best way to tow a shorestation ( on water)

my parents just bought a different cottage thats a few hundred yards down the lake from our old condo and we are trying to find the best way to tow our shorestation to the new place. any suggestions would be appreciated

i use semi inner tubes to move our hoist. You can find used ones real cheap. put one under each side, fill them up and flote it to where ever you want

We towed a Nyman boat lift quite a few times by floating it on something, Jetdock cubes, a dock, a cedar log, a bunch of big round dock bumpers, etc. Then just towed it with the boat, slow & steady. Never had a problem.

swim raft? a assload of tubes?
my friend has a pontoon with a crane so we always just use that...but there maybe someone with something similar around your area

Strap it to a john boat. I have moved my lift this way a couple of times. You drop the cradle all of the way down, run straps over the john and around the frame of the lift. Once everything is secure, raise the lift. This will pop the lift off of the bottom, and raise it up on the john. Then just motor on over to where you are going.

2nd on the jon boat. You may want to actually use 2 depending on the store station model. If you use one, be sure you pick a calm day - waves can shift the station and flip it over and sink and that's real bad (no $%#%)!

We moved my X-star hoist across the lake last saturday on a 20' jon boat. Barely even made the boat squat in the water. It went well. Of course I had the pic here yesterday. Had a couple of tractor tires to float it if we could get the hoist launched closer to home.

Either way will work fine. This was a large hoist. It has a 26' canopy with dropped side(canopy goes down 4.5' on all sides. Lot more frame work then the norm).

On my lake one of the marinas has a pontoon boat with a winch. They just winch it on the the pontoon boat.

I use the square foam floats. 4 of them and you can move it pretty easily by hand.

Seeing you guys moving the lift with a jon boat made me realize you could do this with any boat.

Pull the boat up on the lift so the prop can still spin without hitting anything, strap the lift to the boat good. Then lower the lift, which will actually lift the feet off the lake bottom, move all your lift equipment on board the boat (crank, battery, etc.), then use your own boat's power to move the lift wherever you want. No towing needed. The lift will be firmly strapped under your boat.

Never done it like that but it sure seems possible. You wouldn't be able to go very fast or steer very well. So do it on a calm day & just take it slow & steady.

If your doing it like this with a canopy on the lift, I want to see the pictures!

(Message edited by bill_airjunky on April 25, 2008)

I'd say 22mph at 80 feet of line. Recommend a shore start in lieu of deep water.