Welding of Boat Hoist Brackets

[Don52]

My friend and customer Mark owns a home on Lake Saint Claire here in Michigan. Recently the water level of the lake has been very high. The problem is that his boat hoist can’t lift the carriage that holds the boat high enough to get the carriage out of the waves. This causes the waves to beat the carriage to death. The boat hoist is constructed of four pylons. The two pylons on the right have winches on them and the two on the left have idler pullies on them. The winch has enough travel to lift the carriage of the boat hoist out of the waves but the idler side can’t keep up, because the cable will rub on the flame cut hole in the channel iron of the dock. The hole is already fairly large so it is undesirable to make it any larger, without compromising the integrity of the dock. Mark’s solution was to design a different bracket to hold the idler, which put the cable out far enough to entirely clear the channel iron. The first picture shows the entire dock.

1. Boat dock-1


The next picture is a close up which shows the winches on the right and the idler pullies on the left.

2 Boat dock-2


The third picture shows a close up of the original idler bracket. You can see that part of the problem is that the cable from the pulley to the cross brace of the carriage isn’t vertical. As the carriage is raised the angle of the cable causes it to get closer and eventually rub on the flame cut hole in the channel iron.

3. Boat dock-3


My task is to weld on the new brackets on the idler side of the boat hoist as shown below. Unfortunately, the dock on the idler side is only 18 inches wide.

4. Hoist site view


The next three pictures show the bracket that needs to be welded to the pylon. The required weld is shown in purple. The cable is shown in red and as you can see it is well away from the channel and vertical.

5. Bottom view of bracket

[Don52]

6. weld view1


7. weld view 2


The pylons were driven 30 years ago and the pipes weren’t new when they were driven. The pylon closest to the shore was in very good shape.

8. Land side pylon


The next two pictures show that the offshore pylon was a little pitted from rust.

9. Offshore pylon 1


10. Offshore pylon 2

[Don52]

This is a picture of me welding the offshore bracket to the pylon.

11. Welding bracket


Before I welded the bracket, I tack welded the four corners to keep it from moving during welding.

12.Tack-1


13. Tack-2


14. Tack 3


The first pass was done with the following:

Vertical plate: ½” thick
Tube: Ø8-1/2 5/16” thick

Rod: 3/32” 6011
Current: 80 amps
Polarity: DCEP
Dig: 50%
Motion: Whip and pause with slight wiggle on the bottom forming an inverted Tee.

15. First pass

[Don52]

The second pass was done with the following:

Rod: 1/8” 7018
Current: 105 amps
Polarity: DCEP
Dig: 30%
Motion: Inverted Vee

16. Second pass


I beveled the ¼” top plate at a 30° angle. It had a 3/32” root gap.

The first pass was done with the following.

Rod: 3/32” 6011
Current: 80 amps
Polarity: DCEP
Dig: 50%
Motion: Whip and pause

The second pass was done with the following:

Rod: 5/32” 7018
Current: 140 amps
Polarity: DCEP
Dig: 30%
Motion: Cursive U’s

17. Top Weld


The left side weld parameters were similar to the right-side weld.

18. left side pylon-1


19. Left side pylon-2


I also patched the original hole in the channel iron.

20. Patch

[Don52]

Here is a picture of the offshore pylon with the new bracket welded in place.

21. Offshore pylon done


Here is a picture of the Land side pylon with the new bracket welded in place.

22. Land side pylon done


Here is a close up of the two pylons with the new idler brackets welded in place.

23. two pylons done


Here is the boat hoist all done.

24. Boat hoist done


-Don

[walker]

Looks a little cold, what did you end up using for a welder and power source.

[Woznme]

Good job and nicely documented. Thanks for sharing.

[Welder Dave]

I agree with a little cold on the 7018. Normally for vertical up with 1/8" you'd be 120+ amps. 5/32" would be 150+ amps.

[albrightree]

Great Job ! The project looks like it came out well. The welds came out nice, how long did you have to practice ? Did you find someone to give you pointers, or did you figure it out on your own? You mention Dig Control percentage, so I guess you didn't use the 210MP it uses arc force 1-10. Did you use the Dynasty, or maybe an engine drive ?
I hope you get some time on the lake as well getting paid. It looks beautiful out there.

Best Regards

[cwby]

Got 'er done!

[Don52]

Looks a little cold, what did you end up using for a welder and power source.

For power, we used the 240 volt 30 amp circuit out on the dock that was provided for the two hoists.
For a welder I used my Miller Dynasty 200 DX. In the following picture you can see the equipment and Mark grinding the paint off the area around the patch.

25. Mark and equipment on dock


-Don

[Don52]

I agree with a little cold on the 7018. Normally for vertical up with 1/8" you'd be 120+ amps. 5/32" would be 150+ amps.

Dave, Thanks for taking time to comment. I know that you are facing some health challenges. I will try some samples with the hotter settings as you recommend.

-Don

[Don52]

Good job and nicely documented. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks,
-Don

[Don52]

Great Job ! The project looks like it came out well. The welds came out nice, how long did you have to practice ?

I practiced about 60 hours over a period of 8 month, while waiting for a sunny day with light wind. Here is a picture of my practice pieces.

Did you find someone to give you pointers, or did you figure it out on your own? You mention Dig Control percentage, so I guess you didn't use the 210MP it uses arc force 1-10.

I wound up using the Dynasty 200 DX.

Did you use the Dynasty, or maybe an engine drive ?

I connected the Dynasty to the 30 amp 240 volt circuit that was out on the dock to power the two winches.

I hope you get some time on the lake as well getting paid. It looks beautiful out there.

Mark invited me to share lunch and dinner with his family on the covered deck that was on the back of his house. It was very peaceful.

[Don52]

Mark primed the welded area and hooked up the cables. It worked as expected. Here are a few pictures.







Mark said that he was going to remove the pulleys that provide side tension to the cables, which are shown below, because they no longer serve any purpose.


-Don

[Don52]

Mark also said that the hoist now lifts the boat high enough to get the carriage that holds the boat out of the waves. Yipee.

-Don

[123weld]

u must trust urself, more than i do myself, not to kick that expensive inverter into the water. i got some of that flat braided rope commercial electicians use to pull wire permenrtly looped through the handle on mine, and that baby gets tied to columns, sizzor lifts, rails, pipe racks on truck, etc, cuz i dont trust myself or others around. actually i woulda ran leads out there, and tied it to dry land. it looks really good, i mean real good, considering it wasnt so long ago, u said u werent usedto stick welding. i probably brought brackes down an inch or so lower for sake of pipes ends, and woulda hit weld area w/ hard grinding wheel before, as some of pipe his seen the environment. also, that jacket u got to protect your knees/legs, is nicer than the one i get to wear

[Capt B]

Always enjoy your threads. Nicely Done!

[Xsbank]

Get rid of that crappy steel cable and get some Amsteel or Dyneema.

[Xsbank]

Sorry, very rude of me, I meant to say how good your project looked. Nicely done!

[davec]

u must trust urself, more than i do myself, not to kick that expensive inverter into the water. i got some of that flat braided rope commercial electicians use to pull wire permenrtly looped through the handle on mine, and that baby gets tied to columns, sizzor lifts, rails, pipe racks on truck, etc, cuz i dont trust myself or others around.

LOL - I was going to say the same thing. That picture with the welder behind your friend's feet made me cringe for that reason. Very nice work, as always!

[farmersammm]

Screw the welder!! I'd be tying myself to the dock Homeboy doesn't know how to swim.

[whtbaron]

LOL.... must be a dryland farmer thing. I'm a natural boat anchor as well...