sunday cat of lifts or boatels

[lockwoods]

I am just buying a new one. 
Will be in MD in summer and FL in winter

In MD, want to put it on a lift -- preferably a cantelver lift from two pilings on my dock

In FL, want to store in boatel (where they take boat out and put in covered racks with fork lift)

Anyone have any useful experience?

[Matt C]

I have my Suncat on a two pole lift manufactured by Hi Tide.  It is basically two Personal Water Craft lifts mounted side by side on two poles 8 feet apart against my seawall. Each lift has an arm that extends out about 6 feet and the keel bed and two bunks on either side (all about 10 feet long) bridge the two arms.  Motors run in sync.  Each lift is rated at 1500 lb so total capacity is 3000.

Just installed March if this year but so far works great. 
(Tried to attach photo but having problems doing so. )

Matt

[Matt C]

here's the photo of my lift
Matt

[lockwoods]

thanks much. I am going with a 2500 capacity cantilever minimag lift.  I will let everyone know how it works out

Steve

[Monona]

Hello,

How did your lift work out for you?

[lockwoods]

put lifts on two 2500 lb minimag lifts -- and copied bunk set ups from standard sunday cat trailer. Works fine. Key is getting guide poles to center keel.Trying to attach picture

Steve

[Tom L.]

The Sun Cat rides on it's keel so there should be a substantial board/beam to support the entire boat along the length of the  keel. The bunk boards are there just to keep the boat upright. The bunks are not suppose to carry any weight they just are there to stabilize the boat.

I saw where there was a mention of rack type storage. That could be a problem because most of those operations use fork lifts that pick the boat with long forks along both sides of the keel at the turn of the bilge. The boat really isn't designed to be lifted that way. I saw one Horizon Cat that Jerry was building for an owner that intended to use rack storage and they added internal stringers at the turn of the bilge so the hull wouldn't flex too much. Before letting any yard pick your boat that way talk to Jerry H. at the factory.

Tom L.

[lockwoods]

thanks Tom. I wish I had thought of that when I bought my boat!!