How to Lift or Jack a Pontoon Safely on the Trailer or the Ground

Work on concrete or asphalt that is level and solid. On gravel or soil, put thick plywood pads under every jack and support so nothing sinks; Canadian Boating notes this matters most where ground softens in the spring thaw. Avoid slopes, even gentle ones, and windy days if the boat has its canopy up (fold the bimini down).

Take out heavy loose gear (coolers, batteries if easy to remove, anchors, water toys) and drain any water from the deck and livewell. If the boat is on a trailer, leave the trailer hitched to the tow vehicle with the parking brake set, chock the trailer wheels front and back, and make sure the boat is strapped to the trailer so it can't slide. Tilt the outboard down or support it as your engine manual says; don't let it hang in a way that shifts weight aft.

You need: a jack rated for far more than the load, wide hardwood boards to spread the jack's force, and enough cribbing or rated stands to hold the boat without the jack. Boating Magazine's stand advice applies here too: use enough supports, put plywood under them on soft ground, never tie covers or tarps to stands, and check supports after storms and freeze-thaw cycles. If you will store the boat on pontoon storage blocks, follow the block maker's instructions and get spacing from your pontoon builder.

Common safe choices (confirm with your manual or dealer):

• Under the cross-members, with a wide board spanning two or more of them, so the deck structure carries the load instead of a single channel.
• Under a tube at a bulkhead seam, using a wide padded block that matches the tube's curve, as close to the seam as possible.

Never put a jack or stand:

• under the middle of a tube section between seams,
• under the motor pod, transom bracket or nose cone,
• under a transducer, strake edge, drain plug or wiring,
• directly on the deck surface from below without a board, which can punch through rotted plywood.

Raise one corner or one side slowly, only an inch or two at a time. After each lift, slide cribbing or a stand under the nearby lift point so the boat is always resting on a support, with the jack just backing it up. Watch and listen: creaking, a tube flexing, a board bending or the trailer shifting means stop and lower it.

Lift only as high as the job needs. A few inches is enough to rinse, check a bunk or pull a drain plug. Lifting one side high puts the whole boat at an angle and makes it easier to slide.

Keep your hands, arms and head out from under the boat while it is on the jack alone. Reach under only when it is resting on solid cribbing or stands at every corner you have lifted, and even then keep your body out of the crush zone as much as you can. Use a long-handled brush and a hose to reach the tube bottoms rather than crawling under.

With the boat safely supported:

• Rinse the tube bottoms and weld seams. Discover Boating warns against harsh acids like muriatic acid on aluminum.
• Look for dents, creases, cracks along seams, worn spots where bunks rub, and white corrosion.
• In saltwater, Avalon says to flush salt from between the bunks and tubes, and notes that without a barrier coating, corrosion can form where trailer bunks meet the tubes.
• Check that drain plugs are present and tight. If a tube holds water, our pontoon tube leak guide covers finding the leak.

Bunk work means taking the boat's weight off them. Do it only with the boat on solid supports, never with the bunk itself or the jack as the only thing holding a side up. Our trailer bunks and rollers guide covers bunk height and carpet.

Moving a pontoon fully off a bunk trailer onto blocks or stands is a big, risky job: owners do it in stages, lifting and supporting one end at a time while easing the trailer out. Most owners are better served by a marina with a forklift or a lift, or by a scissor trailer that lowers the boat straight down. If you do store on blocks:

• Place them where the builder recommends, on level ground with pads.
• Make sure each tube is evenly supported so no tube sags or twists.
• Don't stack storage blocks unless their maker allows it.
• Check the supports and level after heavy rain, wind and freeze-thaw.

Raise the boat just enough to remove one support, then lower a little, remove the next, and so on, keeping a support under the boat at all times. Lower slowly so it settles evenly onto the bunks or blocks. Recheck the boat's position on the trailer and the strap before moving it.

To change a trailer tire or service a hub, you jack the trailer, not the boat, at the point the trailer maker specifies, with the trailer still hitched and chocked. Don't jack under the tubes to unload a wheel. See our trailer tires guide and trailer bearings guide.