Leisure Boat Lift, using an Inverter for 120 Volts AC 15 AMP power supply

        If your property is in a more remote location, or you don’t have access to electrical components out on your dock, an inverter is one way of powering an electric drive Leisure Boat Lift. For our own purposes when installing or performing service, we could use a Yamaha EF2000 inverter generator. Testing began with the Little suit case 600 Generator but it fell short by a few amps. It does lift a boat in a pinch but requires help in starting the Electric Drive on the initial first revolution. This we would do just in proving the concept.

        Then came the inverter 1100 watt suit case series. All were four stroke but light weight stole the show even with a heavy price tag. Eventually our team realized in service more power was required due to lack of ownership maintenance. On the time line some of the Leisure Boat Lifts were already 20 years old and had not been visited annually. This gave the suit case inverter a run for the money. Thankfully along came the lower price higher wattage big suit case inverters and they satisfy in every regard on the lake front.

The Blue Combo 2000 watt Yamaha

Using a generator is easy, if you don’t already know how to operate one, they come with a set of instructions. Carrying it down to the lift is just like taking a suitcase down with you.

Here’s a bit of a rundown for operating a generator with your Leisure Boat Lift – Take the generator and a small extension cord down to your dock. Now the extension cord needs to be a little heavier in gauge, than say, a trouble-light extension cord. From there, power up the generator plug both ends of the extension cord in, and operate the up / down wobble switch as needed.

The general cost of a suitcase-sized generator with a wattage of 2,000 watts or more is around 1,500 dollars. We can put you in touch with a supplier, brand name of your choice.

The Big Combo

Makita Inverter 1700 is one of favorites. The King will out perform 2 Makitas but weighs 59 lbs.. The Yamaha is very comparable and does earn its rating in wattage while starting very nicely every time.. But the Makita has starting figured out nicely & the feel. Combined with ruggedness in construction and balanced carrying weight, it could win at a lot of other uses in all types of weather and roll around in the pickup box. We prefer to baby our Makita 1700 with a little dedicated floor space on the work barge. The compilation of equipment and tools is very extensive and also costly. The only inspiration to maintain such a collection stems from the customer not being able to ‘bring it in” ( the Leisure Boat Lift ) for annual inspection and service.