Using your lift for the first time this season:
You most likely have to help the bed of your lift lower into the water the first time, they have a tenancy to float. Push on the bed as evenly as you can as you lower the lift.
There is a special process that should be followed when raising your lift the first time each season (or if your lift gets re-set for any reason), especially if the area you are in has a deep bottom (lots of sand/muck), we call it “Bubbling” your lift. In some areas, in the years past, the crew may have done this for you, but due to the time crunch this year, they did not.
Here is how to bubble your lift:
With the boat pulled into the lift, start raising your lift. Watch the water, once you see bubbles coming up from around the corner posts, stop immediately and wait for them to stop. When the bubbles are gone you can continue raising the lift in 6” intervals, giving the lift time to sink in and compress the soil below. Stop immediately any time you see bubbles, wait for them to stop, and then raise the lift again. Once there are no more bubbles being produced, the lift should be set in place. You will not have to do this again for the remainder of this season.
If you raise your lifts too fast it can and will sink unevenly causing possible damage to your lift and making it unusable until it can be re-set. There will be a charge for us to re-set your lift. If you have any questions, please feel free to call.
If you would like us to bubble your lift, we can do so when we come back around to install canopies on lifts with boats already on them. Right now, we do not foresee starting this process until the last week in May 2017 at the earliest. You would need to leave your boat of the lift and let us know you want us to bubble it with our boat. Then once you put your boat on, let us know so we can come put the canopy on the lift when we came back again.
New Shore Station Remote
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(unless you have requested to have the key switch bypassed)
You must have the key in your lift and turned on before you can use the toggle switch or the remote. The remotes have a safety/lock feature that locks them automatically. To unlock your remote hold down the on and off switch for 3 seconds until the red light comes on. It is now unlocked. If you press a button and all of the lights come on, it is locked. |
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Why does it take so long to get my lift in?! Or get service?!
It all starts in the Spring. When we ended our season in 2016 we had around 200 lifts at our lot waiting for spring when they could be put back into the water. This does not include the lifts that are stored at Association lots or on private property.
May 2017 Calendar from Weather Underground https://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KVOK/2017/5/8/MonthlyCalendar.html?req_city=Volk&req_state=WI&req_statename=&reqdb.zip=54646&reqdb.magic=1&reqdb.wmo=99999
We want to start installs as soon as we can! This year the water level did not come up to normal levels until the very last day in April, which started us out almost a month behind. In May we did as much work as we could, but the weather was horrible. June was not much better! In the Spring of 2017, it just seamed like we could not string two complete days of work together. Just putting us farther and farther behind. The crew will work in the rain, but we will not put them or your items in jeopardy by working in bad weather. Any day that it would be un-pleasant for you to be in your boat, is probably a day that is dangerous for us to be in our boat driving around carrying your lift, lifting up boat lifts with the crane, or trying to install a canopy. Have you ever stood in chest deep water to install a pier when there are 12" waves? (It is no way to keep employees, I can assure you of that, which is another reason that puts us behind)
The bottom of our river / lake system is unique. It is very shallow in some areas. This is the view of one popular area. This was taken before all the ice was gone and before the lake level was raised. Once this area is covered with our less than crystal clear water, we may put a lift in and not know it is on a stump, or it may sink into all of that muck. We do our best, but sometimes due to no fault of ours, we may need to come back and re-set a lift once the boat goes on and the lift settles.
We understand that your lift emergency is the most important emergency to you. We understand how important is to get your and all of your friends out on the lake. After all, you live on the lake for a reason - you want to be out there! We do our best to take every service call as close to the order in which it comes in as we con. Of course efficiency is also taken into consideration. We will not spend most of our day driving across the lake to keep everything in the exact order in which you called, we do try to bunch our services from one area all together. And sometimes, some emergencies are handled first.
Please rest assured - we are doing the best we can - and you are important to us - we want to do the best job we can for you!
Solar Panels - What Can They Charge?
Important Policy Information
about new lifts
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Can I charge my trolling motor battery with the same solar panel that is charging my boat lift battery?
No, the solar panel on your lift is only meant for the boat lift battery. Can I just get another solar panel that will be dedicated to my trolling motor battery (or starting battery)? You could, but we wouldn't want you to waist your money. The solar panel puts out such a low flow of electricity that it will not be able to replace the electricity that the trolling motor uses up. When I talked to the manufacturer about their solar panels, they said that their largest panel could charge a trolling motor battery if the battery was only drained 25-30% then plugged into the solar panel for at least a week. We advise against purchasing or installing a solar panel for charging batteries other than boat lift batteries. |
Why does that solar panel work with my boat lift battery but not other batteries?
Your boat lift actually pulls very little power from your battery. The solar panel can replace the small amount of power that your lift used each time you raise or lower the lift. It can not replace the larger amounts that starters and trolling motors take from your battery. |
Attention Existing Customers:
You may have received a note from Docking Solutions either directly from us, or through the group in charge of your piers, regarding our policy of not servicing lift that were not purchased from Docking Solutions. There has been some misunderstanding regarding this note. We did not, in any way, want anyone to think that we are now turning away existing customers. As a matter of fact, this policy is to benefit our existing customers (no matter where their lift was previously from). If we have serviced your lift in the past, we will continue to do so.
You may have received a note from Docking Solutions either directly from us, or through the group in charge of your piers, regarding our policy of not servicing lift that were not purchased from Docking Solutions. There has been some misunderstanding regarding this note. We did not, in any way, want anyone to think that we are now turning away existing customers. As a matter of fact, this policy is to benefit our existing customers (no matter where their lift was previously from). If we have serviced your lift in the past, we will continue to do so.
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This policy is intended to help us have more time for our existing customers and those new customers who chose to purchase a lift from us this year.
When a new or used lift is purchased from us: 1. We know the area well enough to know the best lift and any special items it needs. 2. We will install, adjust, and service this lift When a lift is purchased from another vendor: 1. They often do not know our area enough to know the water depths, terrain under the water, wind conditions, and so on. 2. They are glad to drop of your lift and not have to worry about it again. We want to spend our time serving our dedicated customers. Customers who have been with us in the past, and new customers who chose us this year. We do not want to waist time we could be working for you by spending time "work out the bugs" in new or used lifts that we did not sell. If you any questions, please feel free to call me. We are looking forward to a great season. Thank you! Jessica Bilski Docking Solutions 608-562-6666 N7507 Highway 58 New Lisbon, WI 53950 |
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We are always adding more information to this page if there is anything you would like to see here feel free to let us know - send me an e-mail at jessica@dockingsolutions.net |