Patent ID: 7618223

Claim:
In combination with a boat lift, the boat lift comprising a boat-surrounding frame with a mechanism for raising and lowering a boat moored in the boat lift into and out of the water within the frame, the boat lift anchored in the water adjacent a dock, a personal transfer device for transferring a boater from the dock to the moored boat through the boat lift frame and back again, comprising: a cantilever support secured at one end to an upper part of the boat lift above and extending over a boat moored in the boat lift, the cantilever support having a free end extending out from the boat lift frame above and over the adjacent dock without support from the dock or the boat; a hoist carriage mounted on the cantilever support, the hoist carriage comprising a lifting mechanism capable of vertically raising and lowering a boater, and a horizontal transport mechanism allowing the hoist carriage to travel along the cantilever support from the dock through the boat lift frame to a position above and over the boat, and back again; and, a personal carrier adapted to carry a boater therein and connected to the hoist carriage to be raised and lowered relative to the dock and the boat, and to be transported by the hoist carriage between the dock and the boat through the boat lift frame with the boater therein.