RAISING HOPE

Home in Port Charlotte
High of 85, no rain for weeks

One of the problems with having a flatter bottom boat is it sat so straight and flat on the cradle lift that water in the cockpit fails to drain out the scuppers (self bailing drains at the transom).  When you have standing water, it's a little hard to get dirt and salt out of the boat.  I had hoped if I was able to make adjustments to the boat lift, by raising the bow slightly higher than the stern, the problem might be solved.

The boat lift has 2 lateral cradle beams, one front and and aft, 4 braided steel cables, 2 each on port and starboard sides.  There are two motors to control the lift cables.  One motor raises the port side and the other, starboard.  I needed to raise both front cables, independent of the rear.

I put the word out on a few Internet fishing sites I belong to.  One guy came up with the idea that worked.  I used a 2" wide ratcheting load strap to suspend the forward, port, cradle beam.  I then had to remove the shackle holding the end of the steel cable and remove the lower pulley.  I then manually looped the steel cable twice around the cable shaft to shorten it.  Now the cable was too short to reach the shackle but a flip of the motor switch unwound enough cable to re-attach it to the shackle.  Some of the steel cable loosened up and had to be re-wrapped but it was a piece of cake, with me holding the cable and my wife running the motor switch.  I followed the same procedure for the canal side, using the boat as a work platform.  The end result is pictured above.  Notice how the front cradle beam sits noticeably higher than the rear. 

The water now drains perfectly and the boat is nice and clean!  Just another day of Messing About.