Who says 800 lbs Lift Limit?

T

tc410

Well-Known Member
Oct 9, 2006
2,044
Boat Info
2005 550DB
Engines
MAN CRM-900
So here's a Sea Ray on Round Lake that is clearly demonstrating that the hydraulic lifts are good for more than 800 pounds.....

photo1.jpg

photo2.jpg

This is a twin engine Sea Doo..... Note the radical slant on the lift. Good for the transom and stringers? You decide....
 
The problem isn't the lift capacity, but rather the internal structure of the hull that must support the load. We have a highly regarded fiberglass shop at our marina in NW Fla. I've seen 4 different boats come in for repairs to the transom and internal structure where the transom was literally peeled off the back of the boat………….they all arrived towing whatever it was that they used to carry on the lift. I suppose if the seas encountered are low………the above boat is in a lake somewhere…..there isn't much risk, but all the 4 boats repaired here damaged with large PWC's in 3-4 ft seas at cruise speeds.

Hope the guy with the 540 continues to be lucky………….
 
Yikes! That's all I've got...
 
fwebster said:
The problem isn't the lift capacity, but rather the internal structure of the hull that must support the load. We have a highly regarded fiberglass shop at our marina in NW Fla. I've seen 4 different boats come in for repairs to the transom and internal structure where the transom was literally peeled off the back of the boat………….they all arrived towing whatever it was that they used to carry on the lift. I suppose if the seas encountered are low………the above boat is in a lake somewhere…..there isn't much risk, but all the 4 boats repaired here damaged with large PWC's in 3-4 ft seas at cruise speeds.

Hope the guy with the 540 continues to be lucky………….
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couldn't agree more. Assuming calm waters, and slow speeds, one could imagine lift capacity is much higher. I wouldn't want that in anything greater than 1' chop and no way should they plane out with that on the back.
 
fwebster said:
The problem isn't the lift capacity, but rather the internal structure of the hull that must support the load. We have a highly regarded fiberglass shop at our marina in NW Fla. I've seen 4 different boats come in for repairs to the transom and internal structure where the transom was literally peeled off the back of the boat………….they all arrived towing whatever it was that they used to carry on the lift. I suppose if the seas encountered are low………the above boat is in a lake somewhere…..there isn't much risk, but all the 4 boats repaired here damaged with large PWC's in 3-4 ft seas at cruise speeds.

Hope the guy with the 540 continues to be lucky………….
Click to expand...

I agree completely.
 
Good thing he is on a lake. Take that into the ocean and the first time that 540DB drops off an 8 footer, the transom would be toast!
 
Wholey crap. I recognize the boat, and you can't underestimate the Great Lakes - we've been in 8 footers together with a frequency that would make ocean-goers pee their pants.

His home port is/was in Lake St. Clair. I sure hope he didn't carry that monster 300 miles!
 
Let me clarify, Round Lake is a harbor that is connected to Lake Michigan via a short channel. A lot of folks underestimate the wave action on the Great Lakes because hey, they're just lakes after all. The wave height coupled with short wave period and steepness factor can make 3-4 footers seem like 8 footers. As I mentioned in my first post, and further articulated by Frank, this can't be good for the transom and internal structure of the boat.
 
RollerCoastr said:
Wholey crap. I recognize the boat, and you can't underestimate the Great Lakes - we've been in 8 footers together with a frequency that would make ocean-goers pee their pants.

His home port is/was in Lake St. Clair. I sure hope he didn't carry that monster 300 miles!
Click to expand...

This summer I met I fellow that was on a thorough boating tour of Lake Superior. An experienced boater from Washington state. His boating area covered the west coast of Canada all the way up to Alaska. He has done the Great Loop a couple times going up and coming in the St Lawrence seaway one of them. He‘s boated the Gulf of Mexico and explored the Bahamas.

He wanted to check out the ‘lakes’ he said. I was curious he said, about these ‘lakes’, in particular Lake Superior. He said he wondered how big could a ‘lake’ feel. Laughingly he said, ‘now I know’. He said ’of all places, who would have thought that respect for the seas and weather would have been so well emphasized by a 'lake'.
 
Is it possible the guy beefed up things from the inside prior to plopping the jetboat on there?
 
It's possible but not probable. Stealing a saying from my civil engineering friends. A building stands until it falls. So goes your transom.

But it is totally a very cool water vehicle to have at your use on the water while traveling!

Sent from my Galaxy S3
 
Bet he plays a lot of poker too:) Word of the day: Foolhardy.
 
Hopefully he's just using the swim platform as a boat lift to keep it out of the water during the week (which I still wouldn't recommend) and tows it where ever he goes...
 
HUMPH said:
Good thing he is on a lake. Take that into the ocean and the first time that 540DB drops off an 8 footer, the transom would be toast!
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Ken, You really need to visit our "lake" someday. Rusty has a funny story about underestimating the "lake" in Lake Michigan.

MM
 
The Great Lakes are Awesome and Have Wicked Power at the drop of a Hat, That boat is going to break someday, because He has to go out on Lake Michigan to get home, and the way it looks , that swim platform won't even go all the way up. Could be my imagination though, but I doubt it. And why have such a HEavy Dinghy, you can get a 50 hp Center console that will be so much more fun....
 
MonacoMike said:
What does tha Sea Doo weigh?

MM
Click to expand...

I had almost the same boat and it was around 1250lbs, but with a single engine. With the twins and fuel, that boats gotta be flirting with 1500lbs...
 
boltman said:
Could be my imagination though, but I doubt it...
Click to expand...

Definitely not your imagination. The pics don't quite capture the magnitude of the load. Look closely and you'll see that 1) the entire lift is slanting down in the back and 2) the starboard side is slanting even further down. What it looks like in person is that the whole thing has a twist in it and ends up back and lower on the starboard side. Didn't post it to embarrass a fellow Sea Ray owner, but only to point out that these lifts, and the boats themselves, definitely have a threshold of how much weight one can hang off the back. More than once I've read posts about "how big of a dinghy can I carry?" Or "anyone know the weight limit of a lift?" This clearly points out that there is in fact a weight limit and what can happen when it is exceeded.
 
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