Hydrohoist Question

Does anyone know if it is possible to manually lower a hydrohoist when no electricity is available? With all of the flooding we have had in Texas, the marina has had no power and our boat has been stuck up on the hydrohoist for over a month!

Thanks

How about getting a generator? Or a real long extension cord.

(Message edited by fuller313 on August 13, 2007)

Well, we looked into generators but apparently we would need a really powerful one and those suckers are expensive! I wish we could just use an extension cord...haha. We can't even drive to the marina though, the roads are still underwater. We have to take a water taxi to get to the slip

Assuming your hydrohoist is like most pontoon (air) style lifts, lowering it will be no problem without electricity, but raising the lift will not work without some power. I am not familiar with the hydrohoist brand, but all the pontoon style lifts I have used just have an air release valve to lower it.

As bmartin said, lowering is not the problem. To raise it again I would rent a generator.

People use the term "hydrohoist" inappropriately. Hydrohoist is a brand name (like saying Kleenex when you mean facial tissue). The hyrdohoist brand boat lifts float and use large tubes filled with air to lift the boat. To lower the boat all you have to do is let the air out, no electricity involved.

Other types of boat lifts use a variety of different mechanisms. A common arrangement is to have a cable that snakes around a series of pulleys and gets wound up on a drum. Most often these types of lifts come with a large manual operation wheel so you can manually raise or lower.

Another common type uses hydraulic cylinders. These usually require power to raise or lower.

Like others have said, I sure wouldn't let the lack of power stop me from boating! The lift can't require more than 1500 watts to operate so a small portable generator would easily do the job. Even the smallest generator would lower, rasing might require a 1500 watt or larger model.

well if you use a hydrohoist just open the air valve and let it drop in the water?? it cant be a "hydrohoist" if you need electricity to drop it in the water.

My Sunstream hydraulic lift is totally independent of the shore electricity - solar recharging battery operated. Maybe it's possible to raise yours back up with a fully charged car battery? Or maybe wire it into the water taxi's engine to raise it back up? It is likely a floating (air) lift - it is rare to see a freestanding or ceiling cable lift at a marine where you rent. Most seem to bolt on floating lifts.