Boat is stuck!

Due to work and other things going on I haven't been able to use the boat and we keep it on a hoist over at the in-laws. We went to go for a ride last night and there is no way of getting the boat off the hoist. The water level is too low. I would say the water has to come up 6 inches before I can drive it off. Any suggestions on how to fix this?

use 3 come-alongs, and attach them from your boat and to the top of the hoist. Get you hoist straps out of the way and then lower your boat with th come-alongs. You can probably rent 3 of them at Home Depot of Nations Rental.

Do a rain dance!

Collin, a couple of cases of beer should do it. Really, invite about a dozen large friends over and you should be able to handle it.

On one of the Corps of Engineer lakes in Texas, the water level goes way down in late summer. A group of college guys show up on weekends and for about $100, carry boats from the boathouse to the water, then come back and put it back late Sunday.

semi truck inter tubes, blow them up set you boat on them and disconnect hoist. push out a little and deflate tubes? Hey worth a try, right? I've seen it done before...

good luck
Ron

I had the exact same problem. constent level lake, but it still fluctuates ~1' or so, and that was enough that the boat would get stuck on the lift.

I hired a welder to come out and modify the cradel to fit the boat perfectly. Bought me about 8" in the back and 1' in the front. the cradel wtill protects the prop, but hte boat always floats now.

not sure what will happen when I add the 800;bs of lead to the bow

Take a hose and put it into the lake and turn on the faucet.

Chris
Get the Grip you Deserve
www.wakejunky.com

Put longer cables on the lift next season!

If you just need longer cables, you can support the weight of the boat from the lifting rings in back, and rig up some sort of sling to go thru the bow loop. Use chain for the back and some heavy nylon webbing, or several strands of heavy rope for the front. You definitely want to be over-engineered on this project. Firmly attach to the structural members of the boathouse and lower the boat onto this rigged-up sling. Once the weight is off your current hoist, you can add some extensions to your cables.

Same thing happened here in Michigan. I think that the lake has gone down about a foot to a foot and a half this summer. It's nice to have the sunny weather with no rain, but it kills you at the end of the season.

What we did was take a 55 gallon drum and a rachet strap to the back of the shorestation just enough to get the pressure off the pins to pull the leg and shortened it, but we only needed a few inches or so.

In your case you might be able to get a bunch of drums and float the lift out or shorten the legs.

On a side note the boat is on the trailer and we can just launch it from the driveway now until it is time to put it away for the winter.

In Texas, at my old lakehouse we would have whole summers where we couldn't get the boat out of the dock...we could walk under it.

Same problem at mom and dad's, here's what dad does...rent a gas powered water pump, a pressure washer might be enough, but I'm talking about something a bit larger, and hose, get a decent nozzle, dad used to be a firefighter so he has a a few decent nozzles around. Then use it to dredge the mud out from under the low spots on the lift...it's work a few summers now.