Patent ID: 7383781

Claim:
A boat lift system for raising and lowering a boat from and into a body of water, the boat lift system comprising: a cradle configured to hold the boat; a cable connected to the cradle; and a drive system including: a reel configured to receive the cable, the reel being rotatable in each of a winding direction to wind the cable onto the reel to raise the cradle and an unwinding direction to unwind the cable from the reel to lower the cradle; a drive mechanism including a drive member and a motor operable to forcibly rotate the drive member in each of a raising direction and a lowering direction, wherein the drive member is operatively connected to the reel to rotate the reel in the winding direction when the drive member is rotated in the raising direction, and to controllably rotate the reel and/or permit the reel to rotate in the unwinding direction when the drive member is rotated in the lowering direction; and a cable slack control mechanism operative to selectively decouple the drive member from the reel while the drive motor is rotating the drive member in the lowering direction.