When choosing a boat lift, you usually have to pick one that can support your boat but even here, you can’t just think about the shape, the size, and the carrying capacity. There’s something more you need to take into consideration. The mechanism and the way the lift operates are equally as important. One of the big dilemmas that you’ll have is the choice between hydraulic boat lifts and conventional lift systems.
Speed and efficiency
The first thing worth discussing is the efficiency of the overall lift system. After all, this is something that you’ll use over and over again, and a slow system may be a massive cause of frustration. Not to mention that some people find the act of lowering their expensive boat via lift a bit anxiety-inducing, so the shorter you can cut this time, the better.
Hydraulic boat lifts are substantially faster than their conventional counterparts. This is a huge advantage and a massive issue you need to consider when picking a lift. This is not just something you do once and then forget about it. The speed of lowering your boat will play a huge part in your overall boating experience.
In fact, it might even dissuade you from making an extra inspection of the boat (an important one before the fishing trip) and even make your maintenance process less frequent. Both of these things will come back to haunt you.
Aside from this, conventional lift systems are also substantially noisier than their counterparts. This can result in a very unpleasant experience. It might disturb your neighbors and, once again, discourage you from using the lift as frequently as you should have.
Operation mechanism
The next thing you need to understand is the way these systems work.
A hydraulic boat lift uses a hydraulic fluid pressure to lift and lower boats. If you’ve ever watched those videos where people use hydraulic presses to crush things, you may have an idea of how powerful this system gets and why it’s so great for heavier boats.
In fact, the weight of your boat might just be the first thing you look into when choosing a hydraulic boat lift over its conventional counterpart.
Conventional lift systems, on the other hand, are usually controlled either by hand or by an electric motor. In other words, picking a conventional lift can put a strain on either your power bill or your back.
One more thing: Just because we put a hydraulic motor on one side and a lift controlled by an electric motor on the other, it doesn’t mean that a hydraulic motor cannot be controlled electronically or that it doesn’t have electric parts. We’re just talking about the way these mechanisms work.
Installation and maintenance
A lot of people overlook installation because they know that it’s done only once, and they expect the lift retailer to provide it. This might be the case in some scenarios, but definitely not every time.
Inquire about this in time in order to avoid regretting it. You see, finding someone to install the lift is more difficult than you think. Also, this is not a simple installation, and you need to be 100% certain that the person handling it is certified.
Hydraulic boat lifts have fewer moving parts, making maintenance much easier. The system is powerful, but the mechanism is really simple and robust. This means that it can lift lighter boats, but it also means that it will have a higher level of control over smaller boats and a much higher reliability during both lifting and lowering.
Conventional lifts are more complex, which makes them harder to install, harder to maintain, and more likely to break down. This level of unpredictability is definitely a factor in favor of its hydraulic counterpart.
Cost
Hydraulic presses are typically more expensive upfront. There’s a reason for this, and the main reason is that their potential for long-term savings is substantial.
They break down less often. This means that you have to spend less money on repairs and maintenance, which is directly saving you money. Even more importantly, these lift repairs are irregular expenses that no one ever thinks of. So, skipping this part entirely is a huge boost to your financial reliability and resilience.
Hydraulic lifts use less power than their conventional counterparts. This means that the energy bill increase after you get a lift won’t be much higher (even if you use it almost daily).
Long-term maintenance of hydraulic presses is lower. These lifts are just more robust. There’s not much that can go wrong with them. There is not a myriad of small, fragile parts that could break down at any given moment. Instead, you have sturdy machinery that will always perform admirably.
User experience
The last question you need to ask is how easy it is to operate. Sure, every lift can be understood relatively quickly, but you don’t want to spend 30% of the time it took you to operate the boat in order to learn how to operate the lift.
Most hydraulic lifts have a simple control panel and are controllable with a remote. This makes them incredibly user friendly.
Also, while conventional boat lifts usually have some sort of automatic mechanism, there are those that can require more manual effort. A lot of people are still using crank-mechanism boat lifts, and these do require quite a bit of manual effort.
Overall, this makes hydraulic lifts more convenient for frequent use.
Wrap up
In the end, it’s really important to keep in mind that boat lifts are something you buy once in a lifetime. Then, when you make a choice, it’s one that will affect you every time you have to lift or lower your boat into the water. It will affect your reluctance to use it when you deem you should, which could have quite negative effects, make this entire choosing process absurd, and even ensure that you get a lower value for your money. In other words, it’s an important choice, and if you can afford it, you should probably choose hydraulics.
