boatlift
03-01-2010, 11:16 AM
Tips to troubleshoot your boat lift after this long cold winter
As the weather finally begins to warm up ( I hope, I didn't see my shadow this morning) a lot of us will head to the coast, or lake, for the 1st time in a while. One of the 1st things I always do is drop all me gear in the house & head to the boat lift to finally run my boat after a 2-4 month hiatus. The last thing you want is an inoperable lift & a wasted weekend looking at your boat in a non functioning lift. If you do find yourself in this situation here are some tips below to help troubleshoot the equipment:
Test the switch to ensure you're getting good electrical flow. Get a volt meter & test the power coming into the switch & out of the switch. If you get a different reading on one side compared to the other you might have corrosion. Simply clean up the terminals (UNPLUG THE SWITCH 1ST, I speak from experience on this one) & try again. If you still get an interruption then you probably gathered water in the switch over the winter break & need to replace it.
If you don't have any electrical flow into the switch at all, reset your inline GFCI until the light glows. If the light does not glow then you have a busted GFCI. Now I can NOT recommend this but some customers have told me they can bypass the GFCI to get direct electricity to the switch & it usually gets the lift running. *** I don't want anyone getting hurt so I can not recommend this, this is only what my customers tell me. If the GFCI is out you need to buy a new one BEFORE you operate the lift **.
If you have good flow through the switch then check all the terminals inside the motors. If you have an old motor that can gather dirt dobbers, clean out any nests before operations. You also need to wrap you motor in panty hose to keep those buggers from depositing all that dirt in the motor. Also clean the terminal to ensure you're getting good contact with the leads & the connectors.
Before you run the lift make sure you grease up all inserts. There should be (3) on the gear, (2) around the "cork screw gear", & (1) around the big gear either on the face of the gear or between the gear & the back plate.
If you're cable seem frayed, I'd replace immediately, you don't want to drop your boat.
Never, ever, let anyone ride on the lift while it's in operation, especially if you haven't run the lift in a while.
These are just a few tips to follow if you find your lift inoperable at 1st start. I'd print this post out & place in your glove box so you have it when your at the lift. I hope this helps, if you should have any questions just let me know what I can do to help.....
As the weather finally begins to warm up ( I hope, I didn't see my shadow this morning) a lot of us will head to the coast, or lake, for the 1st time in a while. One of the 1st things I always do is drop all me gear in the house & head to the boat lift to finally run my boat after a 2-4 month hiatus. The last thing you want is an inoperable lift & a wasted weekend looking at your boat in a non functioning lift. If you do find yourself in this situation here are some tips below to help troubleshoot the equipment:
Test the switch to ensure you're getting good electrical flow. Get a volt meter & test the power coming into the switch & out of the switch. If you get a different reading on one side compared to the other you might have corrosion. Simply clean up the terminals (UNPLUG THE SWITCH 1ST, I speak from experience on this one) & try again. If you still get an interruption then you probably gathered water in the switch over the winter break & need to replace it.
If you don't have any electrical flow into the switch at all, reset your inline GFCI until the light glows. If the light does not glow then you have a busted GFCI. Now I can NOT recommend this but some customers have told me they can bypass the GFCI to get direct electricity to the switch & it usually gets the lift running. *** I don't want anyone getting hurt so I can not recommend this, this is only what my customers tell me. If the GFCI is out you need to buy a new one BEFORE you operate the lift **.
If you have good flow through the switch then check all the terminals inside the motors. If you have an old motor that can gather dirt dobbers, clean out any nests before operations. You also need to wrap you motor in panty hose to keep those buggers from depositing all that dirt in the motor. Also clean the terminal to ensure you're getting good contact with the leads & the connectors.
Before you run the lift make sure you grease up all inserts. There should be (3) on the gear, (2) around the "cork screw gear", & (1) around the big gear either on the face of the gear or between the gear & the back plate.
If you're cable seem frayed, I'd replace immediately, you don't want to drop your boat.
Never, ever, let anyone ride on the lift while it's in operation, especially if you haven't run the lift in a while.
These are just a few tips to follow if you find your lift inoperable at 1st start. I'd print this post out & place in your glove box so you have it when your at the lift. I hope this helps, if you should have any questions just let me know what I can do to help.....