Boat lift Electric Winch

[dukhntr]

Hey all! With the impending long weekend, my thoughts have turned to getting the boat on and off my lift. I would like to add an electric winch to the lift. BUT, the $700-800 price has me thinking I could hire the neighbor kid for a lot less. The lift is a 3600lb Vibo, and the boat is an 1850 Sportfish with a 115 Yammie 4 stroke. Has anyone done something for less $$. Just checking before I drop the $$ for a factory unit.

Thanks for any help.

Dukhntr.

[LABS4ME]

I just purchased an A/C Shorecommander power boat lift. It is in the range you mentioned but it has a built in light to go under the canopy and 2 key fobs to raise and lower it while you're inside the boat. These feature along with a direct drive motor made my decision for me.

They also make a unit for about half that amount that mechanically spins the lift wheel for you. The only downside to these that I've seen is if it's raining, the drive pulley can slip on the wheel.

There are other brand winches out there in the $300-500 range.

Good Luck!

Ken

[Gus]

I think it's possible. Go to northern tool or someplace that sells winches and check them out. My grandpa put one on his lift. I think he used somekind of larger 4 wheeler winch. He ran a power cord to the rear of the boat lift and made a plug (like a trolling motor plug) that connects to the starting battery for power. It seems to strain a little bit under the load but it's been working for 3 or 4 years. I'm sure there are enough sizes of winches that you could fab up something.

We used the existing cable and attached that to the power winch. Large U bolts and one through bolt if I remember correctly attached the mounting plate of the winch to the lift post so that the cable pulls in the same spot as the hand crank used to be.

Sorry I can't be too much more specific. I'm not sure when I'll get back to his place to look at more details.