Details
- The Trapeze
- The Winch Stand
- The Pivot Stand
6 feet tall...10 feet wide between stands...2610 pound capacity
The Portable Boat Lift is...
- Easy to store
- Easy to transport
- Easy to set up and use
QUICK INFORMATION: the Winch and Pivot Stands are 6 feet tall each and the Trapeze is 10 feet wide between them when attached to the Stands. This width allows typical 8 feet and 8 feet 6 inch wide trailers to be pulled out from under the boat, between the Stands, and out from under the Trapeze with room to spare on each side. Each piece weighs approximately 75 pounds.
There are numerous adjustment holes in each Stand to accommodate a wide variety of Bow Eye heights. The Trapeze is hung from the Bow Eye on the boat with the supplied hitch pin. One end of the Trapeze is attached to the Pivot Stand with the supplied safety pin. The other end of the Trapeze is attached to the winch cable hook coming over the pulley on top of the Winch Stand. We recommend the Lift be used on boats that are 25 feet long or less.
The WLL (Working Load Limit) for the Portable Boat Lift has been Engineered to 2610 pounds; calculated with a 1.5 Safety Factor. This is usually more than enough as the weight at the Bow (Eye) is usually substantially less than half the weight of the boat.
All steel
fabricated parts are manufactured in accordance with ASTM Standards. All
welding is done in accordance with AWS Standards. All steel fabricated parts
are fully welded at all contact points. All Lifts are fabricated at a Certified
Welding Shop, locally, and all parts (except for the wheels) are made in
the
No
more crawling under the boat for me; No more costly trips to the
Marina; No more bottle and floor jacks; No more searching for a handy
tree limb; No more waiting for someone else to do it. It fits in the back of your pick up, stores in a corner, and sets up on any firm level surface!
How it Works:
The Portable
Boat Lift works on the Principal of a 'Second Order Lever'. A second order
lever has its fulcrum (the pivot point) and effort (the end that is lifted) at
opposite ends with the load somewhere between the two.
The Trapeze acts as a second order lever because it is supported on one end and
lifted on the other. It provides a pivot action which lifts the Trapeze up at
one end (while attached to the bow eye) and tilts the boat up from the bow
while the boat is supported under the transom with your boat stands. The boat
is acting as a second order lever too. It is supported under the transom by
your boat stands while it is tilted up at the bow.
You would rather tilt the boat up from the bow than try to tilt it up from the
transom. It's simply going to be heavier at the transom. The farther the center of gravity is away from the effort, the side
you are lifting from or the bow, and the closer the center of gravity or load is to the
pivot point, the supported end at the transom, the more leverage you have.
The Trapeze, as a part of the totally Engineered Lift, has a WLL (Working Load
Limit) of 2610 pounds (as previously mentioned) at its center with a 1.5 Safety Factor. The "bow eye
attachment point" has to be at the center of the Trapeze for proper weight
distribution on the two Stands. It also needs to be centered to have equal space away from each Stand to
allow the trailer to be pulled out while centered between the two Stands.
EXAMPLE: If a boat that weighs 5000 pounds weighs approximately 2250 pounds at the Bow Eye (using 55% aft weight/center of gravity distribution (your boat might be designed with more or less)) then the "Effort" needed to Lift one end of the Trapeze would be 1125 pounds; simple second order lever principals. The Trapeze Working Load Limit with a 1.5 Safety Factor is 2610 pounds at its center. The winch and cable therefore only need to be rated at 1305 pounds. The Cable we use, 1/4 inch 7/19 galvanized, has a breaking strength of 7000 pounds and a WLL of 1400 pounds. The Winch used, Dutton Lainson DLB 2500 has a Working Load Limit of 2500 pounds. We use a 2500 pound vs a 1500 pound rated winch for the much greater mechanical advantage and ease of use it has when turning its handle.
The 1500 pound winch has a 5.4: 1 Gear Ration and a 36.8 Maximum Mechanical Advantage, where as the 2500 Pound winch has a 17.3: 1 Gear Ratio and a Maximum Mechanical Advantage of 115.3. Conversely, the 2500 pound winch would be capable of lifting a 5000 pound load at the center of the lever we call the Trapeze. Its just much easier to turn the handle on the DLB 2500 Auto Brake Winch. That's why we use the DLB 2500.
Inboards and I/O's will still follow this pattern of usually weighing substantially less than half the weight of the boat at the Bow Eye. Outboards will actually lessen the weight at the Bow Eye as the boat will essentially have a counterweight aft of your boat stands, the pivot point you create under the Transom.
The
Bow Eye of the boat actually rests on the Trapeze "bow eye attachment
point". This attachment point does not lift on the bow eye nor does it
come in contact with the bow. The Trapeze "bow eye attachment point" pushes up on the bottom of the Bow
Eye, tilting the boat up and providing enough separation between the boat and
trailer to remove the trailer.
The Trapeze uses three Safety Pins, one at the Pivot Stand and two at the Winch Stand.
It has one Safety Pin going through its Tabs and through the Pivot Stand, in one of its many height adjustment holes, providing the pivot point. The Trapeze also has tabs at its other end. A Safety Pin is placed through its holes in the tab outside of the Winch Stand Center Post, which encases the Stand between it and the Trapeze. The second Safety Pin, at the Winch end of the Trapeze, is placed through the first hole in the Stand under the Trapeze where/when the Trapeze stops lifting. Even though you're using an Auto Brake Winch, this Safety pin provides a hard mechanical point that the Trapeze cannot come down past.
These two levers, "the boat itself and the Trapeze", work just like a
wheelbarrow. The handles of a wheelbarrow are lifted while the tire at the
other end is supported by the ground; its load is somewhere between the
two. Without the benefit of lever action it is unlikely you could lift the
contents of a heavily laden wheelbarrow.
The Trapeze only needs to be lifted a few inches at one end by cranking the
handle on the Auto Brake Winch. This provides all the separation needed between
the boat and trailer to pull the trailer out. Very little separation is needed
between the boat and trailer to walk the trailer out from under the boat.
Now is the time, as you're pulling the trailer out, to place additional boat stands under the boat in accordance with your boat stand manufacturer's recommendations for amount and proper placement of them for your particular boat.
As seen on "Ship Shape TV"
All parts, except for the wheels, are Made in the USA
Please call or write for more information; details; safety sheets; photos or the "How To Use" instructions.
