Please Help

[vino1972]

I bought a 20 ft misty harbor pontoon w/ 90 hp merc last fall and am renting a lift for the summer. I haven't taken the boat out yet but I did look at the lift. It looked more like a fishing boat lift since it had cradles in the rear. I was also concerned that it did not have a wood surface where the pontoon will rest on. I called the guy and asked him about the lift and said it is an aluminum lift which will not do any damage to the logs and that it is a lift that can accomodate a pontoon, or a fishing boat. Is this accurate?? I just do not want to do any damage to my toon. Any help would be greatly appreciated since I would like to dock my pontoon in a few days. Thanks in advance

[OldePharte]

Pictures would really help a lot.

[vino1972]

Let me do a better job in describing the lift. It is square with aluminum rails. The back of the lift are 2 wooden planks that would cradle a fishing boat. The front of the boat have the same set up with the wooden planks. I believe the planks won't be an issue since they would be between the toons. My concern is if the toons will be damaged by the aluminum rails that the boat will sit on. I guess I could zip tie some indoor/outdoor carpet to the rails to give some cushion and not scratch the toons. I hope I am making some sense. Thanks for your help

[BrianP]

I agree that pictures would help. I can tell you that my lift and all of the lifts that I have seen (LOTO area) have individual cradles (2 pieces of carpeted wood going about 2/3 the length of the logs) for each log. I have a tri-toon, so I have six pieces of carpeted wood in configurations of 3 V shapes -- 2 pieces of wood per V. I don't know if this helps or not, but I thought I would throw it out there in case it does.

[vino1972]

The v shape cradles would be used to cradle a vhull fishing boat so it would not have a purpose on a pontoon.I am just wondering if the logs will dent, or get scratched up if they are sitting on aluminum rails. I will try to get some pictures today of it.

[Oldboater]

They modified my lift by taking the two carpeted planks (about 18 feet long) and mounting them flat running perpendicular to the aluminum crossbeams. My pontoons rest on the middle of these 3"X8" wood planks.