When we bought our first lake house on a smaller body of water in the hill country, we were in a tranquil little canal with no thru traffic. I got accustomed to launching and docking our boat in a cradle that hugged it tight. No crazy rocking or grinding noises to scare the beejeepers outta me as the boat was raised and lowered into the water. Virtually everyone on that lake had a cradle.
Fast forward to our new lake home in northeast Texas. We have a lovely homesite that features big water views situated in a large bay facing south, where most of the wind comes from. No calm canal here, folks. When you add in the wake boats, tubing and jet ski traffic we get, we're often dealing with choppy waters. And that's a real headache when you're trying to launch or dock a new-to-you boat. I was honestly surprised to realize that most folks on this much bigger lake use slings in their boathouses. I've been incredibly leery of these insubstantial looking contraptions from the very beginning because they just don't look sufficient to lift anything bigger than a canoe. On closer inspection of the slings at our boathouse, I swear they reminded me of those old woven lawn chairs from our growing up days that frayed and fell apart after a couple summers. Y'all know what I'm talking about - see below. I'm not about to trust lifting a 3500 lb brand new boat that cost as much as my SUV in something made of polyester for $29.99 down at the Walmart that barely supports my backside. But I digress.
We bought a 22' tritoon boat for the obvious reasons other empty nesters our age do the same. And yet that's a lot of boat to wrangle in and out of its bay. Especially when we're rockin' and rollin' with a lot of wave action. Oh sure, the serious waves come and go in spurts. Obviously on the weekends we see way more traffic on the water. Mornings are probably my favorite time to launch while others are still eating breakfast, but I honestly think sunset cruises will be our guest's favorite time of day to take a ride. And that is undoubtedly when the lake waves are more prevalent.
Since we needed to get a PWC lift for the jet ski we plan to buy for our grown kids to enjoy, while also wanting a second spot to launch our kayaks safely, it was a no brainer to have one of our local boathouse pros replace both of those flimsy looking sling lifts with cradles. He also added bumpers everywhere for when it's hard to stick the landing. Plus a swim ladder, because I plan to suggest to our neighbors that we could all pitch in to buy a water trampoline for everyone to enjoy on our stretch of the peninsula next summer.
Stay tuned for my ongoing boathouse adventures that hopefully don't result in any swear words being thrown out, or dings to my new toon. Next on my water sports to-do list is checking into one of those cool touchless boat covers I've always wanted.
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