We all know that owning a boat rules. Getting out on the water with friends and/or family is an unparalleled experience. However, owning a boat comes with maintenance requirements. If you don’t take care of your boat, you won’t have a functional boat for much longer.
One of the most important tools you can utilize for boat maintenance is a hydraulic boat lift. It keeps your boat clear of the water when not in use, protecting it from random debris impacts and protecting the integrity of the hull from blisters and other hazards.
In order to keep your lift—and by proxy, your boat—in good condition, you need to be aware of some common hydraulic boat lift problems. By keeping an eye out for these issues, you can ensure that your boat lift will protect your boat for years to come.
By looking at frequently encountered boat lift issues, potential causes for those issues, and solutions for those issues, you can make sure you are protecting your aquatic investments to the best of your ability.
Preventing Hydraulic Boat Lift Problems
The best way to minimize hydraulic lift problems is to use your lift properly. The machinery and materials that make up your boat lift were designed to operate in a specific way—operating outside those parameters will cause problems.
Don’t Raise Your Boat Too High
Many hydraulic lifts will have a built-in limit on how high you can raise your boat. But that’s not always the case. Raising your boat too high can lead to misaligned gears or other parts that are designed to fit together in a very specific way.
The end result of ignoring the maximum recommended height on your boat lift is a boat that is likely stuck in a raised position until you can get someone who understands the intricacies of the machinery out to fix what you’ve done.
Balance Your Boat Placement
A major source of hydraulic boat lift issues is raising a boat that is not centered. You want to be centered in your lift from bow to stern and from port to starboard (that’s front to back and right to left for folks that are new to boating lingo).
By centering your boat, you distribute its weight evenly among the cables that are raising it out of the water. Not only does this ensure equal weight on each cable—because uneven weight distribution can lead to fraying cables—it protects your boat.
Let’s say you don’t pull far enough ahead in your boat lift. The rear of your boat could then sit lower than you want. It could even slide back into the water, exposing it to all the problems that you bought your hydraulic boat lift to avoid in the first place.
Placing your boat too close to one side can lead to trouble as well. If cables break due to uneven stress, your boat will either slide into the sides of your boat lift or simply capsize. Both of those outcomes are less than desirable.
When it comes to preventing the kinds of hydraulic boat lift problems that can arise from improper boat placement, the simplest solution is to pick up some bow stops or motor stops along with guide-ons for the sides of your boat. These will help you get your boat in the right spot every time.
Don’t Overload Your Boat
When you plan on taking your boat out on the water, you take the weight of your gear into account. Too many people and too much stuff will make your boat sit too low in the water and operate suboptimally.
It’s the same with your boat lift. Every lift is rated for a certain amount of weight, so you need to make sure you don’t overload its weight capacity. When you buy your boat lift, make sure it can handle the weight of your boat plus some necessary equipment that you won’t load and unload for every outing.
Then make sure you don’t load up your boat while it is raised on your lift. The fewer people and fewer heavy items that go on your boat while it is lifted, the better for the long term maintenance of your lift.
Quick Maintenance Tips
Even taking the kinds of preventative measures described above won’t save you from having to, eventually, do some maintenance on your hydraulic boat lift. Here are some tips to help you keep your lift running smoothly.
Lubricate Your Gears
The mechanisms that raise and lower your boat from the water need lubrication to work smoothly over an extended period of time. Regular gear lubrication with marine-grade grease or penetrating oil is an absolute necessity.
Inspect Your Cables
Cable inspection is a must. After all, it’s your cables that hold your boat out of the water—they are extremely important to the whole purpose of your lift! You need to check your cables for rust or fraying regularly.
Keep your cables in good condition by treating them with penetrating oil. You don’t want to use grease on your lift cables because that can trap moisture, which is counterintuitive to your reasoning for treating your cables in the first place. Even with treatment, it is still wise to look into cable replacement every few years.
Check the Fluids
If you are experiencing hydraulic boat lift problems, the source may be a lack of hydraulic fluid. Periodically check your hydraulic fluid levels, and make sure your lift doesn’t run low.
Provide Protection for Your Lift
When you aren’t using your lift for an extended period, it is wise to bring it out of the water and into a sheltered area like a boat house. Keeping it in a safe, dry place will protect it from weather and from wandering wildlife or even vandals that can damage your lift and leave it vulnerable to rust and corrosion issues.
Keeping an Eye Out for Bigger Issues
Not all hydraulic boat lift problems have simple solutions, unfortunately. Sometimes, you may need to work with professionals to resolve an issue. These are problems that require a level of expertise that many lay-people simply do not possess.
Problems with Pilings
If there were installation errors, your boat lift may not be as stable as you want and need it to be. The pilings that keep your lift securely in place must be rock solid. You will know if your piles are sinking because your lift will start listing.
To resolve any piling issues, you need to work with a marine construction contractor. This isn’t an issue for a DIY project. Pouring stable pilings requires knowledge and experience. The life that stable installation will give your boat lift will make the cost of your contractor well worth the expense.
Motor Maintenance
Motor issues can come in several varieties. Some problems that arise with your boat lift motor can be solved relatively simply. A burned out fuse can be replaced. Low voltage power supply issues can be addressed by finding a better way to power your lift—some lift owners even have dedicated solar power supplies just for their hydraulic boat lifts.
But some electrical problems or motor malfunctions tie back to faulty wiring or loose connections. Without experience with hydraulic boat lifts, you may not be able to recognize and rectify the situation. Working with an experienced lift technician to diagnose and resolve motor issues will save you a great deal of time and stress.
Pay Attention to Your Pump
Sometimes moisture or air bubbles can work their way into your pump system. When that happens you may hear some high-pitched, unpleasant noises. If raising and lowering your lift a few times does not take care of the problem, get in touch with a technician.
Keep Your Lift in Great Shape
When it comes to your hydraulic boat lift, most of the recommended steps for problem prevention are pretty simple. Basically, check on the parts regularly, use the lift the way it was built to be used, and reach out to an expert for the stuff that requires it.
Your lift is a valuable tool for protecting your boat. Keeping your boat lift in good working order means more stress-free days out on the water because you don’t have to worry about what happened under the water’s surface the night before and how that could affect you and your aquatic investment.
The good news is that it does not take a huge time commitment to stave off most hydraulic boat lift problems. All it takes is some patience and a willingness to grease a few gears and oil some cables—as well as the ability to steer your boat into the right spot for your lift to do its thing.