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How
to Choose the Right Boat Lift From Three Basic Types |
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You have a choice of three types of boat lifts: Standing Boat Lifts, Floating Boat Lifts, and Mounted Boat Lifts. Whichever one your situation requires, we’re confident ShoreMaster is the one brand that will outperform the rest. In fact, your ShoreMaster boat lift should do the job for a good 25 years. According to the average, you’ll probably change boats during that period five times, but your ShoreMaster lift will never go out of style. Here’s a brief description of each type to help you decide which is best.
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Standing Boat Lifts are ideal if you have the type of shoreline found mostly in the northern tier of the U.S. and interior of Canada on glacial lakes. This means you probably have a lake with a firm bottom and a gradual grade, with a water level that rarely fluctuates more than a few feet in a season. |
The
firm bottom is important because the frame of a standing boat
lift must rest securely there. Standing lifts are also ideal
for northern
lakes because they’re easy to install in the spring and
remove in the fall to avoid ice damage.
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How they work: With a standing lift, you raise your boat by turning a large wheel attached to a winch. The lift mechanism may be either vertical, which moves straight up and down, or cantilever, which pivots into position. Cantilever lifts are your best choice if you need only about 3 feet of lift, because the pivoting action transfers weight more easily and has few moving parts. If you need to raise your boat more than 3 feet, either because of fluctuating water levels or the possibility of large waves, a vertical lift is your best bet. A vertical lift is also better if your water is shallow because it can be lowered to about 12 inches of water clearance. If your boat is over 4,000 pounds, you may want power assist, either hydraulic or electric. Two advantages of hydraulic: you can lift your boat more quickly, and there are no cables to wear. |
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| More on Standing Boat Lifts >> | |
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Floating Boat Lifts are an ideal complement to a floating dock. Floating boat lifts were originally designed to meet the needs of boaters in the inland reservoirs of the south central and south eastern United States, but they are a good choice anywhere your shoreline is marked by deep water or water that fluctuates more |
than
a few feet during the course of a boating
season.While
floating boat lifts are a natural fit with floating docks, they
may also be attached to standing docks or seawalls. To use a floating
boat lift, you must generally have a minimum of four to five feet
of water in order to allow the tanks to submerge and the boat to
enter the lift. |
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How they work: Floating boat lifts use a set of tanks, which raise the boat when they are filled with air, and lower the boat when the air is released. These lifts are attached to the dock, and are typically used year round. |
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| More on Floating Boat Lifts >> | |
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| Mounted Boat Lifts are your best choice if you are in shallow salt water and moor your boat between pilings or on a seawall. These lifts mount directly to the pilings or seawall, and generally use a motorized winch to lift the boat. They incorporate a set of slings or a cable mounted frame to lift the boat from the water. | |
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