How Much Does A Boat Lift Cost?

Are you a boat owner, or are you just planning on buying a bowrider boat, catamaran, or whatever, and you want to know how much does it cost to lift it? Then, you are in the right place.

There are many reasons why people lift their boat from the water. Some of them will do this because they need to repair something, other because the summer is ended, they want to winterize their boat, and many others because they need to perform maintenance jobs as painting the hull.

After understanding the importance of boat lift and why boat owners do that, one question that arises in the mind of a new boat owner is, how much does boat lift cost?

Boat lift cost depends on different factors like the place where the lift will happen, the type of lift that you require, anyway the cost for pay the boat lift service go from ranges of $1500 for a small boat to $20000, calculated considering a rate of $1500 per ton.

These are the general cost that you need to pay for a boat lift service, but some people, especially the one that own enough space and the right means of transport to carry the lift machine, has thought to by a lifting machine for the boat, instead of using a boat lifting service.

This operation can give several advantages; for example, the boat owner can choose whatever times he likes to lift the water boat or put it in the water.

In the next part of the article, we will see the different solutions that the boat lift market offers if you would like to buy a boat lift.

Boat lift cost by types

Due to the huge demand and use of the boat worldwide, the lift boat machine market can satisfy any necessity.

Either that you own a catamaran, a jet ski, there is always a solution ready to guarantee the lift of your boat in the safest way possible.

What is the best boat lift to buy?

There isn’t a precise answer to the above question; the only thing you can do is make some important consideration before purchasing one.

The things that you should consider before purchasing a boat lift are the following:

  • Length of the boat
  • Weight
  • Space
  • Local rule of port

These are the four factors that you must keep in mind before buying a lift boat. Over the difference on the money is for sure an important part is to purchase a big lift boat or own a small boat.

Elevator boat lift cost

Elevator boat lift cost

The best solution that you can choose if you own a small boat is the elevator boat lift. The working principle of the elevator boat lift is very simple.

It works thanks to an elevator that will lift the boat up or down, using an electric winch system.

The elevator boat lift is perfect if you sail on a narrow channel.

The capacity that an elevator boat lift can sustain is different.

  • 3,000 lbs  
  • 5,000 lbs  
  • 7,000 lbs 
  • 10,000 lbs 
  • 12,000 lbs 
  • 15,000 lbs 
  • 17,000 lbs  
  • 20,000 lbs
  • 24,000 lbs 
  • 30,000 lbs  
  • 40,000 lbs

The cost for an elevator boat lift depends upon your purchase capacity; anyway, it goes from a minimum of $2000 until $30,000.

Convention boat lift cost

This configuration is mainly used in the lakes; the range on which the conventional boat lift is built goes from 4,000 to 20,000 pounds.

In general, they are easy to operate and don’t require much attention. The average cost for a conventional boat lift is around $5,000 to $8,000

Cantilever boat lift cost

Cantilever boat lift cost

In most cases, the cantilever boat lift is the favorite for people who own a pontoon boat. This is because the cantilever pontoon lifts can work in shallow water without any problem. Moreover, the boat’s lift will be stable, and it will be cheaper than the vertical lift.

As the market offers different solutions for the cantilever, your main focus should be to determine which one is the best for your boat.

Doing this, you should check what type of hull do you have, in general, you the most common hull types are:

  • Pontoons and tritoons
  • Runabouts, Deck and V-Hull
  • Direct drive and v-drive sky boats

Once you determine the type of boat, the weight, and all the consideration done in the first part of the article, the only thing that you should do is look at the best for your necessity.

The cost for a cantilever boat lift is going from $3,500 for a 5,000 lb. of capacity until reaching $10,000 for a 10,000lb of capacity.

Hydraulic boat lift

Hydraulic boat lift cost

As the name suggests, the hydraulic boat lift is a boat lift system that uses hydraulic lift boats. The hydraulic boat lift capacity goes from 4,000 to 12,000 pounds.

Some of the advantages of using this system are simplicity, silence while in service, and speed.

Due to the absence of cable, the hydraulic lift is easier than others models present on the market. Although the average cost of the hydraulic lift is more or less similar to others models, the average cost for 10,000 lb is around $10,000.

Floating boat lift

Floating boat lift cost

Probably the best solution that you may find to lift your boat is by utilizing the floating boat lift. The leader of this type of building is HydroHist that has brought good innovation in this field.

The hydro hoist boat lift offered an incredible number of solutions in terms of capacity, as it goes from a small capacity until reaching 60,000 pounds.

The working principle of the floating boat is based on lifting the boat out of the water using ranks that are inflated.

Here the cost will go up because of the innovation and leader of the sector. The floating boat lift of 5,000 lb. will cost you something around $7,000.

Conclusion

The cost for lift a boat will vary depending upon your necessity; if you don’t have enough space where put a lift boat machine, your only solution is to utilize the services offered by the nearest boat lift operator. Otherwise, if you have enough space where insert one utilized lift boat machine, the best thing that guarantees a cheaper investment is purchasing a boat lift machine and using it whatever moment you want.