Boat Lift Question?

[Hardee]

I'm a new owner of a 2005 Albin 28 TE, and a new member of AOG. I have a question that hopefully some of you more experienced members can help me with.
I'm having a new boat lift installed, and the contractor has never installed a lift for an Albin 28, and due to the curvature of the aft portion of the Keel, cannot be sure exactly where to position the Boat on the Lift.
The boat has "sling location(s)" indicated. If the boat sling locations were centered between the "I" beams of the lift, the aft part of the boat would seem to be too far off the lift Bunks, noting the heavy engine, fuel tank location. If the boat were positioned more forward, the aft keel curvature would rest on the aft "I" beam and result in damage to the keel.
Any information on this topic would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Hardee

[N4QC]

My experience with an Albin and a boat lift is as follows:

The Albin is a 24 ft Getaway with a skeg. The factors for the position and height of the bunk boards was to determine the width that the bunk boards had to be spaced apart by using the distance between the stringers to establish a reference point. The locations of any thru hull fittings were also identified. The height factor was a trial and error process as the 10 inch height of the lift bunk boards was not enough as the bottom of the hull touched the “I” beams of the cradle of the lift. The width distance turned out to be about 32 inches.

We used 2” shims to raise the bunk boards which allowed enough clearance of the hull over the “I” beams. The top of the bunk boards were now about 12 inches.

The aft lift marker on the boat was used as a guide to position the boat over the aft “I” beam. This alignment proved to be unacceptable as the skeg hit the “I” beam. Moving the aft reference point forward of the aft lift marker 3 or 4 inches allowed the boat to clear the cradle and be situated appropriately on the lift.

In this case the “I” beams of the cradle were about 8ft 4 inches apart. A 6 inch piece of dock bumper was glued onto the “I” beams at the center point of the hull location when on the bunk boards. This is used to cushion the skeg if you over shoot the lift point and hit the “I” beam.

That lift has been replaced. My new lift was set up with an 18 inch bunk board height . The boat’s aft lift marker is used as the reference point for the aft lift “I” beam. This is due to the fact that the “I” beams on the new lift are but 7 feet apart and I wanted the heaviest part of the boat in alignment with Albin’s aft lift marker. Still have to glue a piece of dock bumper on the “I” beams as I sometimes, when loading the vessel onto the lift, over shoot and hit the skeg…

Keep in mind that the higher your bunk boards are the more water depth you need to float the boat. Also, the loading of the vessel, such as with a full complement of fuel, water and stuff, will affect clearance values.

Hope this helps…

[Al O Fish Us]

WE have an Albin28 on a lift in punta gorda florida. It is a 13000 lbs lift "boat usa" put in by Marine Contracting Group We are totally happy with the arrangement. We also have a lift cover by Castaways to keep the sun out of the cockpit. Works great