- Do I need a lift?
- Do you provide electricity to the dock?
- What are the tanks made out of?
- What would make a tank fail?
- How will the air leak if the valve is shut?
- What size lift do I need?
- Can you lift my inboard ski boat with fins?
- Do I need a lift for my pontoon boat?
- What is unique about your lift?
- How does the boat self center?
- How do I operate the lift?
- How much water do I need under the dock to operate the lift?
- Can I use this lift in a double wide slip?
- Do I want an electric lift for my Personal Watercraft?
Do I need a lift?
As boat prices get higher, we find we are selling more boat lifts to protect your investment, maintain performance, keep the boat clean and prevent the hull from blistering. A boat lift under a covered dock is also the perfect place to store your boat for the winter.
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Do you provide electricity to the dock?
Please don’t let anyone but licensed electricians go near your dock! Aluminum and water and electricity are a deadly mix- they can kill. If you are local, we will be happy to refer you to one of several area electricians that are familiar with the construction of our docks. Generally, any licensed electrician will do. Please be aware there may be several ground fault interrupters installed in the same service, so the electrician must determine which ones to remove so they don’t counteract each other. Some areas require double grounding to counter the electrolysis in the water gernerated primarily from hydro dams.
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How do I operate the lift?
We mount a lockable console to the deck of the dock. To launch the boat, simply release the air by turning a lever from the 3:00 “Hold” position to the 12:00 “Raise/Lower” position. Wait until all the air is vented, then back the boat off the lift and out of the slip. When you return to the slip and want to lift the boat you simply drive it up onto the cradle as described above, flip the electrical toggle switch in the console to turn on the air pump, and watch the boat raise until the stabilizer bar contacts the bracket on the dock. Give it a little more air so the lift actually raises the dock and the lift and dock will now all float together as one piece rather than independently bouncing and squeaking in the slip. When the lift is in the fully raised position, shut off the blower toggle switch and return the lever to the 3:00 “Hold” position. If you will be away for an extended period of several weeks or more, we recommend shutting the valves on top of the tanks to prevent accidental lowering should the hoses be chewed or a clamp fail.
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What are the tanks made out of?
The same material as our floats but with much thicker side walls to counteract the pressure (a minimum of 3/8” wall and built up corners and edges to 1/2”). These tanks are sturdy enough to sit on the bottom with a load in the cradle.
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What would make a tank fail?
Certainly a defective molded product could fail although we’ve never heard of one from our manufacturer, Hewitt Boatport. The Achilles heel on a boat lift is the air hoses which, much like your car’s radiator hose, could leak causing the tank to fill with water.
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How will the air leak if the valve is shut?
Leaks can develop if the hose is punctured or a fitting lets go. As a precautionary measure we put additional shut off valves where the hose enters each tank which when closed properly can give you peace of mind when you are away for extended periods of time.
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What size lift do I need?
We stock the 6000# capacity which can handle almost any boat up to 25’, including deck boats. There are other sizes available in our manufacturer’s stock for boats up to 10,000#.
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Can you lift my inboard ski boat with fins?
Yes, the cradles on our lifts that pick up the boat are not only adjustable outward for different hull designs, but we can also raise them to clear prop shafts, rudders, skegs, and fins or other obstructions.
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Do I need a lift for my pontoon boat?
For years, I’ve told people this was waste of money, but with the price of these boats getting so high we just might want to take another look at the application. The extra set of cradles adds about $300 to the cost of a lift.
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What is unique about your lift?
It mounts to the front of the slip rather than to the sides. Our lift tilts back so the boat floats off like a trailer. The benefit of this operation includes these unique features: automatically self-centers the boat rather than your trying to hold the boat in place during a storm; the only one-piece frame made from structural 2” x 5” x 3/16” tubing; the lift only has two working parts rather than numerous nuts and bolts to cause maintenance problems. Additionally, this lift has no metal underwater when the boat is up thereby further reducing maintenance headaches.
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How does the boat self center?
The cradles are long enough like a boat trailer so some of them are above the water. When the boat hits the dry part of the cradle, it stops; power on slightly and you’ve centered and fixed the boat in place. This is a primary benefit often mentioned by our repeat customers. It is not easy trying to physically hold a boat in place during a lightning storm waiting for other lifts to contact the bottom of the boat.
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How much water do I need under the dock to operate the lift?
A rule of thumb is 5 ½ feet for any boat lift. The side-by-side pontoon type lifts may require this depth for the entire length of the slip. Since our lift tilts down from the front, we don’t need any water at the front, just the back half of the slip. If the lake goes down to less than 5 ½ feet with your boat on the lift, it will have to stay there until the water level rises sufficiently to float the lift again.
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Can I use this lift in a double wide slip?
The Hewitt lifts are a perfect application for dual slip installations. The front mounted lift needs only one perpendicular side to mount the stabilizer bar, and the bar can be installed on either the right or left side. The application works as easily in double slip community docks as in private double slip docks.
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Do I want an electric lift for my Personal Watercraft?
People generally won’t take the time to wait for an electric lift; consequently they leave the PWC on the side of the dock and a wave lifts it under and into the dock causing hundreds of dollars of damage. We offer a non-electric lift that works with a series of ball bearing rollers that enable you to easily launch and recover the PWC.
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