Finally got around to posting the new Hydro Hoist pics

B

boscoj

New member
Scott Mortensen and Moe arrived bright and early to start assembly

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10,000 lb. model, pivot arms . . .

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Nice robust looking stuff

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Guide poles on

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Waiting for the harbor master to come drag it over to our slip

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New style control box with the rapid launch bypass/dump valve

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The pivot arms being mounted to the dock

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Woohoo! She sinks!

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No metal in the water with the 10,000 lb model

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shot from the other dock

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closer

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took the better part of the day, about 6-7 hours
 
Nice installation. Is the water high salinity? If so how well does the galvanized steel hold up? What are the fasteners?

Any cat on a lift is also centered by aluminum poles with vinyl covering on the sides. They will be tight enough to center the boat as a lift comes up.
 
I shouldn't think the water is very high salinity being on the west coast and inside the SF Bay. Since there is no metal in the water it should hold up very well.

From what I understand most of the fasteners are standard grade 8 hardware.

The guide poles are also galv steel. Nothing but steel and plastic in this structure.
 
boscoj-

The fresh water from the Sacramento/California Delta mixes with the salt water from the ocean in and round Susin Bay, which is between San Francisco Bay and the Delta proper, about 30-40 miles upstream from your boat.

I'd guess the water in San Francisco Bay is 75%-90% ocean salt water, depending on the time of year and the amount of freshwater runoff from the California mountains that feed the Delta.

I've tasted it more than a few times when capsizing in a small sailboat, or getting drenched with bow spray when planning along on a screaming reach, and it's definitely salty! Beer tastes better, IMHO!

On Edit: We lived in Fremont, on the East side of the South Bay, for 38 years, and the entire South Bay was at one time encircled by evaporation ponds designed to produce salt, and owned by Leslie and Morton's Salt Companies. About half of it still is. One processing site, in Newark, had a pile of salt about 150 feet high and 250 feet across backed up in reserve to feed the railroad cars that from time to time left for the reprocessing and packaging plant. Could have skied down that thing with a pair of skis or a snowboard!

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
I also have tasted a bit of salt in both SF bay and the Delta. There is a good poster at:

http://deltamodeling.com/references/FishX2HydroModelingPoster.pdf Which shows salinity and flows.

Not knowing exactly where your boat is the reason I asked about the salinity. (Which has a big issue in the water wars in the area.)

Although the metal is not constantly immersed, it will be when you launch and retrieve the boat--and often people leave the lifts submerged when they are out--some even for a few days! I would suggest that you wash down the lift after each immersion and not leave it immersed. There will always be some wear of the galvanizing at pivot points. If there is any electrolysis (from improper wiring of adjacent boats or the marina) the zinc in the galvanizing can be compromised quickly.

I had considered a hydro type of lift, but in our area the 4 pole lift is considerably less expensive.
 
Thanks for posting the pics. It is great to see how it all goes together. I'm sure all the nuts and bolts are galvanized, but even galvanized stuff will rust over time. One trick that I have used to prevent rust is to take each bolt out, grease it with white lithium grease (or similar) and put it back in. It is time consuming, but you will get many more years out of it. A less time consuming but also less effective thing is to just spray each bolt with white lithium grease or something similar.

Glen
 
My concerns are that this type of lift is unusual in salt water. I boated for over 50 years in Calif, and cannot remember seeing one of these type of lifts. I know that they are made in Oklahoma--and most applications are in lakes.

Also let us know how you like the EZ Puller reel winch. Warren (Doryman--Lori Ann has one on his Tom Cat. As I recollect he had concern about the amount of line he could get on the reel, as well as level winding.
 
Well my salt water experience only began aperiodically, in 2004 or so.

But what I do know is that they are very common in the Delta, Discovery Bay, the water ski crowd etc.

They were not very common at Moss Landing I guess because many of those boats are commercial fishers.

I found that the google maps data for Santa Cruz harbor features our TC shortly after delivery and installation of the (uncommon in salt water) Sunstream lift.
I also counted about 13 Hyrdo Hoists in the google map image data of Santa Cruz harbor.

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This image data must have been acquired in late 2009 or early 2010 because we moved to Oyster Point a few months after this video was shot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm3mXe-4NMQ

I also looked at the google maps image data for Oyster Point and it appears to be of the same vintage because our boat is not there. I counted 14 Hyrdo Hoists. I'm also pretty sure one of the utility vessels being used to build the new ferry terminal is a platform made up of Hydra Hoist material configured to support a small forklift.

While they may be "unusual" or uncommon in salt water applications I think that is probably due more in part to the expense of floating a heavier (than a ski boat) vessel.

The salinity factor is interesting and yes we do certainly wash down anything that comes into contact with salt water. Except for the boat . . . She gets the head to toe treatment =)

Thanks again for all the useful commentary and suggestions. Like I've said before the care and feeding of this vessel has been recently transferred to me. I have very limited experience with ocean going vessels but plenty of experience with racecars and airplanes so I don't expect it will take me too long to get the maintenance side sorted.

Almost forgot about the the EZ Anchor Puller . . . I took a look at it IRL and it actually appears to say #8 on it. I've used it a number of times since it saved my ass from possible catastrophe. Of course now I have to disclose my dumb mistake. :oops:
Pretty simple, I skipped a line on the checklist and cast off. The line was something like "Engine/Steering control unit breakers - ON". doh . . . Thank gawd for cell phones, I called Dad and told him the problem. Instantly he provided me with the proper assortment of expletives. After a short pause he told me I didn't turn the engine/steering control breakers on. *phew*

Again, many thanks to all forum members that comment/contribute and suffer through my horrible grammar and punctuation.

Thanks to Scott Mortensen and the crew at HydraHoist, Disco Bay.

I will do my best to contribute interesting and accurate information.
 
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