12 Warning Signs on a Boat Lift You Should Never Ignore
By Ed Brannigan, Marine contractor. Reviewed by Amanda McCallister, editor.
Boat Lift Installation | Bulkhead Repair August 14, 2017. Port St. Joe, Florida. The water was as flat as a parking lot. A first-time boat-lift owner had just closed on a place with a 12,000-pound lift, and his 25-foot center console was hanging in the slings. He hit the remote. The motor kicked, the cable grabbed, and then the whole thing made a sound like a coffee can full of rocks. I killed the power and walked to the cable drum. Fifteen minutes later I handed him a list of seven things wrong before he ever got the boat off. He wasn't careless. He just bought a lift that looked fine from the dock. But there were 12 warning signs in plain sight, and every one of them would have ended as a dropped hull or a bent frame. This is that list. If you see any of these on your lift, stop using it until you know what it means.
Cables and Drums
Start where the load actually hangs.
- Frayed or bird-caged cable. Stainless cable doesn't warn you much before it lets go. When individual strands break and spring out, you've got maybe weeks, not months. That's called bird-caging, and it's a death sentence for the cable.
- Uneven spooling on the drum. Look at the drum when the boat is full up. The cable should wrap in neat, tight rows. If it's piling on one side or riding over its own wraps, the fleet angle is off or the cable was installed wrong. It will crush itself and then fail.
- Corrosion under the cable at the drum. Pull the cable off the first layer. White powder, pitting, or red rust where the cable touches steel means water is sitting in there. That's the cable's hidden weak spot. Every one of these means replacement, not adjustment.
Structure and Welds
The frame is easy to ignore because it doesn't move. It fails anyway. 4. Cracks in welds at the A-frame top or at the base brackets. Look for a straight rust line that doesn't scrub off. Hairline cracks open up and cycle with every wave. 5. Rust blisters or scale on the I-beams. Tap them with a hammer. If it sounds dull and flakes fly, you've got section loss. A beam that's lost 20 percent of its flange isn't carrying rated load anymore. 6. A bent or buckled flange on the main crossmember. You'll see this as a shiny crease or a bow. That happened under load. It won't un-bend. That beam needs replacement or the whole structure is suspect.
Motor, Electrical, and Controls
The electrical side is the one most owners never touch. Then they wonder why the lift runs in the rain. 7. The motor labors. A lift that used to go up in twenty seconds and now takes forty, or a motor that stalls, is drawing too many amps. Could be low voltage at the dock, a failing capacitor, or a bad bearing. Whatever the cause, you're cooking the motor. 8. Exposed or chewed wiring. Squirrels, rats, and sun can wreck the jacket on a power cord. Once water gets into copper, it corrodes green and the resistance climbs. Then you get a voltage drop and that laboring motor. 9. Limit switches are broken or bypassed. Some owners wire around them because they're annoying. That's how the cable jumps the drum or the boat posts into the ceiling. The limit switch is the only thing that stops the lift at the top and bottom. If it's missing, you're running on luck.
Bunks, Alignment, and Hydraulics
Now get the boat off and look at the whole package. 10. Uneven lift with no boat on it. If one side sits lower, either a cable stretched, a drum is slipping, or a leg has settled. Run it up and down and check for a tilt that stays. That's a load-sharing problem. 11. Rotting or delaminated bunk boards. Bunks are wood or plastic for a reason. When wood rots, it loses the edge that makes it cradle the hull. A broken bunk puts pressure on one spot of the fiberglass, and that's how you get a cracked transom. Press on them with a screwdriver. If it sinks in, replace. 12. Hydraulic fluid leaks. If your lift is hydraulic, look at the cylinder rod and the reservoir. Weeping fluid or a dry rod with a smear of oil means the seal is going. A hydraulic lift that loses fluid drops without warning. That's the one that costs you a boat.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should I inspect my boat lift? At least twice a year, and right before you drop a boat in after the winter. Walk the whole structure with a hammer, run the lift empty and loaded, and check the cables with your hand. Most of these signs are visible if you're looking within three feet. Can I replace the cables myself instead of hiring a contractor? If you've got a helper, the right swage tool, and have done it before, sure. But cable wraps are specific to the drum, and the fleet angle has to be set. A misaligned cable will fail again fast. For a lift rated over 10,000 pounds, I'd rather see a licensed contractor. What does fixing a problem usually cost? It depends on the lift's weight rating and the specific part. Cables are sized by length and diameter, so quotes vary. A motor or limit switch is usually a smaller dollar item. But if the frame is bent or the drum is scored, that's a different job. Get three quotes, and don't let anyone talk you into a repair without pictures.