Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Boat is on a lift in Ocean City, MD. In the Bay, there is a lot of boat traffic and waves.

A boat lift repairman told me to raise lift out of water when out. The Condo Association recommends leaving lift down, up to 12 hours while out.

I have a wireless remote, so it is easy to put lift up. This is what I have been doing.

Any comments? What would be advantages of leaving it down?

At the Lake of the Ozarks, they are always lifted when not in use. For 2 reasons, when the lake is busy its rough, and when the lifts are submerged, the slips take more of a beating and there are alot of "dockfockers" that will put thier boat into any open slip they can find when the lake is real busy and open slips are unavailabe. Nthing pisses ya off more, than coming home to find someone in your slip. I have seen some boats pushed out to float away by some really pissed slip owners, in our complex. I had one in mine a few years ago nice enough to pull it around to an open transient slip. I put a chain on the open end of my slip to keep them the hell out. We have one guy that lowers his chain far enough into the water to snag between the boat and lower unit. Locking the boat in, until the State Police come and ticket the offending boat. I'm not that gutsy.

I would leave it up out of the water

Definitely leave the lift up - especially if you have a remote to control it from the water. As mentioned, the dock takes a real beating when its rough and the lift is down.