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When your yacht needs to come out of the water, the equipment is rarely the real question. What owners and captains actually want to know is how long they will wait for a slot, who will be doing the work once the boat is blocked, and who they can call when the scope changes halfway through. Those answers matter far more than a tonnage rating on a machine.
At Yacht Management, we own and operate our own full-service boatyard on the New River in Fort Lauderdale, and our Fort Lauderdale yacht travel lift is rated at 80 tons. That lift is not the product. What it gives you is control: haul-out access at our own yard, our own technicians doing the work, and one manager coordinating the whole job. Here is what that looks like in practice.
Why Haul-Out Access Matters More Than the Number
South Florida’s peak season runs from roughly November through April, and yard space across the region tightens along with it. When a yard is booked out and your boat needs attention, you end up choosing between waiting and moving the vessel somewhere else.
Neither option is free. Putting off hull and bottom work lets growth build up, which adds drag, costs you fuel, and takes speed off the boat. Running worn cutless bearings or a shaft that is out of alignment tends to get worse rather than better, and it usually gets more expensive the longer it waits. Cruising to another yard in Palm Beach or Miami puts hours on the engines, burns fuel, and takes the boat away from the owner for days.
Since we schedule our own lift at our own yard, we are not competing with outside customers for a slot on your behalf. Your yacht manager books the haul-out directly, and you have one point of contact throughout the process to ensure you experience the best service possible.
What Our Fort Lauderdale Yacht Travel Lift Handles
Our travel lift is rated to handle vessels up to approximately 80 tons, depending on vessel specifications. Weight is only part of it. Beam, draft, hull form, and blocking requirements all factor into whether a particular boat is a good fit, which is why we confirm specifications before we schedule rather than after.
The yard itself is set up for larger vessels. We are located on the New River, roughly a 45-minute run to Port Everglades, with in-water dockage up to 120 feet, onsite and hurricane storage, yacht tender storage, 24-hour security, and 24-hour marina access. If your boat needs to sit for a stretch while work gets done, it sits somewhere staffed and secure.
What We Need From You Before the Lift
Accurate numbers up front are what keep a haul-out on schedule. Before your boat arrives, our yard team wants:
- Current displacement, including fuel and freshwater aboard
- Maximum beam, counting rub rails, spray rails, and any bow thruster protrusions
- Draft, keel profile, and the location of underwater transducers
- Previous sling placement marks, so we stay clear of shafts and transducers
With that information in hand, we set blocking and slings before the boat comes into the slip. It is a short conversation that prevents most of the delays that happen at the well. Talk to your manager about haul-out scheduling as early as you can, especially heading into peak season.
What Happens Once the Yacht Is Blocked
A dry boat is the only time anyone gets a clear look at what is happening below the waterline. Our technicians check strut stability, rudder stock tolerances, and bow thruster assemblies, and our team includes ABYC-licensed professionals working to published ABYC standards (American Boat and Yacht Council, n.d.). Catching a worn cutless bearing on the hard is a routine job. Finding it offshore is not.
Having the boat out also lets multiple trades work at once. Mechanics can verify shaft alignment and handle running gear maintenance while hull techs strip old antifouling and lay down fresh bottom paint. Overlapping the mechanical and cosmetic work is usually what gets the boat back in the water sooner.
Lifting a heavy displacement hull puts real load into specific points on the structure. Our riggers watch strap positioning and load distribution through the lift and adjust fore and aft as needed, which is what protects gelcoat, joinery, and shaft alignment from flexing damage.
One Yard, One Team, One Point of Contact
The lift is one piece of a larger setup. We run a full-service Fort Lauderdale boatyard with in-house marine technicians, bottom painting, propeller and shaft work, fiberglass and paint repairs, engine and generator work, and refits. Alongside the yard, we provide dockside care and full yacht management, and every boat in our program is assigned a dedicated manager.
That is the part owners tend to notice. You are not chasing a hauler, a painter, an alignment shop, and a mechanic and hoping they talk to each other. One phone call reaches one person who already knows your boat, and the technicians who diagnose an issue are the same technicians who fix it.
Some captains do prefer to line up independent subcontractors so they can compare pricing and get outside eyes on the work, and that is a legitimate way to run a project. What a single-source yard gives you instead is direct accountability, cleaner billing, and fewer handoffs where schedule slips tend to happen.
Reserve Your Haul-Out in Fort Lauderdale
If you are planning bottom work, running gear service, or a refit this season, the earlier we see your specifications, the better the slot we can hold for you. Contact Yacht Management to review your vessel details and reserve time on our Fort Lauderdale yacht travel lift. You can also browse our yacht management blog for more on hull care, haul-outs, and refit planning.
Sources
American Boat and Yacht Council. (n.d.). ABYC standards.
