Mac 26M Boat lift/floating dock

[bedouin]

I live in a condo association in Florida and rent a boat dock from one of my neighbors to keep my Mac at. The first year I kept the in the water and I just hated that. I do have bottom paint but wanted to get it out of the water so I bought an Air-Dock. Worked fine for a few years but before Hurricane Irma hit, I deflated the air bags to bring the lower into the water not knowing what to expect from Irma. Our area, Bradenton Fl. did not sustain too much damage but our association did have some problems with roofs and misc repairs and since I am the property manager I had my hands full. So once I knew my survived I moved on to other things. The tilt on my motor stopped working otherwise I would have tried to take the out of the water before Irma hit. Not sure which would have been worse, in the water or on the trailer somewhere....

Bottom line I finally got my on the hard to make some long needed repairs (bought a bunch of fun accessories from BWY) and to give it a good detailing. I should be finished within the next few weeks.

My Air-Dock is toast, barnacles on both sides on all three air bladders. No way I will be able to clean that mess off as it is like concrete.... Over $3,000 to replace the bladders and hoses and they are a pain to keep clean even with bottom paint applied.

Now I am concerned, how am I going to keep my boat out of the water at the dock.

Does anyone have experience with alternative types of boat lifts? that would work on a I am looking at the floating dock blocks like Jet Dock and EZ Docks, I have seen many on google and hope to find something used.

I am not opposed to any DIY ideas.

Thank you for any thoughts you may have.

Matthew

[Jimmyt]

Matthew,
For those of us that are a little slow out of the gate; can we assume you don't want a conventional sling or cradle lift?

[bedouin]

I would love the conventional 4 piling lift but since I just rent the dock, I did not want to go to the expense of putting in 4 pilings at around $4,000 plus buying a 5,000 lb lift, plus running the electrical into the condo

I live on the bay side where I have land in my backyard and not able to get a boat in there so I rent a dock from one of the owners in here on the canal and they are not keen on me putting a conventional lift in there.

So trying to think of alternatives... I may be forced back to the Air_Dock.

[Jimmyt]

There are a lot of air dock versions, some with rigid tanks and cradles. Of course, the more stuff you submerge, the more depth you'll need.
https://www.boatlift.com
Not sure about cost of the rigid systems either... sorry - no help.

DIY: an old pontoon boat, and a high volume/high pressure air pump (regenerative blower), or compressor with large storage tank...?

[bedouin]

Not sure how it is in Mobile Al. but in the summer man the barnacles really grow here!

The less underwater and in contact with the water the better.

Still thinking....

Thank you for replying.

[Jimmyt]

Same. Any place I would want to keep the boat would be brackish, subject to barnacles, slime, and corrosion. My boat is on a trailer in my conditioned garage for that very reason.

The PO kept her, stick up, at a marina on the trailer in Pensacola. Very convenient and zero fouling concerns. No more than 10 minutes from arrival to sailing. But, dust, sun, mildew, mold, salt environment, etc. were issues. I'm not in a position to sail weekly yet, so leaving the boat in the weather isn't worth it. When I get to a point where weekly sailing Is feasible, a marina slip with an air dock, or a stick up parking spot will start looking pretty good.

The fouling and corrosion really limit our lift choices as well. There are free standing galvanized lifts which you can float to your site and sink to the bottom. End of the season you could take it out and clean it. Don't know how long it would last in our environment though.

I'll be anxious to see what other ideas you come up with. A lot of pvc pipe and plastic barrel ideas on the net for air dock DIY. There are some beautiful flush deck air lifts that would really be sweet, but my pockets aren't that deep.

[solarfry]

Have you tried painting floats with Micron CSC or similar antifouling? I live 6 mos in FL and keep my sailboat in water on a canal full time. The antifouling seems to work pretty good for 18 mos. Then a powerwash and it is ready for new paint without having to sand. It must be painted after powerwash before bottom dries up completely. Works ok for me but not as good as a regular aluminum or galv steel boat lift. I keep my powerboat on a lift and it has no bottom paint. It is a 2011 but still looks like new thanks to woody waxing all the gelcoat every three months. Just apply with a mop and let the rain polish it off.

Boats on the water seem to git dirty pretty quickly from lawn junk lawn service blows into canal and "other stuff" neighbors throw in there. SAilboat sides get pretty dirty and hard to clean from all that crap climbing up sides from boat wake.

There are other forms of floating contraptions to keep big boats off the water. If you do not antifoul them barnacles and sun kill floats in 3 to 4 years while the boat lifts seem to last 11 to 16 years.

Only reason I do not sail all the time is because of the lightning storms that come by regularly. Don't want to get hit.

[bedouin]

Yes I have bottom paint on my Air-Dock and had a diver clean them from time to time.

My problem came from deflating the air bags before hurricane Irma hit to get the closer to the water. The already sits pretty high on the water, add another 2 feet with the Air-Dock.

Then I did not inflate the air bags right away after Irma so as you can imagine barnacles grew like crazy on the top part of the air bag.

Needless to say my air bags are toast, they are like giant concrete bags. I dragged them over to my back yard on the jet ski ( is on a canal and I am on the bay side, beach area). Gonna try and pressure wash the barnacles off but don't think it will work.

In the meantime I am just trying to think of other ways to keep the out of the water over at my rented slip.

I like the EZ Dock, it would be nice to be able to walk around all 3 sides of the and keep it nicely covered but I think the price is way over $10k

[Wayne nicol]

are you looking for something, thats easy to launch from whenever you want to use the boat, or are you looking for someway to get it out of the water for the off season?

[K9Kampers]

I think Divecoz has one of these set up on his canal dock...in the archives with pics.

[Sumner]

are you looking for something, thats easy to launch from whenever you want to use the boat, or are you looking for someway to get it out of the water for the off season?

My guess would be to get the boat out of the water anytime it isn't in use to keep the barnacle growth down. They grow fast down there,

Sumner

============================
1300 miles to the Bahamas and back -- 2015

The MacGregor 26-S

The Endeavour 37

Trips to Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

[bedouin]

Looks like I may be able to buy a Hyrdohoist lift 9,000 pounds. That will do it. It is 15 years old but still works. Just need to make sure the bunks fit, and it is for a v hull so that is good.

Anyone ever put their on a lift?

TIA

Matthew

[Wayne nicol]

those lifts look awesome!!

[bedouin]

I am concerned as how to create the correct support for the on the lift.

Anyone have any examples?

[Sea Shadow]

If you are looking at the points where you can lift on, I would suggest you look at where the trailer bunks support the boat. You will find that boat is stronger at those points than between them.