New Lift...How High?

[troybox]

Taking the plunge and giving up trailering...just had my first lift installed and put the boat on it tonight. Question is how high should I lift the boat out of the water?

It is a Floe vertical lift...all the manual says is that the elevator frame should not be hit by waves. But the bunks sit about 15" above the base frame which is probably 8" tall itself...so combined plus another 12-16" for waves seems pretty high in the air. Maybe right...maybe not, but looks high.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[msavold]

Nice lift.
First, if I may, the obvious - ask the guy that installed it...!
The most common limit I've hear of is the cord winder - they do NOT like to go too high or too low. Either one can really screw things up. Is there a limiter on your lift? (If not, I would seriously look into getting one installed.
As for how high in general that depends on the construction of the lift as well as conditions. Ours is a Golden 7500lb, we're on a canal (so no waves) and the height is set at about 2' above Hurricane Sandy's flood elevation. That puts it about 5'-6' out of the water! There are boats on the main canal (on elevator and 4-post lifts that you can easily kayak under when they're up.
Also, it makes sense that you wouldn't want the frame hit by waves. But think absolute worst case scenario and then give yourself a margin.
Note that we do not always go to the max. If we're going back out a little later, I just stop about ' above the water and then, when we're done for the day, up she goes to the stops.

 

[troybox]

That was my thought to...but the installer is closed for the holiday weekend now. The lift does have a magnetic limiter, but I could probably raise it another foot+ before that comes into play. But from the sound of what your talking about, height isn't an issue.

Does high wind ever become a factor for boats on lifts?

 

[msavold]

If you have a limiter, that's your answer for the max - not mandatory to go that high, of course.

Does high wind ever become a factor for boats on lifts?

Depends how high, orientation (as in boat to wind - strong perpendicular obviously much worse than parallel at same wind speed, and, of course it always depends on how well it was put together!!!