Boat House rebuild

[mjw930]

So, last fall we bought a different place in Astor after considering what it would cost to retrofit the single boat setup we had to accommodate two boats. We found a place on a wide canal with a two slip plus boathouse that needed some TLC and started with that.

Here’s what we bought:



First order of business was to pull out the old lifts and cradles, resize the slips to be more standard widths and length and installing the lifts.



Next up are the cradles. I use Aluminum Boat Cradles out of Umatila, FL. Absolutely one of the best in the business.

Here’s the basic V cradle for the Key West. Very nice but pretty much off the shelf.



Then there’s the custom cradle Raymond built for the Talon. I told him to build what he would build for his own personal use. He delivered a work of art.




And here’s the finished product. The boats will find there way on the lifts in a couple weeks, got to complete some annual maintenance on them then find the time to drag them over to the river.



The next phase of the boathouse restoration will be replacing the roof with a higher roof so when I put a T-top on the Key West it will fit. That’s later in the year.

Sorry for the orientation of a couple, I’ll see if I can fix them and repost later.

[HammerMX]

Fantastic, great looking cradles, great looking boat house. May be in the market in the near future, will keep Aluminum Boat Cradles name in my phone!

You must be on the Volusia side of the river, did you have to pull permits or will you when you change the roof?

Hammer

[mjw930]

No permits needed for the work we did so far since we didn’t change the footprint, it’s considered a repair / rebuild. We just removed and replaced some rotted wood. Still undecided whether we will need one for the roof as it too would be considered a repair as long as we don’t increase the square footage significantly. There also are changes being made constantly to the codes, Volusia is notorious for that trick so we will have to make that decision when we are ready to start that part of the work. We don’t want to run afoul of the codes but we don’t want to pull permits when we don’t have to.

We need to be very cautious, virtually all of the boathouses on the Volusia side are grandfathered so I don’t want to do anything to put that in jeopardy. The new construction codes are idiotic and each inspector interprets them differently.

[tux974]

Very nicely done and smart move on not opening the barrel of worms with permits.

[tnelsmn]

Are those lifted and supported from above? I'm used to seeing them sitting on shore and lifting from underneath around here.

[mjw930]

Yes, if you look at the last photo you will see a plate with a motor and gears. That drives a 2” steel pipe the cable rolls up on. On this design the pipe is on the side and the opposite side has a stainless pulley. It’s 3/8” braided stainless so each of the 4 cables has a 2500 lb working load and a 15,000 breaking strength. The lift is rated at 5000 lbs but can go up to 8000 but that uses a block and tackle which makes it run at half speed. It’s a 50 year old design but if it ain’t broke why try and fix it.

Here’s the drive plate and pipe before they installed the cables and cradles.

[tnelsmn]

Interesting, learn something new everyday.

[JBS]

That Boathouse is top-shelf. I need to re-do ours probably next year you gave me some ideas thanks

[Z06man]

Yes and dont walk away while it is headed up. They get several repairs a year to the roofs.

[mjw930]

Updates;

Got the Key West onto its cradle. They are going to make some adjustments, move the cradle back about a foot and fine tune the bunks to line up perfect to the strakes and it’s good to go. Talon engine service done and will to the gearcase lube this week so hopefully it can find its new home in a week or so.

The electrical is a disaster, it was done well over 20 years ago and virtually every plug has rotted away. Spent some time to replace the guts on the 3 main plugs I need for the lifts and the chargers and am going to stop there since all the electric gets ripped out when we do the roof. Going to keep the gable roof and footprint to satisfy the codes but replace the truss roof with a high ridge beam and use self supporting insulated 16’ aluminum panels that have an adhesive top to accept the galvalum metal roof panels to match the house. That will provide unobstructed height between the beams supporting the cables for the lifts so a T-Top on the Key West will fit. It also allows me to lift the boats high in a storm and will provide an additional 4’ of overhang to cover the motors. From there I will have an electrician come in and rewire the place or do it myself if I’m feeling energetic.

[JPEROG]

Looks good Mark. I will be going down the same path with Raymond in the near future and hoping to have 3 covered lifts and screen room up top when all is said and done.

Joe

[mjw930]

Luckily you are on the Lake county side and Raymond knows the codes in and out. What you want is no longer possible on the Volusia side. 750 sq/ft Max under cover and no enclosed spaces allowed anymore. We also need to be set in 15’ from each property line. Luckily we are grandfathered but if the dock gets destroyed in a storm you can only rebuild to the new codes. If it’s damaged you can repair.

Lake county is more concerned about % of canal encroachment (25% max) and you can’t cut slips into your property anymore, anywhere without federal approval, which they won’t give. That’s why I jumped on this property when it came up. The only downside is being in Volusia county with their corrupt code enforcement.