Putting an inboard on a boat lift?
 

My previous boat was a 20ft Sea Ray I/O, is there anything special i need to do, to my boat lift to put an inboard boat on there?

I have attached a picture of my lift I think. Don't mind the jetski that's just where I keep it because I sold my Sea Ray.

I wouldn't put an inboard on that. The bunks do not have enough clearance from the cross beams. Depending on your boat and how deep your pockets are, id look into a custom one

Ill either be parking a MC X25 on there or an Axis A22. So do i need longer bunks or longer bunks that are raised higher of of the crossmembers?

It's not really the length. It's the height.


You need a completely different bunk kit. You need to raise the bunk above the cross members in order for the running gear( skegs, prop shaft, strut,rudder, and propeller) to clear the cross members. 2-3ft is s good range. Otherwise you have to potential to get hung up and cause damage. Unlike an I/O which has no skegs and the engine is in the rear, your prop and skegs(aka tracking fins) stick out bottom with an innoard.

The x25 has a deeper v hull that the A22 so you will need more underwater clearance to put that on the lift as well

You need way more clearance. Whatever boat you buy you need to measure the highest bunk point at the rear to the top of the prop guard. Thats going to be your minimum from the cross member to the top of your bunks. Most are in that 14-18" range. You also need guide poles properly adjusted to keep the boat centered. If you don't and get a little off you bend tracking fins, props and rudders. Plus your new boat is going to weigh at least double what that sea ray did. Your going to need a lift set up for at least 6000 lbs for the X25.

Kind of an easy way to figure out a baseline for your lift bunks is by looking at your trailer bunks. I bought a used 6k hydrahoist and copied the measurements off of my trailer and it worked perfect. You should not need clearance for your rudder and prop in most cases because they will be off the back end of the lift support beams, just your skags. That is as long as u dont do a pull thru lift.

Most of the VDrive lifts I have seen around here are more of the cradle style. They look pretty much just like your trailer without the axles and tires of course.

You can use that type of cradle no problem. Only issue you will run into is the bunks. You will need to take off the existing bunks and go with 2x10's. My Malibu VRide sits perfectly fine on 2x10's with plenty of clearance. The only thing you will need to do is change out the bunks. If you don't feel comfortable that the galvanized vertical pieces you bolt to the bunks offer enough support, then bolt you 2x10's to the existing bunks.

Here is a good thread from over at the malibu crew with pics......

http://www.themalibucrew.com/forums/...lift%20%20bunk

I slightly disagree with that Malibu thread. Look at pictures 8 and 9 in the thread "Does it always snow in Tennessee." http://www.wakeworld.com/forum/showthread.php?t=804103

Pic 8 shows bunks for a Cobalt and pic 9 shows a Master Craft on a lift.

As pic 8 shows, you want your bunks high above the cross members. In contrast to the Malibu thread, I advise 2 x 4's like shown here. Notice that there are 4 bunks total, an inner pair and an outer pair ... and that the bunks are all essentially parallel to the keel of the boat.

That parallel arrangement won't likely work for your inboard. Look at pic 9. You'll have to reckon that ... under this Master Craft ... while again there are 4 bunks ... here there is a forward-and-inner pair forming a V-arrangement, and rearward-and outer pair forming a flanking V-arrangement. To be sure, those bunks are 2 x 4's. Not only do you have to provide the skegs and shaft and prop with clearance, but you also have a variety of through-hull fittings to worry about ... like most importantly, your raw water intakes. You do not want your bunks lifting your boat with a through-hull fitting resting on a bunk.

If you got the water depth, I agree, raise your bunks some. But, 2-3 feet, as stated above, is way exaggerated. Your prop, shaft and rudder should be behind the cross member and your tracking fins will be between them.

We definitely do not have the water depth on our lake. I have maybe a foot, at most, between my cross member and my bunks. If you are worried about over shooting the bunks, install a simple bow stop and some guide poles.

Most importantly, test fit the boat very slowly and make necessary adjustments.

Check the lifts capacity. I that a single motor no pulley.....

OP said he has had a 20 ft sea ray on that lift before ... but ... as Tim spotted first ... it's capacity looks .... well, it just doesn't look anything like the pneumatic lifts I'm familiar with.

The lift is a high tide 8000b single motor 2 part cable boat house lift. The water underneath is about 4.5 -5 ft deep.

The one thing I always recommend is to get a cradling plan from the boat builder. They all have one and it can usually be downloaded as a PDF. The plans are used by trailer, transport and lift companies.
This will help you avoid making common mistakes regarding load points, clearance and balance.

An ol' rule of thumb is to set your bunks the same as on your boat trailer. The trailer bunks are designed by the factory to distribute the weight so the structure of you boat is not compromised.

I doubt you can duplicate your trailer pattern on your lift. I couldn't. If you look at the Cobalt on the lift in picture no. 8, that's the same as my lift. I have four cross bars which are widely spaced apart. I also have four bunks which have got to be 12' long apiece or longer.

My trailer has six short bunks. There was no way to duplicate my trailer pattern on the lift. The arrangement of the cross bars just didn't allow that to happen. So we had to improvise.

You have, needless to say, two crossbars.

Your lift doesn't need to be an exact replica of your trailer supports. Yes, that would be ideal, but remember that you are not transporting a boat while on a lift. You're not hitting potholes, going uphill, downhill, around turns, etc...

That's a good point. My trailer has two pair of bunks under the engine, one pair 5 feet long, the other each about 7. Then there are a third pair of bunks, which are maybe less than 3 feet long, which touch the hull forward of the skegs. In other words, all the weight-carrying capacity is handled by the four bunks under the engine. The bow (with ballast dumped) is light.

You probably are going to want to at least get at least your strut for your shaft past one of the crossbars so that the engine weight is arguably carried in part by both crossbars ... instead of being cantilevered outside of both.

You seem to have plenty of depth. You could always build an intermediate frame platform of I-beams or rectangular tube, lay that across your two crossbeams, and then fasten your risers to prop up your bunk arrangement in about any pattern (that you design ahead of time).

Here are some pics of my cable lift. Had dock guy alter the bunks. So far so good for Supra. 8000 Cable US Boat Lift

Before we raised our bunks we just lowered the lift far below the fins/prop and drove the boat one. Then we made sure that the fins/prop wasn't near the cross bars and raised the lift. It works if you're careful, but can turn bad quickly.

If you're buying the boat new, have your dealer come help you set it up.

So I brought my boat home this weekend, its a Mastercraft X25, it actually is a deep V hull and it has no tracking fins. Can I get away with just using bigger bunks?