Let's hear your heavy boat lift fall removal tricks & tips

Tis the season in MN for removing docks and boat lifts as the water gets wicked cold in prep for winter. I’m always looking for ways to make the process of getting my heavy boat lifts (500 lbs) out of the water easier.

Here’s my situation (everybody’s is a little different)
* It’s just myself and my brother in law
* 500 lbs Pier Pleasure Vertical boat lift
* Hard sandy bottom
* Water is about 2′ deep at the shore end of the lift, but about 6′ deep at the back end of the lift
* I do NOT pull the legs pins and lift up the feet, they stay as set (pulling the pins and lifting the rear legs would require both of us to go into 6′ deep water) I want to avoid the deep water at all costs…

The lift is too heavy for us both to try and lift/push from about 1/2 way on the sides of the lift and obviously I don’t want to have to go under water at the deep end and lift/push it towards shore while my brother in law pushes towards the shore from the shallow end. We typically zigzag it out by having both of us on one side of the lift and lift/push it as much as we can, then switch to the other side, rinse repeat until the lift is out….I’m looking for an easier process..

I’ve tried the electric winch route, but that seems to put alot of stress on the boat lift frame where the winch cable is connected. This year I purchased 6 x 30 gallon plastic drums that I plan on using to try and float the frame as much as possible to ease getting it out of the water. I have the drums tied at one end of a rope, the other end will go under the main lift support bar and tied to the internal lift support bar, this way when I crank the lift UP, the rope will pull the drums under water, thus lifting it. We’ll see how that goes (in theory it should work pretty well)

This process probably sounds somewhat familiar to MN lakeshore property owners (unless you have your lift on wheels and you simply drag it out with an ATV or car/tractor (That isn’t an option for my shoreline)

I’m curious to hear if anybody has a proven system that made their boat lift removal process alot easier in the fall, I’m all ears!

Our shoreline is a bi-atch as well. My M-I-L has hired a dock service several times, but I just recently found out what she pays for that ($500). OUCH!!! Seems like 4-6 high school football players might run a whole lot cheaper.

Otherwise, I’ve got nothing for ya. A few cases of beer and dinner would probably get you some help from friends/neighbors.

My neighbor and I help each other and remove both of our docks and lifts. It works best with 3 people. We use an electric winch. Our shoreline is steep, deep and fairly mucky. It takes a little over an hour. One person operates the winch (easy). Two guys lift up on the front legs as it is being winched in. We wrap a tow strap around the front frame and legs of the lift and hook the winch to the strap. Place the strap as low on the lift (frame and front legs) as possible. We need to make sure we lift up on the legs prior to winching it. My neighbor busted his front legs off the first time we pulled his out. After that, he fastened 2 X 10 planks between the front and back legs (they act like skis now). Since then, he hasn’t had any issues. Hard sand bottom would be much easier. Both our docks have wheels now and they are easy. If we didn’t have an electric winch, it would be a biach and 500.00 wouldn’t seem quite so bad. I also have a small retaining wall we need to scale with my lift. We use 2 – 12 ft aluminum angle that we use as ramps. The winch does all the work. We just have to guide it as it is being pulled. The hardest part is to hall the winch, ramps, and tow straps down to the lake.

Attach plastic barrels to the deep end and pull the pin and shorten the legs. Then you just have to deal with lifting the shallow end. Drag in until the barrels are at shore. I have helped move lifts this way. You can also use ratchet straps or a come along to help lift the deep end up higher on the barrels with the proper rigging.

Art Green wrote:

Attach plastic barrels to the deep end and pull the pin and shorten the legs. Then you just have to deal with lifting the shallow end. Drag in until the barrels are at shore. I have helped move lifts this way. You can also use ratchet straps or a come along to help lift the deep end up higher on the barrels with the proper rigging.

Simple, yet probably effective! This still requires me going in 6′ deep water to pull the pins and legs though, I want to avoid that at all costs..

If you use the come along you can lift it high enough you won’t have to pull the pins while in 6 feet of water. Just leave a cable connected to the bottom of the legs when you put back in to hook the come along to.

