Lifting Spirits, One Hull At A Time

You show your boat love each time you slip into its boat lift and elevate it out of the water. But it can be trickier than it looks, and dings happen. Sunstream is taking the soft touch to the next level with its new accessories for the SunLift SLX line.

For starters, there's a new "goal post" style bow stop that helps center the bow and provide a visual reference. Adjustable guides feature a ribbed rubber interior to prevent scratching and stains. Take a look at it in action.

As you saw, the goal posts not only gently nudge the bow correctly to the center, but they give users a visual reference for correctly placing the boat fore and aft on the lift, and a waterline band on the bow stop gives a visual reference for the correct height of the lift when loading. The V-shaped beam that stops the boat is shaped to direct the bow inward, which is an advancement over the typical hoop-style stops that tend to push the bow off center.

The design is based on a new, modern extruded shape the company refers to as "sqround." Not square and not round, the sqround extrusion combines the best qualities of both, with smooth curves, yet enough soft edges to keep telescoping sections from spinning out of alignment, according to Sunstream. The guides' rubber exterior matches the rubber bunks of Sunstream lifts for less wear and tear on the vessel compared to traditional PVC. A guide bunk bracket with a single set bolt is designed for easier installation and adjustment.

SunLift SLX starts at $12,000; guide/bow stop accessories start at $800; SwiftShield Automatic Boat Cover starts at $11,000 (must be installed by a certified dealer).