If it ain't broke - don't fix it?
Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2019 9:58 am
I am in the process of doing some maintenance on my boatlift. It is a simple overhead center mount pipe setup, with pulleys at four corners. The cable winds directly on the pipe. Already bought new stainless steel cable and clamps, disassembled the pulleys to inspect/clean/lube the bearings. Cleaned and greased the worm drive and main bearings.
The pontoon boat was part of the deal, when we bought our home a year ago. The internet consensus is that you will damage your pontoon boat by using slings in lieu of a cradle setup. I do understand the concept. But…….my boat has been in slings for 12+ years. I cannot see any tweaking/cracking/separation of the brackets and the toons appear to be plumb and parallel. I cannot see any deformation of the tubes where the straps contact. The cable drops from the overhead pulleys are about 2-3 degrees from vertical, in an outward direction.
My inclination is that it is hard to argue with success, but I have people telling me that it positively will be problem some day. When I press for details, I can’t find anyone who has actually had a problem with it, but I have found many people using slings on pontoons without problems. I’m thinking that it may be a brand/bracket design specific thing……some are OK and some are not – so always err on the safe side.
There is much wisdom and experience on this board. Anyone see a need to push me off the fence on this? Right now, I am leaning toward “if it ain’t broke – don’t fix it.”
Marc
The pontoon boat was part of the deal, when we bought our home a year ago. The internet consensus is that you will damage your pontoon boat by using slings in lieu of a cradle setup. I do understand the concept. But…….my boat has been in slings for 12+ years. I cannot see any tweaking/cracking/separation of the brackets and the toons appear to be plumb and parallel. I cannot see any deformation of the tubes where the straps contact. The cable drops from the overhead pulleys are about 2-3 degrees from vertical, in an outward direction.
My inclination is that it is hard to argue with success, but I have people telling me that it positively will be problem some day. When I press for details, I can’t find anyone who has actually had a problem with it, but I have found many people using slings on pontoons without problems. I’m thinking that it may be a brand/bracket design specific thing……some are OK and some are not – so always err on the safe side.
There is much wisdom and experience on this board. Anyone see a need to push me off the fence on this? Right now, I am leaning toward “if it ain’t broke – don’t fix it.”
Marc