Take on pontoon alternatives to store boat

[martinies]

I'm currently considering a few options other than spending a big wad of cash on a piled pontoon to store the boat on the water. The boat is 5m alloy.
- Second hand piled or cable pontoon
- HydroHoist Aqua Dock (plastic) http://www.boatsales.com.au/boat-gear/boatdetails.aspx?R=7784656
- Hydro Lift (plastic) http://www.boatsales.com.au/boat-gear/boatdetails.aspx?R=6789220

A few things to know
- There's no ramp or enough space to make one
- There's a jetty

Given those facts, a piled pontoon from Superior Jetties is the preferred option however the price is on the high end of the scale.

Does anyone here have any experience with the Hydrohoist or Hydro Lifts and attached to a jetty? I prefer a manual winch than electricity to lift or winch the boat. Will these options be stable enough to winch the boat manually?

cheers

[oldboot]

how big and solid is the jetty.

A pontoon seems abit of overkill for a 16 foot tinny.:P

cheers

[martinies]

Its about 5x2m. Dry storage is the main priority

[Chimo]

Hi Martinies

The second option, the hydro lift would appear to be the better proposition for you with some qualifications.

Not sure where you are but I assume its SE qld GC or Bne. Your tides have a 2 to 2.5 range which will possibly be too much for the the galv lift arrangement if you attach it too a fixed jetty so your going to have to extend the lift for tides and certainly will need to do a far bigger extension to allow for the odd really high water / floodlet / etc

What I have seen done here on the GC is to slip a narrow plastic pontoon alongside your jetty and fix it to concrete filled pvc thats jetted into the canal bottom alongside the jetty with extensions fitted so the little pontoon can lift up the 4 or 5 m it needs to, in a flood / very high water situation. You then use the existing galv fittings between the extra little pontoon and the hydrolift.

You might also be able to use the pvc tube setup directly on the hydro lift but not sure without looking at it.

Does that make sense to you?

Cheers
Chimo

[Chimo]

You can go to Aldi and buy a 12 v winch for about $80. Hauls out well but you need to be able to lower the boat back in as theres no reverse.

Chimo

[martinies]

Thanks Chimo. I've seen similar setup around the water here, gc.