Boat lift for vintage boat...aluminum or steel?

[Drb007]

I'm going to have to get a lift for my daughter's boat. We just got a lake home, and her boat will be completed by Spring. I want it on a lift so it's ready to go next summer. I found a nice steel lift with a good canopy for only $400. I'm going to have to move the lift every spring and fall as the lake will freeze. My neighbors bring theirs in to shore and put them on cinder blocks (it's pretty shallow there) but will have to move it out 70-80 feet to set it up for summer. I worry the steel lift will be too heavy?
The aluminum lifts are MUCH more expensive. We will be in fresh water here in WI.

Thoughts?

 

[hemi rt]

What is the bottom like? the steel one may be fitted with rollers if the bottom is fairly hard making it easier to pull out.

 

[Scott06]

Regardless of steel or aluminum get a set of wheels. They cost about $35 each, if you can cut and weld some brackets that saves you having to buy them. I just a farm jack to lift the lift at each end so. Can get the wheels on.

If you have to move it in and out every season aluminum is way lighter and it doesn't rust. I don think a steel lift with a canopy would be very portable. My 1995 aluminum lift still looks new.

 

[Scott Danforth]

go aluminum. the aluminum one will last many years after the steel unit rusted away. you already know about the weight issue.

 

[jkust]

The aluminum lifts are MUCH more expensive.

Thoughts?

Welcome to owning a lake place where the cost of the lake house is just the price of entry. Aluminum all the way. Get a wheel kit and maybe put a winch on your four wheeler if you don't already have one. Regardless, I still use a service to remove and install my dock and my biggest boat lift each spring and fall.
In MN, it you want it in early, it's just too cold to do it and if you want it all out late, again it's just very cold. The service uses a pontoon with a forklift for the lift and the dock needs to get unassembled and reassembled each season since the house is too close to the water to pull the dock out in one piece. They use a crew of 8 highschoolers. We love the Floe VSD lifts and Floe Docks as well.

 

[oldjeep]

Guess it depends on your water depth, but we put in the docks and lifts when the water is in the low 40's - insulated waders are really nice.

 

[jkust]

Guess it depends on your water depth, but we put in the docks and lifts when the water is in the low 40's - insulated waders are really nice.

The depth is an issue for us. I have to make sure to get up there before they get the lift in the water to install the two deep cycle batteries that power it or there is trouble.

 

[hydroscream1]

I am with Jkust.. Aluminum all the way.. and I love the floe lifts especially with wheels and a tow cable. The Floe lifts have screw jack leg adjustments so I just lower the lift onto the wheels using a cordless drill and pull the lift out of the water for the winter. Just easy.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

Aluminum all the way here as well. We live on the shore of Erie and I have many friends and neighbours that have boat lifts, we don't unfortunately because of high winds on the point. The folks with aluminum lifts and docks have yet to have back surgery from fighting with steel structures.

 

[roffey]

I have an aluminum lift that I take out of the water every year. I have wheels on the back part facing shore. I have an old tractor tire inner tube that I inflate and rest the part facing the lake and just walk the lift into position in the spring. This is not an simple as I make it, it take me a good two hours of fussing.

To answer the OP, aluminum all the way. Not sure if this makes a difference, my boat is 20 feet and is about 2600 LB.

 

[jkust]

I have an old tractor tire inner tube that I inflate and rest the part facing the lake and just walk the lift into position in the spring. This is not an simple as I make it, it take me a good two hours of fussing.

.

Oddly enough, Floe sells a kit that you put under the lift, inflate, and can tow it with a boat across the lake to install if needed. Seems a little bit like an accident waiting to happen out in the middle of the lake sitting atop a floatation device but whatever.

 

[roffey]

I got the lift used, as is most of my stuff, I loaded it on the end of my dock pulled behind my boat back to my place. My biggest fear was it falling off the dock. What would you do. You'd have to hire some one to retrieve the lift and there is no one on my lake that does that.