Boat Lift Question

[Landry1]

Were in the process of buying a lake house and will need to change out the boat lift. The current owners have a IO runabout and when meeting with the boat house builder, he insinuated that the lift would be custom built to our boats specifications.

We currently own on 07 SV211, but figure that in a year or two we'll be ready to to trade in for a newer model.

In the forum's experience, would a lift built for a specific Nautique be a disadvantage, or is the lift really built for a typical hull pattern from a manufacturer and therefore not specific to a certain year/model???

[gride]

Typically as long as the lift can sustain the weight it's just a matter of using the right height wood and depending what it's made of, weighting it down. Don't skimp on quality metal and shackles.

[TX-Foilhead]

What lake? All dock builders tend to do different things, but there seems to be one at every lake who sets the standard. My cradle is just 2 standard V shaped W beams, The rear one has a notch that drops down between the bunks for the underwater gear to pass through. The bunks are 2x10's that I've set to hit some chines in the hull that run under the stringers. Not sure about the front of the cradle, but the rear is supposed to be good to 12000 lbs although I would guess the ceiling would give way sooner.

I've seen a variation of this with the front a rear connected with some channel and slide out extensions so the cradle and the boat can sit on the dock. This was on a lake where the docks float and was done to keep thins from swinging when the lake gets rough during a storm. That design wasn't as adjustable as mine, but would probably work for most inboards. For the ultimate cradle, Magnum in Austin does some that are almost identical to their trailers minus the fenders and axels. The even have guide poles and a winch, those would be like a trailer and only work with the boat they were built for.

[TX-Foilhead]

I doubt you'll have to worry, but Girde is right don't skimp on hardware. I've had my cradle fold up and break and although it just dropped about 6in, it could have been a real mess. It was a bit suspect from the beginning and I should have had a new one built before that happend. Ive also seen kids try to lift ballasted boats and have the lift pull out of the ceiling, if your going to do that be sure you get something that can easily handle the weight. A lot of older docks around here were built for boats that weight 2 or 3000lbs and boat are much bigger and heavier these days.

[cedarcreek216]

It sounds like he's talking to Bill Stout at cedar Creek, but I could be wrong. At least that is the same thing he told us when he built our. Basically it's a universal cradel but the bunks are adjustable in and out for larger or smaller hulls. So basically one cradle for all boats, but he'll set the bunks during the install at your boat dimensions, at least that's what our builder did.