Pontoon Boat Lifts Oklahoma | Different Boats
Alright, this is podcast number 9 for Boat Floater of Oklahoma. I’m here today with Wes & Teresa Hamilton. They are Oklahoma’s boat lift specialist and owner Boat Floater of Oklahoma. good morning Teresa, good morning Wes. How long have you been Oklahoma’s boat lift specialists? For 10 years I’ve been installing boat floater boat lifts. What makes a boatload of what you know, one of the things that you’ve mentioned that you’re, seeing a lot of us new pontoon and tritoon boats out on really all of Oklahoma’s lakes. What makes the boat floater boat, lift the left of choice for those folks that have gone to the boat, show and purchased a brand new tritoon or pontoon boat. We’ve specifically designed a a kit, a pontoon or tritoon kit for pontoons tritoon boats. So it supports you, have on a pontoon boat. You’ve got the outside tunes you got to tunes, or some people call them logs. So on a pontoon boat to weave created the special brackets that go on your boat, floater, boat, left and then on those brackets. We have bunks. So, on one of the tritoons or one of the pontoons, we will have two bunks into brackets to support that tune. So then you go to the outer side and you’ve got the same thing. Two brackets in two bunks that run 14, ft long or completely supported by galvanized steel. So on a tritoon you’d have one down the middle galvanized steel. Why is that an important consideration when purchasing a boat, lift for your pontoon, a tritoon, pontoon tritoon boat, used on the water? That’s what they’re for and water will corrode and rust, steel so and to protect the steel we have it galvanized and then the galvanizing last year in the life of the left, which means we expect the left of the last 20-plus years differ from other boat lift companies that are out there a lot of the other boat lift companies and just use the wooden carpet. They’ll have some steel brackets that attach they use wood in the water, it’s not in the water. It’s it’s it’s above the water and it supports the tunes and but the problem is they don’t run the entire length of that wood with steel support, typically they’ll just have brackets than then attach the wood and carpet to those brackets at each crossmember, but in between the crossmember there’s, no steel support, wear with a boat, floater, pontoon kit, or a tritoon kit for pontoon, boat or tritoon boat, and we run a piece of angle iron. That’s a 14 foot, long, that’s galvanized! The entire length of the wooden carpet, bunk and then we have steel, supports, also weld it on the box, where the cross members hit the the kit, so I tune kit. So does that mean if I already have a boat motor boat, lift I don’t have to buy a whole new lift when I get a whole new boat? When you get a new pontoon boat or a tritoon boat? And previously, if you had a runabout, boat rv hole for bass boat, we had typically those are set up differently, but we can convert your boat floater boat, left to a tritoon pontoon. Kid just give us a call and we can come out and do a free consultation and tell you if you need a new lyft or if we can convert it to pontoon or try to make it, and sometimes we have to reposition the lift in the slim so I’m. It’s always good that before you make a big purchase to have us come out and look at it. First before I even buy my pontoon a tritoon, you could tell me what was involved in upgrading or or working on my left to make it accommodate my new boo. It’s always best in anna and i. Don’t do this all the time either and sometimes on these big purchases? We we want something so bad and just go out and get it and then think of the consequences lighter and I’ve. Seen that so many times with pontoon or tritoon boats and people just assume that something will work before asking a professional weather will or not I’m so they’ll buy the boat and the boat is too big for the boat left or too wide for their slept for too long for their slept. So then they’ve got to spend a lot of money on the backend fixing that problem, but we can fix it. It just cost money. Do you have to take in account when you get that new boat? So if it does say, I have a what 1/4, 44000 lb left and I buy a brand new pontoon a tritoon. What do I need to think about terms of my lyft? Well, just our are older but flutters and had galvanized steel tanks and those tanks for 10 ft long and then also are darnu 4500. Pound left has 10 long tanks on it, but typically the a pontoon boat just think you’ve got say you have 24 foot long, but the tanks on the 4000 pound boat floater are only 10 ft long. You know that pontoon boat might not way 4000 pounds, but you’ve got a lot of weight extended over the length of the the tanks on the boat left. So it’s not positioned properly, underneath the the boat lifts for it to fully utilize its full capacity. So it’s harder to pick something up. That’s way out in front of you than it is something straight underneath you, so it’s always good to take. Consider that yeah the length of the the tunes versus the length on the boat left, the tanks there’s two types of models generally, that you use for the pontoon lifts, there’s a classic in a free floater. What do I need to consider? Well, if you’re in a 10 ft wide slip, it’s always easier to use the free float or because it has less attachments that are intruding on on the inside of the slip, so gives you more room to bring your pontoon a tritoon boat in in the slip and the classic? Why would I not use a classic? Well, it’s not that you wouldn’t use the classic.
It still has room in a 10 ft wide slip. It’s just a tighter fit and some people are uncomfortable with that tight fit. But if you’re in a 12 foot wide slip for 11 foot wide slip, it it, it really doesn’t matter and both the classic model boat floater in the class or the free float or model for the boat. Floater are great for pontoon boat triton boats. What, if I’m in a really rough water area the lake for a floater in the classic motor boat, perform grade in rough water situation, said the classic model it locks in with the doc in the lift, doesn’t bounce her move. So it moves as the doc moves moves in concert with it on the free floater lift moves opposite of the dock, so it will move, but we haven’t had any problems with either one of those lips and order situation.. How long can I expect my vote vote about love to last with proper maintenance in care and getting on problems early. You can expect at the last 20 to 25 years, 20 to 25 years. What type of maintenance do I am I looking at in order to get that life out of it? Well, you need to make sure all the nuts and bolts are tight and on it, but also you need to watch the arm bushings on both the classic in the free, float or model and make sure those bushings don’t have any excessive wear on them and when you do see somewhere on them, go ahead and have them all four of them replaced it, and when you replace one I’ve got my eye on a triton boat. If it sounds like the tritoons are more popular right now, it’s better to call you first before I purchase. If I can wait that long. If you roll in mind before you make that big part just go ahead and give us a call and we can stop by and take a look at your left and how its position than the in give you the true cost of what is going to cost to get that new, pontoon boat or so I can give me a consultation. We do free consultations on those, so just give us a call and tell us where you are and we can go out and take a look all right. That’s oklahoma! Oklahoma’s boat lift specialist thanks thanks