1. Convenient access to your boat.
What can be more convenient than simply lower your boat lift into the water when you want to be underway? No more trailering your boat. No more waiting in line at the boat ramp. Just convenient and consistent access to your boat. You can not underestimate the convenience a boat lift will bring and how much of your valuable time you will save by using a boat lift to launch and recover your boat.
2. It will keep your hull clean.
As anyone who has ever pulled a boat from the water after several days can attest, it takes little to no time for the hull to become fouled. Whether it is fouled by sea growth, muck, barnacles, algae, zebra mussels, crustaceans or any number of other forms of marine life, each of these can quickly damage a boat. In ALL cases, chronic water storage significantly decreases the performance, speed, usable life, and value of the watercraft.
3. It will decrease the need to re-apply anti-foul paint.
In order to help keep the hull clean, most boats apply anti-foul paint to the hull. Unfortunately, before this paint can be applied, the hull will typically need to be pressure washed, scraped, and then sanded. As you can imagine, this will require paying for the boat to be removed from the water. By keeping your boat on a lift, you will help to decrease the likelihood that your hull will become fouled by aquatic life. This means a whole lot less washing, scraping, sanding, and painting!
4. Boat lifts decrease damage from corrosion and electrolysis.
Your hull isn’t the only part of the watercraft that will have to deal with the ramifications of constant contact with the water. Imagine pulling your boat from the water only to find metal fittings, props, and more all but eaten away. Even worse, the same sort of damage can take place inside your engine block, manifold and pumps. This sort of damage can be extremely bad as you can’t typically see it until your boat simply breaks down. The best means of preventing corrosion and electrolysis is to keep your boat out of the water on a boat lift.
5. Prevent damage to your boat from inclement weather.
Boat lifts prevent the boat from hitting the dock during the heavy wake or inclement weather, avoiding scrapes and bruises from bouncing around in a tied-off wet slip mooring. When properly configured, a boat lift can dry dock your vessel well above storm surge. Also, the Boat Owner’s Association of the United States recently took a look at insurance claims and found that 69% of boats sink at the dock or mooring. With a boat lift, you do not need to constantly worry about your bilge pump. If your bilge pump fails while you are away, your boat is still safely dry-docked with a boat lift.
6. Provide easy access to your boat for maintenance.
Having your boat up on a lift sure makes it easy to wash your hull. Adding walk boards and stern platforms to the boat lift makes it very convenient to inspect your boat for damage. These platforms also make repairs to the hull and props much easier to perform. The money you save with a boat lift by not having to pay to have your boat hauled out of the slip onto dry land for routine maintenance can be put to better use elsewhere.
7. The cradles can be decked over to create a platform.
You can easily create a platform lift by decking the boat lift cradles. Many homeowners prefer the look of platform lifts. Whether you deck the lift with materials that match your dock or use long-lasting materials like Thru-Flow or Sure-Step decking, platform lifts provide tremendous convenience. Platform lifts provide complete walk-around access to your watercraft. Many people love platform lifts for use with their PWCs, providing a convenient launch platform for their jet skis, kayaks, and canoes.
8. They can provide added security for your boat.
On a day-to-day basis, boat lifts can provide added security with keyed access to the lift controls. For additional security, you can disable the lift by turning off the power at the circuit breaker in your home. For long-term storage security, you can lock your cradles to the top beams using a product like this from swingstoppers.com. This system prevents the boat from being lowered into the water.
9. A boat lift can put money in your pocket.
A boat lift in good working order is very attractive to home buyers. It is well established that a boat lift will increase your property value. Also, consider all the money you can save on marina storage fees and/or dry-covered storage for your boat.
10. Neighbor envy!
When your neighbors see how nice your new boat lift looks. When they see how much easier and better a boat lift makes the boating experience. It won’t be long before your neighbors start asking all kinds of questions about your new boat lift. And that is a sure sign that your neighbors are green with envy. Be the better person and help them get a new boat lift at their home. After all, it will raise the property values in your neighborhood, which helps you too.
