Alignment guide for pontoon boat lift

A boat lift for a pontoon boat having a pair of laterally spaced pontoon floats supporting a deck, and a motor operably mounted to a rear portion of the deck and disposed to extend down below the floats, the lift comprising:

• a frame having a front and a rear;
• vertically moveable transverse support beams attached at the front and rear of the frame, the support beams being moveable between a lowered position to load, and a raised position to lift the boat out of a body of water;
• vertical supports operably attached to and extending up from the movable support beams;
• an alignment guide including a pair of laterally spaced rails, the rails being generally horizontally disposed and spaced apart at a distance corresponding to spacing between the pontoon floats;
• wherein the rails are operatively attached to the vertical supports and disposed at a selected fixed elevation above a waterline of the pontoon floats and below the deck when the support beams are in a the lowered position, whereby the rails capture and guide the pontoon floats as the pontoon boat advances toward a full forward position on the boat lift, while limiting movement of the pontoon boat with respect to port and starboard;
• a pair of downwardly directed extensions, each having an upper end and a lower end, wherein the upper end of one of the pair of extensions is attached to one of the pair of rails, and the upper end of another of the pair of extensions is attached to another of the pair of rails;
• and
• a stop bar attached to and interconnecting the lower ends of the pair of extensions, wherein the stop bar is disposed at an elevation above a lowermost portion of the boat motor, whereby the boat motor contacts the stop bar when the pontoon boat reaches the full forward position to locate the pontoon boat bow to stern at a desired point on the boat lift.