Electric boat lift

[erikwells]

Whats the best way to go about getting an existing lift outfitted with an electric motor to the winch? Dad would get out a lot more if he didn't have to crank the boat (17 foot fiberglass warrior with a 75 honda) back up. It's getting harder for him and takes too long especially when he just wants to zip around for a short trip. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[CigarGuy]

Google "lift Mate". Neighbor has one ang it works great! You can find them on C.list a little cheaper than the store by the bay.

[leech~~]

Up at our campground there are about 45-50 boat slips at the dock so you get to see a lot of ways people do things. There are many who just go out and buy the pre-made bolt on systems. But there are a few creative guys that made there own using a small ATV size winch. One guy made a little mounting plate, then run it off his boat battery up and down, but put a solar panel in from Northern to recharge the battery so it's always ready to go. He rigged up a few extra pulleys with the winch cable down to the pulley that the lift wheel uses somehow. It seems to work pretty slick for him.

[CigarGuy]

I'm actually going to try the atv winch deal this year. I have a cantilever lift so it should work fairly well. I searched the net and found some good info from others who have tried it. I'm too cheap to spend the 500.00 on the lift mate.

[leech~~]

I'm actually going to try the atv winch deal this year. I have a cantilever lift so it should work fairly well. I searched the net and found some good info from others who have tried it. I'm too cheap to spend the 500.00 on the lift mate.

That is a good point. I forgot to say that they do work best on a cantilever lift from what I have seen.

[liebs]

Google "Drill a Lift" or go to you tube. A less expensive option but probably not as nice as an electric winch with remote. I haven't read any reviews on this yet. Just ran across it a bit ago.

[erikwells]

Bought an electric lift mate with the solar panel used for $250.00 this weekend. I didn't ask a lot of questions and I'm not even sure how old it is. No excuses but I'd been saying I was going to buy one of these for my Dad for the past three years and hadn't done it, so I jumped. It looks like it's in decent shape and has the arm that attaches to the lift with a small wheel that will snug up to the big manual lift wheel. I haven't even hooked it up to power yet. The solar panel has a small crack on the side so I'm hoping that won't be a big problem? I'll report back to my success or lack once I get it hooked up hopefully in a few weeks.

[leechlake]

I have one but just use a battery. Only retrofit I've done to mine is I attach a bungy chord to the arm and hook it to something so there is more pressure from rubber wheel to lift wheel. Won't slip when it's wet either.

[erikwells]

Leechlake, the one I bought for Dad will run off the battery too just the solar panel should hopefully keep the battery charged. I'm really excited about this purchase as Dad told me last year he didn't go out much because it was getting harded for him to crank the boat back up. Purchased an additional dock section to make an L for improved dock fishing and got the electric boat lift setup this weekend. Please hurry with the open water. Thanks again.