Your boat lasts longer out of the water
Every day a boat sits in Tampa Bay, the bay works on it. Barnacles colonize the hull. Algae films the waterline. Salt creeps into every fitting. Bottom paint slows it down but never stops it — and repainting is expensive and keeps the boat in the yard for days. A boat lift ends the whole cycle. Your boat hangs in the air, dry and clean, and launches in about a minute when you want to use it.
A lift also buys you peace of mind. No worrying about a bilge pump failing at the dock. No tide leaving your boat listing against the pilings. No storm surge grinding the hull against the dock. In a town where summer storms pop up every afternoon, that matters.
Lift types we install
Cradle lifts are the workhorse — two bunks that cradle the hull, driven by cables on either side. They handle most center consoles, bay boats, and runabouts, and they're the most common lift we install on residential docks. Elevator lifts use four posts with a platform that rises straight up; they're great for heavier boats and for docks where side clearance is tight. For personal watercraft and small skiffs, we install PWC lifts and davit-style lifts that are simpler and cheaper.
The drive matters too. Most lifts run on electric motors — quiet, fast, and easy to operate from a remote. Manual wheel lifts cost less and suit lighter boats, but cranking a heavy boat up by hand gets old fast. We also wire in the electrical properly: marine-rated conduit, GFCI protection, and a disconnect you can reach without climbing under the dock.
Sizing it right
The number one mistake with boat lifts is buying too small. The lift must carry the boat's dry weight PLUS fuel, water, gear, coolers, and everything else aboard — a full tank of gas on a 24-footer can add hundreds of pounds by itself. We size with margin: if your rig weighs 5,000 pounds loaded, you want a 6,000-pound lift, not a 5,000-pound lift running at its limit every single launch.
Beam width matters as much as weight. The cradle bunks need to match your hull's width and shape, or the boat sits wrong and stresses the hull. We measure your actual boat — not the brochure number — and set the bunk spacing and carpet placement to fit it. If you're planning to upgrade boats in a few years, tell us; sizing up now is far cheaper than replacing the lift later.
New docks and existing docks
Installing a lift during new dock construction is the cleanest path: we lay out the piling spacing for the lift from day one, run conduit before the decking goes down, and everything fits like it was meant to. But most of our lift jobs are retrofits onto existing docks, and that's fine too. We check your current pilings for condition and spacing, add or reposition pilings as needed, and mount the lift to a structure that can actually carry it.
If your dock is old or the pilings are soft, we'll tell you straight: hanging a 6,000-pound lift on rotting pilings is asking for a failure. Sometimes the right answer is a piling replacement first, or a partial rebuild of the lift bay. We'd rather tell you that up front than install a lift on a dock that can't hold it.
Our process
First, we visit and look at your dock, your boat, and your water depth — a lift needs enough depth at low tide for the boat to float free of the cradle. Second, we spec the lift: capacity, cradle type, drive, and electrical. Third, you get a written estimate, free. Fourth, we schedule the install — most lift installs take one to two days once materials are on site. Fifth, we test it with your boat on it, show you how to run it, and make sure the remote and safety features all work.
Every project is different — contact us for a free written estimate.
Call (301) 679-9193 or send the form for a free on-site estimate.