Boat lift installation in Boca Raton

Which lift suits you

The right lift depends on how you moor.

• Four-post lift: on its own pilings in a slip beside the dock
• Elevator lift: mounted on the seawall face, good where pilings are hard to place
• Floating lift: for jet skis and small boats, no pilings

Before the lift goes in

We check whether the slip has sound pilings. New piles need their own details on the sealed drawings and add the most cost.[1][3]

After the lift goes in

The City's final marine structure survey closes out the permit.[2]

Tide on Lake Boca Raton

NOAA's Lake Boca Raton gauge, just inside Boca Inlet, records a 2.19 ft mean range and a 2.47 ft great diurnal range (1983 to 2001 epoch). With the dock band set in NAVD88 and the tide close to the inlet's, lift and float travel is planned from these numbers.

Lift travel is set from that range so the boat clears the water at the highest tides.[4]

Docks that stop 6 to 8 ft out

Single-family freestanding docks in Boca Raton may protrude no more than 6 to 8 ft waterward of the seawall, depending on canal width (City Code 22-58). That is much tighter than the limits in the other cities we serve, so marginal docks along the wall and seawall-mounted lifts are the usual answer.[5]

What makes Boca Raton different

Plan review needs a current-conditions survey showing the seawall wet face or bulkhead line, the property line and piles, section details with the finished cap elevation, and a proposed site plan. Inspections are staged: a location survey before the cap is poured and before the structural cap and piling inspections, a final engineer report on cap elevation with photos, and a final marine structure survey for docks and lifts.[2]

Agencies beyond the City

Palm Beach County's marine structure checklist for unincorporated areas lists the outside approvals agencies expect to see: FDEP, the Florida Inland Navigation District (FIND) and the Army Corps, as applicable. That checklist is dated 2005, so we confirm current requirements for each job. The federal seagrass range used in dock design covers Palm Beach County waters.[1][6]

Permits in Boca Raton

• City of Boca Raton Development Services: Marine structure permits under City Code Chapter 22, with staged survey and engineer inspections.
• Florida Inland Navigation District (FIND): May be involved for work along the Intracoastal Waterway.
• Florida DEP or South Florida Water Management District: State permit or exemption for docks, walls and lifts on Lake Boca Raton and the Intracoastal Waterway.
• US Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District: Federal authorisation along the Intracoastal, which the Palm Beach County checklist expects to see with the building permit.

Permits for a new lift

Miami-Dade issues a short-form DERM permit for a lift on a new or existing dock, seawall or bulkhead, as long as a single-family lift does not protrude more than 25% of the waterway width. Florida exempts floating boat lifts and floating platforms up to 500 sq ft combined (200 sq ft in Outstanding Florida Waters). In aquatic preserves, a roof may not overhang more than 1 ft beyond the lift and boat.[8][9][10]

Relocating a lift

Moving a lift to a new slip or a new home is a new installation in the eyes of the permit office, so we plan pilings and permits for the new spot. Removing the old lift and old piles is DERM-exempt in Miami-Dade.[8]

Frequently asked questions