Model: 4-Person, 750-pound Capacity 120’ long, 3-Station 2-Pitch Lift
Track: 85’ at 20° and 35’ at 40°
Area: Port Carling, ON
Year: 2020
This couple was building their retirement home and needed the lift to connect their cottage to their dock. Their General Contractor, Jason McLean, called us in and, with his crew and the owners, we designed this 2-pitch lift to connect their lakeside yard to the dock.
While building the lift, we added a 3rd station to connect via a path to a firepit and, eventually, to the upper floor of the boathouse. The programmable logic controller that runs the lift makes it easy to upgrade the hardware required.
Building the Lift, we kept the top end as close to the ground as possible to keep the upper station as close to the cottage as possible. The height of this station was set by the height of the garage floor. Because the upper pitch was so shallow there was no room to put the lift control panel under the winch drum so it is mounted inside the garage. Two “Teck” cables connect the panel to the lift, one carrying 240V to the brake-motor and a second one carrying all the 24V signal wires used to control the car.
Jason’s crew built a lovely upper station access platform and motor house cover.
Looking up the hill from the middle station.
The curve. The “pipe” track on the outside of the regular track works with the “levelling” rigger on the car to keep the car floor level throughout the ride.
Another look at the lower section. The track changes angle by about 20°, requiring almost 7’ of curved track.
We set the track so that the car is tight against the hill when it’s in the lower station the lower station. This lift has a PARK button that moves the car about 10’ up the track and out of the way.
Jason and 2 of his crew heading down to work on the boathouse. We use industrial quality components so our lifts can be used by construction and maintenance crews. Lift 24 for example, has well over 3,500 round trips and Lift 29 was used to haul 56 metric tons of sand and gravel up a hill to build a septic system at an island cottage.