My new 496 would have gone under!!!!!!!

[sue]

I can not believe what happened today. As you all know, I keep my 22' on a Hydrohoist. The Hydrohoist consists of two pontoons, each one divided in half so you fill up 4 different areas with air to lift your boat out of the water. When I came home today, the back port side of the port pontoon was all the way down & out of air. It sprung a LEAK! I am sooooo lucky that the yard had just taken my boat out of the water last Friday to fix the sending unit & to change the oil etc. They asked me this morning if I would mind if they put my boat in tomorrow since they were busy. Boy am I glad I said OK. With the Hydrohoist, you have to be very careful putting your boat in & taking it out. To make a long explanation short, if you do it incorrectly, you can really mess up your boat. If my boat was on the hoist today with that part of that pontoon out of air, the port side of the engine compartment would have been filled with water. With the 3 other compartments on the hoist still filled with air, the boat would have been at such a sharp angle that it could have even slid into the water at an angle that would have put the whole boat under.
Sorry about this boring post, but even when the hoist is fixed, how am I ever going to be able to feel comfortable putting my boat on it again?
There is probably nothing that any of you can advise me to do, but if any body knows any more than I do about these hydrohoists that I spent allot of money on to keep my boat out of the water & safe, please fill me in. Thanks!
Sue

[MOP]

Sue over the years I have had several customers with the hoists, most all had some sort of problem mostly leaking fitting or hoses that popped off. I don't know if there are any real good remedies, a good inspection of the system on a regular basis helps some but not a cure all. I did rig an alert strobe/horn on one where the boat did side off and sank. Being azz heavy and having the added buoyance of the hoist if a stern float lets go the angle is severe to say the least. What I did was to use a Rule auto switch hooked to a relay that then powered a 110volt strobe light & horn combo that was switched off for launching, granted someone needed to be either in the line of sight or ear shot, the horn was quite loud. On one we installed ball cocks on the tanks once filled they were shut off which eliminated the hose issues but was a pain climbing around to open and close. I also recommended that they cleat off at the bow eyes with a heavy line with a snap hook to prevent sliding off, that lead to a few interesting moments for those that forgot to un clip.

Phil

[Morgan's Cloud]

Hi Sue ,
What do you think , someone's watching over you ? That was pure luck , or was it coincidence ?
My mate with the 28ZXO has it on one of those air lift systems as well and thinks he's trained me how to use it so when he goes off island I can babysit his boat.. or use it ... yeah right ! ! No thanks .
I admit I worry about that happening all the time ... I seem to remember him telling me one day that it cant do what yours did ... I remain sceptical though.
Like you say ... how can you ever feel safe again ?
Steve

[boldts]

Sue, while I understand the reasoning for having this set-up at your home, me personally would rather store mine on the trailer. I think your planning a couple gatherings up in your area, so I think you have a trailer for the boat? Easy for me to say because I'm not the one who spent the money on the lift, but why not sell the lift and store your baby on the trailer? Trailering really isn't all that bad. You meet a lot of neat people while waiting to launch your boat who always want to know about a Donzi. Launching really is not as hard as some think once you do it a few times. Start out on days during the week rather than busy weekends. You'll be a pro in no time and being a lady, I'm sure you'll never have a problem finding a helping hand if needed. Good luck with whatever you decide to do. Like I said, I understand your reasoning for the lift. I've just always enjoyed trailering my boats. It's very cool going down the hi-way and getting a thumbs up from people passing you or passing the guy towing a Baja and showing him what he's going to see on the lake. The transom of your Donzi. :)