Cat Boat Lift

I'm looking for ideas of how I can get my Hobie 16' out of the water. I live on a lake with a rocky shoreline and I have a fixed dock. The rocky shoreline has a slope of about 2:1 (relatively steep). I've thought about some type of a floating docking that the cat could be pulled onto. I've also thought about some type of boat lift/hoist or davit. I also considered some type of shoreline roller to pulled the boat on to be shore. Does anyone have any experience with this or have any suggestions? Thank you for your help.

There is a lot of information at the following thread on this forum. Hope this helps:

http://www.catsailor.com/forums/sho...ew=&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1

Wildwind,

The boats on our lake use auger posts with cross members (just like an "H" section of dock hardware but with an extended center), cover the cross members with PVC. Pull the 16 up on the PVC covered cross members, don't forget to tie it down.
The good thing about the auger posts is that if you add 16's all you have to do is connect two additional cross members to the original rack add two more posts and you are there.
I currently have two on racks with this system. Works and looks great.

John

LAke Hopatcong NJ A-cat sailors use two 16 foot long 2x4s that are framed together, and pivoted onto 2 posts at dock height. The outboard ends are weighted with sash weights to go into the water. They have 2 inch PVC pipe halves screwed to the 2x4 upper surface for sliding the boat on.
Sail up, straddling the 2x4s, push the boat up and secure with a line. Now weight the inboard ends, sliding the boat up onto the platform or seawall. MAybe use a light winch?

Thank you, this gives me some good ideas.

might be a little expensive but this has worked for us.
haha

I've use a product called SportPort for my H14T and Nacra F17. It was originally designed for drive on docking of jet skis, but works well for small cats. Their address is:

Sportport Docking Systems, Inc.
18860 Loxahatchee River Rd. Jupiter, FL 33458
(888) WHY-WORK (949-9675)

A friend of mine used a 500 or 750 lb cantilever lift that mounts onto the dock. He asked the mfg to extend the arms out from 3 feet to 8 or 9 feet. Because of the light weigh of the Hobie, the mfg had no issues with it. He has no problems to date. URL attached for photos of comparable lifts from the mfg referred to.

Universal Marine Lift