Hey all,
We bought our dream house this last fall on a creek here in Mount Pleasant. The dock has piles installed for a boat lift (as welll as assorted other boat lift motors/parts), but is not complete, nor working. The previous owner (who is big boater) said he had the lift replaced 3 times over the last 10 years and after it broke the last time, gave up on it. It’s a Davit Master, but rusted and would have to be totally replaced. The piles are in great shape. The previous owner said if he had to do it over again, he’d install a jet dock instead and remove all the mechanical parts and I agree with him. It seems maintenance free, most of the rest of our neighbors have that style and being that I’m on a tidal creek, think it’d give me more flexibility in getting out, versus a lift.
My father-in-law, who is a great guy and extremely knowledgeable boater disagrees and says I need to replace it with a standard mechanical lift, like what was there before. He’s a smart guy but pretty set in his ways and the older I’ve gotten, the more I realize he’s not always right. Try as I might, I really see no benefits to going his route and replacing it with what keeps breaking. Can anyone give me any pros/cons to which I they prefer? For a jet dock, I’m looking at $7-$12k new (which seems crazy). Anyone have a realistic price for someone to install a new mechanical lift on existing piles?
Would just like to hear which y’all prefer, since it won’t be a cheap.
Boat is a Scout 195, although we may upgrade to a 23’ or so in a few years. Piles are in great shape, spaced 12’x20’ or so and power is already run. Just no clue which way I should go.
there are 2 types of “jet docks”, the cube style( usually black) and the grey floating platforms- The black cube style uses no power and does not raise or lower and cubes can be added at any time to expand it.
The grey flat platform style is 2 jointed sections- the stern has an inflation chamber that raises and lowers it a few inches making it much easier to use, however if your dock would ever sit on the mud you can’t use one of these, also not expandable but very easy to resell if you decide to go bigger.
The pile mount lift is pretty fool proof if you buy a good brand- however the typical pile spread is 12x12 so a 12 x 20 would be a custom build and would cost a little more.
your quoted price range is correct.
PM me if you would like to meet for a real quote- I install all 3 types
I like the aluminum lifts ,like a DECO. I have had one for ten years with no problems. I think we have four more in the “hood” and everyone seems to like them.
http://decoboatlift.com/
ZX
Thanks for the replies. @ Dockman, I’ll PM you in the coming weeks. This is still a little ways out, as I have some other projects that are slightly more pressing. But, as I get closer, I’ll stay in touch and would love for you to come out, take a look and give me an idea of cost. I’m not really a fan of the black cube setup, but if it’s substantially cheaper, then I would probably consider it. And I’ve talked to a couple of companies that have told me that the platform style will work if it’s sitting in mud (although I’ve heard different things on that, so who knows). I’ll also measure the spacing on the piles one night this week to just confirm those also. Ugh - a lot to figure out on this one.
thanks all