floating boat lift

[3card]

rwatson,
You have miss read my post. Re-read my earlier post and it should clear things up.
If you want to learn how to build a floating boat lift go to http://www.liftnlaunch.com.

[3card]

Gregs,
Did you have any luck getting a blower from Redline Supply?
I am looking forward to getting my boat and boat lift back in the water soon!

[juiceclark]

I was going to put my F-36 on a lift - but dreaded doing so because the boat would block most of our view and be very expensive. So, I built a boat bunker.
Sitting in a saltwater canal, I've never had a barnacle because there is no water movement under my boat. All I did was buy a used billboard sign on Ebay for $40 and put PVC around the edges (signs have a 4" sleeve all around). I took my boat hook and slid it under the boat in 30 seconds and haven't had any bottom growth since that day 3 years ago! In the summertime, when bottom growth is the worst, the water right under the boat gets so hot from being trapped there nothing can live.

Tony in Sw FL

[dragonjbynight]

for your equalization, could you connect all the barrell's together with a small pvc between, then vent both sets with a equalized pipe at either end, thereby letting equal amounts of air in or out at a time?(kinda like an equalization pipe on an oil tank)

don't know if that will help, but there ya go.

[3card]

Originally Posted by gregs

So in the interest of the few people here that have been thinking and dreaming of building something. What did you use for the blower?

Gregs,
Any luck with Redline Supply on getting that blower motor we had discussed?

[gregs]

Not yet, I have been looking at some different ways to go.

[3card]

Gregs,
I have recently discovered another website where you can by a blower. Try googling Premier Boat lifts. They have a couple options,(with or without gfi cord and valves.) They seem to be cheaper, but I have e-mailed them a couple of times to get info on the blower with no response??

[murdomack]

My question is all about these plastic barrels. I have often thought of using them for bouyancy, but I would like to know how they stand up to the sea and the sun. How many years before they degrade?

[omi]

Hey guys,

I don't usually post much on my company, but if you need any boat lift part (regardless of how rare), check out OMI (www.ozarkmountainindustries.com). Regardless of ever need parts, we usually have them: post mounted controllers, deck mounted controllers, replacement blowers, square bushings, round bushings, rollers, spanners - you name it. OMI is a one-stop shop for all the "missing" parts required for floating boat lifts.

Although the website won't be up until a few weeks, OMI acquired www.boatliftparts.com which will allow anyone to purchase anything and get the parts they need.

Give me a call 417.863.8999 or shoot me an email at omisales@ozarkmountainindustries.com. I'll be glad to help in any way I can and make your search much more simpler.

Stephen

[rosbullterrier]

Why does the water need forcing out with compressed air, valves and tubes?

Would a reversable water pump situated in the bottom of a single unit fiberglass tank or just the rear of a two chamber tank - to lower only the rear - not be sufficient with a breather tube at the top?

We were informed that one litre capacity will lift one kg. So depending on how low the tank is required to lower the boat would determine its size. The tank could be glass fibre formed around a plywood former, cut in half to remove the former and fit the pump(s), then sealed together as a whole.

To allow maximum air around the hull while giving the best hull support, adjustable bunks similar to those on trailers would be bonded to the tank top.

I am looking to keeping my 27' O/I planing boat out of the water although taking up as little berthing space as possible. It would be moored in a quiet estuary with immediate power supply.

[mralda]

Hello,
Yesterday we finally finished building our boat lift, after about 2 months of trial and error. It is built out of iron angle and uses 6 drums. I have a Zodiac Pro Open 650 (21'4") with an Evinrude 115 ETec, that weighs about 1700 pounds. The boat lift is attached to a floating dock, also built out of iron angle, that uses 9 drums and is about 15 x 15'. I am still working on the hydraulic mechanism and will be using a submersible sump pump (it is a freshwater lake). The float uses 4 drums in the back (for the transom) and another 2 in front (towards the bow). The 2 front drums are sealed and the 4 rear drums are "sinkable". We built a "manifold" out of 3/4" PVC tubing connecting all 4 rear drums to a single inlet-outlet, we also inserted some common garden hose in the top part of this 4 drums (as far forward as possible) for letting air in and out. For the time being, to lower the lift you only need to drop the pvc pipe into the lake and the drums start filling with water, taking aproximately 30 minutes to fill almost completely. To raise the lift, we connect a centrifugal pump to the pvc pipe and pump the water out, effectively raising the boat out of the water. I'll post pictures soon.

[mralda]

By the way, we started using the foot pump for the inflatable to "push" the water out of the drums, but finally decided to go with a pump to "pull" it out. You can even go the route of a bilge pump and run it from your boat battery when you want to take the boat out.

[mralda]

Hello,
Yesterday we finally finished building our boat lift, after about 2 months of trial and error. It is built out of iron angle and uses 6 drums. I have a Zodiac Pro Open 650 (21'4") with an Evinrude 115 ETec, that weighs about 1700 pounds. The boat lift is attached to a floating dock, also built out of iron angle, that uses 9 drums and is about 15 x 15'. I am still working on the hydraulic mechanism and will be using a submersible sump pump (it is a freshwater lake). The float uses 4 drums in the back (for the transom) and another 2 in front (towards the bow). The 2 front drums are sealed and the 4 rear drums are "sinkable". We built a "manifold" out of 3/4" PVC tubing connecting all 4 rear drums to a single inlet-outlet, we also inserted some common garden hose in the top part of this 4 drums (as far forward as possible) for letting air in and out. For the time being, to lower the lift you only need to drop the pvc pipe into the lake and the drums start filling with water, taking aproximately 30 minutes to fill almost completely. To raise the lift, we connect a centrifugal pump to the pvc pipe and pump the water out, effectively raising the boat out of the water. I'll post pictures soon.

[rosbullterrier]

Mralda,
Looking forward to your pics. I'm not sure which way to plan for a lift.

I don't want to try and reinvent the wheel and there are some clever ideas -

Andy

[mralda]

As promised, hear are the pictures. I don't have the definite numbers, but it turn out costing around US $1,200. A lot of it due to conceptual mistakes that had to be ironed out... meaning pulling it out of the water, cutting and welding steel, cutting pvc pipe and throwing away a lot of pvc accessories! We're going to start building another from bolted aluminum. As you can probably tell from the pics, the lift actually list towards starboard, we didn't realize that the boat is actually heavier on that side. It would probably be easy to correct by adding an extra drum in front (it is also a little bit front heavy) a little to the right of centerline.