The winter freeze is coming. Plan your dock and lift removal before the rush. Plan your dock removal before the rush
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Two workers looking over a weathered wooden dock and lift frame next to newer aluminum boat lifts on a lake

The short answer

Repair or Replace a Dock or Boat Lift?

Updated October 19, 2026

Most dock and lift problems are repairs. Fix the parts that wear out. Replace when the frame that carries the weight has failed, or when the equipment no longer fits your boat.

Call (952) 687-1349 Request service

Parts or frame checker

Tick what you see. The level tips toward repair or replace.

Waiting on your ticks

One worn part on a sound frame is a repair at almost any age.

A lift your boat has outgrown is a replacement case even if it works. See section 03.

Parts that wear outUsually a repair on their own
The frame that carries the weightPoints toward replacement
Other signsThese change the answer

A starting point, not an inspection. Nothing is saved or sent.

01 / What failed

Start with what failed

Repair or replace a dock or boat lift: parts or frame

Parts wear out and get swapped one at a time. The frame carries the weight, and damage there spreads to everything bolted to it.

Leaning or sinking at one corner? That is usually the ground under the legs, and leveling fixes it. On a soft bottom, lake and muck mats steady the legs. Lift too high or too low for the boat? The water level moved. Lake Minnetonka’s level is set at the Gray’s Bay dam and still changes year to year, so a lift that sat right last summer may only need its height reset. See dock and boat lift service on Lake Minnetonka.

Wood-decked dock running out to a boat lift on Lake Minnetonka at Excelsior, before fall dock removal by BigWave Lake Service
A dock with wood decking at Excelsior on Lake Minnetonka, before fall removal in October.

02 / The math

Next, run the cost per season

Dock and boat lift repair cost vs replacement cost, per season

Divide each price by the seasons it buys. The cheaper price tag is often not the cheaper choice.

Already have quotes? Enter them to see what each choice costs per season. Nothing is saved or sent.

Repair

Replace

Ask whoever quotes the work how many seasons each choice should give you.

Cost per season

RepairEnter a price

ReplaceEnter a price

Waiting on your numbers

If they land close, let the frame decide: sound frame, repair; tired frame, replace.

The calculator needs JavaScript. Divide each price by its seasons to get the same answer.

For a starting number, see Blake’s published repair rates. Some things can’t be seen up front, so a price lands right on or very close. Photos help.

03 / Fit

Then, check that it still fits

When a working dock or boat lift no longer fits

A dock or lift can be sound and still wrong for how you use the lake now. That is a replacement case too.

Your boat changed

Every lift has a weight limit and a fit. Going past either is unsafe, and no repair fixes it. Check the size you need with the boat lift size calculator.

How you use the lake changed

More family on the water, a pontoon where a fishing boat used to sit, or a layout that no longer works.

New dock sales, design and installation New boat lift sales and installation

BigWave Lake Service installs ShoreMaster lifts from 1,200 to 15,000 lb and Beach King lifts up to 8,000 lb.

04 / Mistakes

Mistakes that make dock and boat lift repairs cost more

Point at a card to see why it costs you. On a phone, tap it.

  • Each fix makes sense on its own. Added up, they pay for a replacement you never get to own.

  • A damaged frame carries the weight wrong every day it waits. That is where the expensive damage happens.

  • The frame, the welds and what sits underneath decide this, and none of it shows from the deck chair. Guessing wrong goes both ways.

05 / Your shoreline

What wears docks and lifts out faster on Minnesota lakes, and how BigWave checks yours

The same dock ages differently from one lake to the next. These are the conditions BigWave sees most on the lakes around Prior Lake.

WintersMinnesota lakes freeze, so docks and lifts come out every fall and go back every spring. Hard freeze and thaw years wear parts faster, so a repair buys fewer seasons.
Wind and shallow waterCedar Lake is 793 acres and nearly all under 15 feet deep. Wind runs a long way across water that wide, and shallow water moves docks and lifts, so a fix lasts fewer seasons there than in a protected bay. After a big wind on Cedar Lake, walk the dock before you decide anything.
Zebra musselsThey coat lift legs and screw jacks that sit in the water all season. Confirmed in Prior Lake in 2009, Lake Minnetonka in 2010 and Spring Lake in 2022. Cleaning and greasing the legs every year or two is upkeep, not a sign the lift is done. See what zebra mussels mean for lift legs on Spring Lake.
Handling and accessCareful setup and removal keep repair the right answer longer. Rough handling moves you to replacement sooner. On a steep or rock-walled lot the lift travels by barge instead of over your lawn. That is how BigWave reaches the steep lots on O’Dowd Lake.

From this fall’s jobs

Fall removal is when the whole frame comes out of the water. This season that included a Beach King lift pulled on Spring Lake at Jordan in September, a ShoreMaster and Beach King dock and lift with its canopy taken out on Prior Lake in October, and a dock and lift removal at Excelsior on Lake Minnetonka in October. What needs work gets serviced on shore, ready for spring.

BigWave Lake Service barge pulled up beside a boat lift and dock on Spring Lake in Jordan during a Beach King lift removal, fall 2026
Spring Lake, Jordan, September: the barge alongside a lift during a Beach King lift removal.
Boat lift and canopy frame set on the beach beside the BigWave Lake Service barge after fall removal on Prior Lake, October 2026
Prior Lake, October: a lift and its canopy frame on shore after fall removal, with the whole frame in view.

How BigWave gets you an answer

  1. You call or send a requestTell a BigWave specialist what you see.
  2. We look at itBigWave checks the shoreline and the equipment.
  3. You get options and pricesRepair and replacement side by side when both fit.
  4. You decideWhen the honest answer is new equipment, you hear that, not a repair quote.

The owner is on every job.

06 / Questions

Dock and boat lift repair or replace FAQ

Is there a rule of thumb, like replace when a repair costs half of new?

Percentage rules skip how many seasons the repair buys. Half the price of new for a fix that lasts ten years is a good deal. A quarter of the price for one season is not. The calculator above does this math.

A storm bent my dock or lift. Is this the same decision?

No. Storm damage has its own first steps, including documenting the damage, before anyone makes a repair-or-replace call. Start with dock and boat lift storm recovery.

Will BigWave repair a lift brand it doesn’t sell?

Yes. BigWave repairs and levels boat lifts of any brand, including lines it doesn’t sell.

Get a repair-or-replace answer for your dock or lift

Call or send a request and tell us what you’re seeing. Photos help.

Call (952) 687-1349 Request service
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