Electric hoist

[Jon Snider]

Does anyone have any advice on a good electric chain hoist for my shop? It will be mounted from a central reinforced point to lift and turn boats using a spreader bar and straps.

The max weight is around 5-600 lbs which will only be lifted for a short period to lift boats for turning or loading on a trailer. No long term suspension of anything.

Ceiling height is 15’ at center. I’ll need to lift them at least 3-4’ off shop floor in order to clear the gunwales when turning.

I’ve also looked at manual chain hoists but one problem with them is how to move the chains out of the way, given the overall height, when not in use.

Thx

jon

[Bill Dufour]

Harbor freight sells some low quality hoists that would work. 120 volt is easiest to install in a shop. 12 volt with a transformer can be used on a vechile outdoors.

[Bill Dufour]

A quality hoist will weigh too much for one guy to rig 15 feet up in the air. For my sisters canoe I designed a strap system using seatbelts to hold it up. I think it was just lifted up by hand and then buckled up

[Jon Snider]

I plan to hang it from the spot in the ceiling (strongly reinforced over several trusses, which were designed to hold his specific weight) and just leave the hoist hanging there when not in use. I have to find some way to keep the control pendant within reach but still out of the way.

Thx.

[Tom M King]

How about an eye in the end of a line, to a turning block on the ceiling, and another somewhere on the outside wall, down to a cleat for the line. When you need to lift something, lower the eye (with some small weight permanently attached so it will come down), and hook a one ton chain hoist to the eye. Pull the hoist up where you need it, cleat the line, and you're ready to lift. That would keep everything out of the way until you need it.

Even the smaller powered winches cost a lot more than a 1-ton chain hoist. A 1-ton chain hoist doesn't weigh much. Don't be tempted to get a 2-ton just because they don't cost much more. The speed of lifting goes down by a factor of two. I use a 2-ton to lift the front of mowers for access to blades. I eliminated the turning block on the lifting chain, so it's effectively a 1-ton, but lifts twice as fast.

[David Zaret]

i have a 2 ton jet on a gantry lift system we built in the shop, and it's worked flawlessly for 3 years. 220V single phase. we lift a ~1000 lb lifting platform up about 15'.

[Ron Selzer]

have a Harbor Freight 120 volt unit in the garage installed it to unload a SawStop ICS out of my pickup, since then have used it for other items very handy to have
https://www.harborfreight.com/880-lbs-electric-hoist-with-remote-control-62854.html

[Mike Cutler]

Jon

If you're certain that you won't need to lift things heavier than the 500-600lbs you stated, look at electric, pendant rope hoists, and not electric, pendant chain hoists. The price will drop significantly, probably 1/2-2/3rd's of price. That HF model Ron posted a link to looks interesting.
There are also wireless electric chain hoists, and rope hoists. I've used a few, but they are pretty darn special units. They have VFD's, and stabilizing gyros, built into them. Pretty cool, but you don't need to spend $10K+ on a hoist. ;)

[Tom Bender]

To get the hanging stuff out of the way (control pendant or chainfall) just run a small rope up beside the hoist and over to the side somewhere, similar to Tom's turning block.

One thing about hoists, more height is better. The hoist and the rigging uses up a lot of it so hang 'em high. 15 feet to the top of the hoist is a good start but go higher if you can. One thing it will give you is the ability to swing the boat a little in all directions just in case the trailer is not in the exact right spot.

Tom's turning block is an interesting idea. It could be used with a powered or a manual winch on the wall. Electricians use winches to pull wire. You may find one cheap on Craig's list. Not sure how these are at lowering though. But boats have a variety of winches on the deck and on the trailer. A sail winch would probably require a 4 part line to develop the capacity.

The slower the hoist the better.

[Tom Bender]

Paint a stripe on the floor to help get the trailer in the right spot.

[Jacob Reverb]

I bought a HFT 1500# 120VAC hoist to use for a homemade "laddervator"-type hoist to lift roofing shingles 15 feet up to my roof. It seems to work well.

The control pendant is only 10' long on mine, so I have to climb halfway up my scaffolding to raise the shingles to the roof, but in a way that's a safety feature. I suspect they didn't make it longer to help prevent people from lifting loads high above themselves.

Mine also has a "power down" button on the pendant if you need to lower loads in a controlled way -- you don't have to freespool to lower.

I think it comes with 30' or 35' of cable.

[Bill Dufour]

Do you really trust any harbor freight stuff to hold 500 pounds over your head without breaking or stripping the gears and letting the load fall on your head?
Bill D

[Jacob Reverb]

Who said anything about lifting overhead?

[Alan Lightstone]

I owned the Harbor Freight overhead hoist in my last shop. It worked well, but started leaking oil after a while.

For my new shop I bought far more heavy-duty overhead hoists from Northern Tool. They weigh 65 lbs a piece, and it took two people and a scaffold to install it 15 feet up. No way for one person.

[Bill Dufour]

Who said anything about lifting overhead?
You did. With only a 10 foot pendant the load can drop and bounce onto your foot. It does not have to hit your head to hurt you. Any thing lifted off the ground can cause damage when it comes down. My statement was really just a general warning about relying on anything HF sells.
Or buying used critical equipment in general. I bought a used welder that was wired wrong so the metal case was not grounded it was sitting at 120 volts all the time the plug was in the outlet.
Bil lD

[Mike Cutler]

Do you really trust any harbor freight stuff to hold 500 pounds over your head without breaking or stripping the gears and letting the load fall on your head?
Bill D

If you were using it everyday,for multiple lifts per day, or per hour, than no. Would I trust it to perform the occasional lift from the floor into a P/U bed? Yes, I would. I wouldn't stand under a load though.

Jason
The length of your pendant cable is probably the maximum length it can be for the gauge of wire running through it.
Many, many years ago,I watched a pendant cable catch on fire and act like a fuse. Thee person had installed a much longer cable, of the same gauge wire, and the current caused the cable to act just like a fuse. Bigger problem was that it happened over an open nuclear reactor cavity full of water! :eek:

[Jacob Reverb]

You did. With only a 10 foot pendant the load can drop and bounce onto your foot. It does not have to hit your head to hurt you. Any thing lifted off the ground can cause damage when it comes down. My statement was really just a general warning about relying on anything HF sells.
Or buying used critical equipment in general. I bought a used welder that was wired wrong so the metal case was not grounded it was sitting at 120 volts all the time the plug was in the outlet.
Bil lD

Uh, no, Bill. What I said was that I believed HFT kept the control pendant short "to help prevent people [read: IDIOTS] from lifting loads high above themselves."

Of course, HFT also fills every instruction manual with 30 pages of helpful revelations such as
DO NOT WELD WHILE SWIMMING!!!
and
CAUTION: POWER SAWS CAN CUT YOU!!!
and
DO NOT USE THIS FOR OVERHEAD LIFTING!!!

In other words, yes. Of course. Agreed. You're right. Only an idiot walks under an unsecured load, regardless whether the hoist was badged by HFT or Festool.
And once the load is secured, it doesn't matter whether the hoist is badged by HFT or Festool or Skookum, since at that point the hoist isn't doing anything.
I think it's safe to say that we already knew that.
(Not that it's really relevant to this discussion, since neither the OP with his boat lift, nor I with my laddervator, are doing any overhead lifting.)
But thanks for the helpful reminder.

[Jon Snider]

Following up on my older thread to acknowledge some good advice about just using a chain hoist. A Harrington half ton unit worked great.

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