I am not sure exactly how they do it in my neighborhood, but a jon boat is brought along, slid under the lift, the lift is lowered to raise the station into the water off the bottom and then they float/slide the whole works to the shoreline. From there it is a combo of brute force, winches, come-alongs and other things to get it up on shore…

Mark

tell your local CO it’s encrusted with zeebs

mbenson wrote:

I am not sure exactly how they do it in my neighborhood, but a jon boat is brought along, slid under the lift, the lift is lowered to raise the station into the water off the bottom and then they float/slide the whole works to the shoreline. From there it is a combo of brute force, winches, come-alongs and other things to get it up on shore…

Mark

That’s how the guy who we visit does it.

Go to Fleet Farm and get yourself a couple of larger tractor tubes. Get as far down as you can and put a empty tub under one of the side rails. Start to fill the tube until it starts to get some lift, but still “U’s around the bottom rail. Do this on both sides to help lift and stabilize the lift. Once you have this on, go to the shore side and lift and pull, lift and pull. It is not too bad if the deep legs are off the ground and not stuck in the mud.

If the tubes shift towards shore, just take out some air, slide down and refill. Once you get it towards shore, it becomes a man vs steel fight to the death.

The tubes also help get lift if the bottom is very mucky and the legs are sucked down.

I once floated a lift across a lake on 4 inner tubes, a boat, and a case of beer.

Google “Boat lift helper”. That is what I have on mine. Works great.

TimJones wrote:

Google “Boat lift helper”. That is what I have on mine. Works great.

I’ve seen that kit at the boat shows, it’s basically the same idea I have with the 30 gallon drums lifted under water when raising the lift.. Do you mind saying how much $$ that Lift Helper kit was? I believe they quoted me around $1,500?

What farmboy said. Tubes work very well.

Another tip is you use tubes. “Install” the tubes in place when they are deflated and use a portable air tank to fill them in place. That way you do not have to do ANY lifting of the lift frame to float it.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>TimJones wrote:</div>
Google “Boat lift helper”. That is what I have on mine. Works great.

I’ve seen that kit at the boat shows, it’s basically the same idea I have with the 30 gallon drums lifted under water when raising the lift.. Do you mind saying how much $$ that Lift Helper kit was? I believe they quoted me around $1,500?

I think it was around $1100 but that was 5 years ago. I have used the drums and inner tubes before. What I like about this verses the drums and tubes is it stays right on the lift frame. You just inflate the bags to move it in or out of the lake. I inflate it and just walk it down the dock like the guy in the video.

You just inflate the bags to move it in or out of the lake. I inflate it and just walk it down the dock like the guy in the video.

That is exactly what you do with the tubes. Buy big ones and don’t inflate them all the way, just enough to float the lift. $30-40 vs $1100.

rvvrrat wrote:

You just inflate the bags to move it in or out of the lake. I inflate it and just walk it down the dock like the guy in the video.

That is exactly what you do with the tubes. Buy big ones and don’t inflate them all the way, just enough to float the lift. $30-40 vs $1100.

Do you leave the tubes tide to your lift all year?

We use an electric winch (12000 lb) with a deep cycle battery, chained to tree. This is for a newer good size lift. We have a 6′ tall, 45* bank that we need to get the lift up and over. We get it up on it’s two wheels and roll it in to shore easily. From there we have two large wood planks that we prop against the bank. Tie a rope to both sides of the lift and then we start to pull. The bottom of the front legs slide up the planks and then the wheels hit the planks and we just pull it up with the winch. One guy on the winch and two guys manning the lift usually takes care of it.

We do not hook the winch cable directly to the lift. We use a heavy duty rope tied to the two main front vertical beams and then hook the winch cable to the rope.

Hey Joe, I was thinking of trying this same procedure you outlined:

…have the drums tied at one end of a rope, the other end will go under the main lift support bar and tied to the internal lift support bar, this way when I crank the lift UP, the rope will pull the drums under water, thus lifting it….

Did this work for you? do you have any other tips to try along with it? I have a boat lift stuck too deep in the muck that I want to float in a little.

Thanks,

it worked great, the only problem is that the side beams of Pier Pleasure lifts are higher than the end beams, so I wasn’t able to get the drums very deep in the water before they would run into the beams, but they got deep enough to float the lift…

I have since had some aluminum square stock bars welded to my lift beams allowing me to insert 4 wheel axles from Dock-Rite, so now I simply pull the lift out with a 4 wheeler.