The best lift

[fitzee]

whats everyone opions on the best vertical boat lift??

[bubba]

If money means nothing, FLOE.

[johnboyy7]

What if money means something?

[crowland]

A little more info on your set up would probably help with the decision. Do you have a dock, use a slip at a marina, etc. Do you have the ability for electrical at your dock? For my purposes I had a custom cradle built because we do not have the depth beneath our dock to install one of the float on or hydra-hoist lift.

Check out boathoistusa.com as a good starting point to help you find what is going to work for you

[Chris4x4Gill2]

We use two Hydro-Hoist lifts and have been very happy with them.

[j2nh]

SunSteam hydraulic lift. I think I have had mine for about 8 years now and never had a problem Very high quality welding. Expensive but much nicer than the ShoreStation I had been using.

[jiminator]

I have a Basta (formerly Nyman) hydraulic lift and I'm very happy with it. It's solar powered so you don't need AC at the dock. Used ones occasionally come up for sale on Craigslist, so depending on where you're located, you might be able to find a good deal. For a new 4,000 lb lift it's about $6,500. I had a Shorestation before this lift and you get a pretty serious workout turning that big wheel- I eventually purchased a motor on ebay for the Shorestation, but it still probably took a minute to raise the boat completely. With the Basta it's almost instantaneous- 5 seconds.

[casey344]

Boat Lifts

We are an independent boat lift dealer. We sell and have sold a number of different brands of cable and floating boat lifts. I probably won't be able to offer much more than advice but am happy to do so.

Hydrohoist, Sunstream and others as mentioned are all good lifts. Most of the floating lifts other than Sunstream will require a floating u-slip to attach the lift. A fixed dock will likely require pilings driven and a cable lift.

Unfortunately allot of people are selling their boats and lifts this year. We have been refurbishing used floating boat lifts and reselling them on Craigslist - there is good value and savings if you can find someone who does a little more than just move the used lift from one slip to another. Some of them simply need to be cleaned up but many require replacement steel hardware. As long as you buy a reputable brand that is 5 years old or less you should not have much to worry about. Some of these floating lifts companies have been around since the 60's so unless you know what you are looking at I wouldn't trust the sellers answers - you wouldn't believe the 30 year old lifts people have claimed to be only 7-8 years old.

If you find something used and can take pictures I can probably tell you everything you will need to know before buying it. Pictures of your dock would be best but at the very least a verbal description will help us guide you.

Good luck!

Casey Nicholls
www.waterjack.net

[adaptivelimb]

Check this out.

http://noprofileboatlifts.com/index.html

[83ski2001]

if u have 4 poles at ur boat slip i would reccomend hi-n-dry or magnum boat lifts. i install them for a living.

[casey344]

Check this out.

http://noprofileboatlifts.com/index.html

Those no-profile lifts are really nice looking but they sure are proud of them. Poly Lift makes a floating lift kit with a no-profile look to it. I am installing one this summer for my boat and including a jet-ski area off the back.

Here are a couple Poly Lift lifts (www.polylift.com) I saw when visiting their Missouri manufacturing plant earlier this month:







This one likely needs an explanation. The boat lift is situated on the back side of the slip, the jet-ski lifts are bolted to the front of the u-slip. As you can see the lift has risers on it so the jet-skis can be driven under the boat when its up.




Just my two cents ... for cable lifts we have had great success with Boat Lift US (www.boatliftus.com). They can be drop shipped 85% assembled. Contract someone to drive pilings and if you are somewhat handy you and a helper can finish the install, the top and bottom beams are aluminum and fairly easy to man-handle.

Casey Nicholls
www.waterjack.net

[Chris4x4Gill2]

The Poly-lift is very similair to the Hydro Hoist we use. Hydro-Hoist

[casey344]

Similar but different!

The Poly-lift is very similair to the Hydro Hoist we use. Hydro-Hoist

Sure they are similar ... they both float but that's where the similarity starts and ends.

Poly Lift lifts have 7/8" thick lift tanks with a lifetime unlimited warranty.

As of 2007 H-hoist has 3/8" thick lift tanks with a 3 year warranty.

Depending on where this lift and boat are situated either lift may work fine ... but they are about as similar as Moomba is to Nautique.