Boat Lift Maintenance Checklist

Stop using the lift and get it looked at if:

a cable has broken strands, a flattened section or a kink
anything smells like it is burning
a bracket, bunk or part of the frame is bent, cracked or moving
the boathouse itself has settled, leaned or dropped

And before you touch a belt, a cable or anything in the drivetrain: switch the power off first. Nothing on this page needs the lift running.

This page is built to print — the menus and buttons drop away and what is left is the checklist. Ctrl+P, or Share → Print on a phone.

Printed from phillipsmetalworksllc.com. This is what to look at, not a verdict on any lift — a page cannot see yours. Anything here that looks wrong is a reason to stop using the lift and ask, not a reason to keep going.

1 · The one that matters most

Cables

Look at: Run your eye along the whole length of each cable, including the part that wraps the drum and the part that passes over the sheaves. Those are where wear concentrates, and they are the bits nobody looks at.
Wrong looks like: Broken strands — little wire whiskers standing proud of the lay. A section that has gone flat, or picked up a kink. Rust bleeding out of the lay rather than sitting on the surface. Anywhere the cable has been rubbing something it should not be touching.
Also look at the drum: The wraps should lie neatly side by side. Bunched, crossed or piled-up wraps mean the cable has been going slack — usually the carriage floating when the lift is down, or a wake reaching it while you are out. Worth sorting rather than living with, because cable that keeps re-wrapping badly wears where it was never meant to. Why it happens →
Then: Broken strands mean stop lifting. Not at the end of the season, not after one more trip out. A cable that has started to go does not recover, and the second one is rarely far behind the first, which is why we generally recommend doing both.

How often they need replacing depends on how much you use the lift, whether the cable sits in the water, and how exposed your frontage is. Anyone who gives you a number for that has not seen your lift. More on cables →

2 · The cheapest thing you can do

Grease

Look at: The gear plate and the pipe bearings. Those are the points with fittings on them, and they are the whole job.
How often: Under regular summer use, a couple of times a season. If the lift is working hard — a lot of trips, a heavy boat — more often than that.
Why summer: Heat thins the grease and it drips out of where you put it. That is why the hot months are when this needs the attention, and why a lift greased in April may not still be greased in August.
Wrong looks like: Dry, dark or crusted grease at the fittings. Any new noise from the gear plate — a growl or a grind is the sound of something running without enough of it.
Then: Grease it. If the noise does not go away, stop running it and call: a worm gear that has run dry is one repair, and a worm gear that has run dry for another month is a bigger one.

This is the least expensive maintenance on the whole lift and the one most often skipped.

3 · Two minutes with the power off

The drive belt

Look at: The belt inside the gear plate. On the ordinary plates that is an AX-34.
Wrong looks like: A glossy, glazed surface where it should be matte. Cracking across the back. Fraying at the edges. And the one you hear rather than see: a squeal or a chirp on start-up.
Then: Replace it. A glazed belt keeps working after a fashion while quietly costing you lifting power the whole time, so it is worth changing rather than living with.

Worth knowing before you order: a replacement gear plate already has its belt inside it. The standalone AX-34 is for replacing one on a plate you are keeping.

4 · Not a part — a habit

How you run it

The limit: The motors we fit read Time: 15 MIN on the nameplate, and they also read Thermally Protected: None. There is no cut-out inside to stop the motor when it gets too hot. Nothing will stop it for you.
What that means: Fifteen minutes measured from cold — not fifteen out of every hour. A lift that has already been up and down twice does not have a fresh fifteen in it. And it is the same fifteen in April as in August; a cool day does not buy extra run time.
Between cycles: BH-USA asks for at least five minutes of cool-down. The gear plate wants three to four minutes of its own.
Wrong looks like: The motor hot to the touch. Any burning smell. A lift that runs fine for the first lift or two and then quits — that is heat, and no amount of heavier wire will fix it.
Then: Stop and let it cool. If there is a burning smell, do not run it again — that may already be the winding. In our experience heat damage gets treated as misuse rather than a defect, so it is not a repair you want to be arguing about afterwards.
Where you park the boat: Too much weight toward the back makes the lift work inefficiently, and a lift that labors is a lift working harder than it needs to every time you use it. A four-inch drop on the back I-beam is normal on a sound structure — it is what the lifts we see do under a boat, not a spec, and a beam sitting lower than it did last season is a different question. Beyond that, or if it is obviously straining, park it more evenly. Where exactly depends on the boat.
Not just front to back: Parking it forward is the first move rather than the whole answer. On an older setup, wear and cable that has bunched on the drum — among other things — can put the load out left to right as well, and parking will not straighten it. That is one to get looked at.

In ordinary use you will never meet the run-time limit. You meet it jogging the lift up and down lining up bunks, or leaving a remote running while you do something else. More on the run-time limit →

5 · The part nobody looks at

What it is hanging from

Look at: The header beam the lift hangs off — usually timber — and the posts and pilings underneath it. Stand back and look at the boathouse as a whole, not just the lift.
Wrong looks like: Splitting, checking or soft spots in the beam, particularly around the bolts. Rot where water sits. A post that has settled, so the structure sits lower on one side. Anything that has gone out of plumb since last year.
Then: Stop using it and get it looked at. This is the one where the lift can be in perfect order and the answer still be no.

Older boathouses on this lake were often not built with a lift in mind — a beam sized to hold up a roof is not necessarily sized to hold up a roof and a boat. Reinforcing or replacing a header beam so a lift can hang from it is work we do; rebuilding a boathouse is not, and we will tell you which one you are looking at.

What we deliberately do not tell you

You will find checklists elsewhere with a service schedule on them — replace this every year, that every two. We do not publish one, and it is worth saying why rather than leaving a gap.

A cable on a lift used twice a summer in a sheltered cove and a cable on a lift used every weekend on open main-channel water are not on the same clock. Neither are the belts. The one figure above is the grease, and it is there because it is our own habit rather than a schedule, and because the cost of doing it too often is a tube of grease. A number would look more helpful than the truth and be worth less.

So the checklist above is built on what things look like rather than on how old they are. Look at it when you are down there anyway, and look at it properly rather than glancing — that catches more than any calendar.

Common questions

How often should I grease the gear plate?

A couple of times a season under regular summer use, and more often if the lift is working hard. The points are the gear plate and the pipe bearings.

Summer is when it matters because the heat thins the grease and it drips out of where you put it — a lift greased in spring may not still be greased by August.

How do I know when a cable needs replacing?

By looking at it rather than by counting years. Broken strands standing out of the lay, a flattened section, a kink, or rust bleeding out from inside the lay: any of those and it needs doing.

How long they last depends on use, whether the cable sits in the water, and how exposed your frontage is, so we do not publish an interval. Anyone who gives you one has not seen your lift.

Should I do both cables or just the bad one?

We generally recommend both. They have done the same work for the same length of time, so the second is rarely far behind the first — and a lift running one new cable against one tired one does not sit level.

Is there anything I should do at the end of the season?

Walk the checklist above properly once while you are closing up, when you are not in a hurry to get on the water. Cables, grease, belt, and a look at the beam and the posts.

And if the lift is not meant to sit in the water, do not leave it sitting in the water.

My lift is fine. Is any of this urgent?

Only the cables, and only in the sense that looking costs nothing. Everything else on this list is the difference between a cheap job and an expensive one rather than something that will fail tomorrow.

The cables are the exception because that is the failure that damages a boat.

If something on the list is wrong

Tell us what you found

Photographs of whatever you are unsure about will usually get you an answer without anyone driving anywhere. Estimates are free either way.

Send us the details → Something is not working → Common questions →

Boat lift maintenance checklist