IMM Quality Boat Lifts has a long history of custom engineering. It is fun to take a customer’s dream and make it a reality. A customer of ours from Florida also has a home on Lake Michigan. They wanted to install an elevator style lift to their pier so that the tracks would be able to pivot out of the water during the winter months to avoid damage from the ice. From the customer’s sketches, we were able to design a custom Platinum 20K elevator lift to meet his needs. The tracks have a special bearing plate on the end to rest on the rocky lake bottom. The track to pier mounting brackets were designed with a pivot pin to allow the tracks to swing out of the water. This post details the design of the custom lift that perfectly met our customer’s needs.
The following images show the customer’s hand drawn sketches that our engineers used to design the lift. The sketches detail the layout of his pier and steel piles. The sketches also show the foot plate for the track, a removable pile mount bracket and a seawall (pier) mount bracket that has a pin in it, allowing the lift to pivot out of the water. A detailed sketch showing how to offset the pile mount bracket from the pile was also given.
From these drawings, our engineers were able to design the novel parts that would be needed to make an elevator lift work with our customer’s unique needs.
Here is the design of the elevator track (rails) foot plate that will rest on the rocky bed of Lake Michigan.
Here is the design of the removable pile mount bracket that clamps to the elevator track. The layout of this bracket has the track run offset to the pile and when removed allows the tracks to tip backwards over the pier without the piles getting in the way.
This is the design for the seawall mount that will attach to the pier and elevator tracks. The pivot bolt will allow our customer to pivot the elevator lift’s tracks out of the water during winter to avoid damage from the ice.
Here is the custom engineered Platinum 20K elevator lift just after arrival in Michigan!
Here you can see the offset pile mount bracket and the pivoting pier mounted bracket.
Close up of the removable pile mount bracket showing how the tracks are offset from the pile.
Close up of the pivoting pier mount bracket. Below the water line you can make out the elevator track foot plate.
Here is the IMM Quality Boat Lifts custom engineered Platinum 20K elevator lift installed and ready to go. It is just waiting on the delivery of the customer’s new boat. We can’t wait to see this lift in action and then stored for the winter with the tracks tipped up. Will update with photos when available.
With three generations of engineering experience, IMM Quality Boat Lifts has the experience and knowledge to tackle any situation. So if you need something special, don’t hesitate to call our custom design specialists. Happy boating!
