Water level too low to get boat off lift - ideas to help?

[Clothman]

Anyone have this problem when water level is down. I have a lift that is for shallow water but with it lowered to the bottom of lake bed, I have a difficult time getting the boat off the vinyl-coated bunks that my fiberglass boat rests on. Last year I sunk the base of the lift into the ground, which helped, but I am looking for an easier solution? I am wondering if anyone has any ideas for changing the vinyl material that coats the rails the boat rests on, or if there is something I can put on the vinyl that would reduce friction, maybe paraffin wax or something of the like?

Any ideas greatly appreciated. Boat going in soon....

Chris

 

[snowman48047]

Re: Water level too low to get boat off lift - ideas to help?

Unless you are only talking an inch to low there really isn't anything...if you are fighting to get the boat both on and off then you need to sink it deeper.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Water level too low to get boat off lift - ideas to help?

get a bunch of buddies, lift the boat off the lift. then move the lift to deeper water

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Water level too low to get boat off lift - ideas to help?

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=y2e1515l7Tc

 

[Bubbasboat]

Re: Water level too low to get boat off lift - ideas to help?

That's funny! Pray for Rain!!!:laugh:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=y2e1515l7Tc

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Water level too low to get boat off lift - ideas to help?

replace the skids with rollers. Add a bow stop with a hook. Set the rollers so the bow is higher than the stern (which is how your bunks should be anyway for drainage).

There are "bunk slicks" but it sounds like your vinyl ones are already what you need. I don't think any "slick" additives will work under water and Vaseline or KY would be too expensive.

 

[Mi duckdown]

Re: Water level too low to get boat off lift - ideas to help?

with out Pics it's hard to tell.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Water level too low to get boat off lift - ideas to help?

Anyway to dredge the area under the lift?

 

[bonz_d]

Re: Water level too low to get boat off lift - ideas to help?

Anyway to dredge the area under the lift?

Here comes the ACE, DNR, EPA and any other 3 letter word!

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Water level too low to get boat off lift - ideas to help?

Here comes the ACE, DNR, EPA and any other 3 letter word!

They allow this in Lake Tahoe so if they allow it there, they probably allow it anywhere.

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: Water level too low to get boat off lift - ideas to help?

They allow this in Lake Tahoe so if they allow it there, they probably allow it anywhere.

Not in WI. Around here you can't legally pull a weed....... If you have lily pads around your dock, don't get caught pulling them......

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Water level too low to get boat off lift - ideas to help?

^ +1 agreed

unless the DNR has a sanctioned event like Phragmites fest in Door County to eliminate the invasive species. Then it is usually every lake home owner and lake association member and anyone they can get to remove a species on a set number of days.

 

[bonz_d]

Re: Water level too low to get boat off lift - ideas to help?

2 years ago we had a land/lake owner caught dumping auquatic weed killer around his pier. Was fined BIG TIME!

Many of the local lakes the landowners can't even put permanant posts into the bedground.

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: Water level too low to get boat off lift - ideas to help?

A friend of mine was asked by a cabin owner to remove a 10'x2' berm by his dock by the shoreline to level the area so he wouldn't have to go over it to get to his dock. Of course the owner said he would cover any fines if any would arise(big mistake by my bud for not checking into it on his own). Another cabin owner turned him in to the DNR. He had multiple large fines and had to put the berm back. The cabin owner left him hangin', go figure. Some landowners go around the lake looking for potential violations..... You practically could get fined if you sneeze wrong by the lake.....

Cracks me up when I see "Shelby" on Ax Men busting thru brush goin in and out of the bayou. That would generate huge fines up here.

But I digress......

Probably the easiest way for the low lake issue is to move the lift to deeper water, as been mentioned, and you may have to add a section of dock.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Water level too low to get boat off lift - ideas to help?

yep, takes 4 people to lift a ski nautique high enough on legend lake in shawano county to get it on and off the lift when the water is low.

that is one location where my former co-worker could not move his lift out in deeper water without being in the navigation channel.

 

[bonz_d]

Re: Water level too low to get boat off lift - ideas to help?

There is a thing called riparian rights. The case law book in Wisconsin is huge! It will even tell you how far a pier may extend from the shoreline and whether it interfers with navagable traffic.

Many a lakehome owner has run into problems with just trying to put up a seawall. And to try and get a new launch ramp built, forget it unless you have more money than you have sense.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Water level too low to get boat off lift - ideas to help?

Yeah...makes sense. There are a lot of hoops to go through at Tahoe of course and you don't do anything without pulling permits and getting approvals.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Water level too low to get boat off lift - ideas to help?

around here, we just wait for high tide....

 

[greenbush future]

Re: Water level too low to get boat off lift - ideas to help?

I would think you could lower the existing boat hoist with the boat removed, and a garden hose for water pressure to sink your frame a bit lower. Water pressure will work well, just level it out well as you create the new levels needed. I'm assuming you have 4 post's, any reason they cant be lowered down to accommodate?

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Water level too low to get boat off lift - ideas to help?

greenbush, the OP's first post had his cradle lowered to the lake bed. basically he would have to dig a hole the size of the footprint of the lift, which in most of the locations is not allowed as well as it would fill itself back up shortly.