a lot for PWC, jet skis, boats, etc. They also make some inflatable lifts, but may cost a lot of$$$...Lots of ways to skin that cat!

 

[nlain]

Re: Homemade boat lift

You will have to have 4 uprights, whether it be 4 piling driven in the ground or a metal frame that will sit on the ground, you will then need a cable and pulley system that will lift all 4 corners at the same time, a frame that will hold the boat. By the time you buy all of the parts to the lift and get it together you would be just as well off to buy a lift unless you have access to the necessary materials for free. If you use piling you will need someone to drive them down for you, I know you could possibly wash them down but I doubt that would be allowed. A frame that sets on the bottom could possible be put in the water with a litttle thought and some muscle. To me a metal frame that sets on the bottom would be best. You may have thought of all this but if not some things to think about.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Homemade boat lift

why not set out a piling and tie your boat away from the pier? There are a hundred ways to moor a boat, done up until the last 10-15 years when everyone (except me) thinks they need a lift. just tie it bow out so you won't swamp.

 

[Seadoomanls]

Re: Homemade boat lift

those are definetely some good ideas!! the Problem with any driven in pilins is that my lake is a small lake...maybe 1/4 wide by 1 mile long. It is prohibited to just anchor a boat (or tie to a pilon for than matter).

Anybody ever use a bunch of 5 gallon buckets to construct a sort of floating dock?

 

[cr2k]

Re: Homemade boat lift

There is a system that attaches to your dock that uses long flexible poles that point away from your dock that tie off on the away side and keep the boat tensioned away from the dock. Look in a Overton's catalog they are called mooring whips. They may even have them here on iBoats.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Homemade boat lift

If driven pilings and anchoring are not allowed, what holds your dock in place?

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Homemade boat lift

I agree with Chris--that's the damndest thing I ever heard. But you can make a home-made float out of old buckets? I can see no pilings out in the middle, but to me, a mooring piling off a dock is part of the dock.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Homemade boat lift

My original thought was to put some double 2X10s in a U bracket on the edge of the dock, to create a cantilever lift. A winch and some creative strapping and carpet, and you have a simple lift for a light boat or waverunner.