By far we prefer lifts up here, keeping the trailer dry is a big plus.
Probably the best one up north is the one at Cap Sante, it's very new and also the most expensive. They have separate control of the front and rear straps so you'd never have the front heavy problem. I have not used the one at Skyline, it always looked a bit sketchy in the cruising guides. The straps look a bit to far forward in that picture.
We have used the one in La Conner 3 times, they say the don't do sailboats, but if you write and sign a damage waiver they will launch a Mac. They actually commented that the Mac was much easier to launch than most power boats, particularly with the cross wise bunks on the trailer.
Here's a shot of that sling launch
They have separate control of the front of back sling as well as distance between the slings control just like Anacortes.
We have also launched many times at the Des Moines sling launch and they know Macs well there and have no problems with them. Unfortunately they were saying after this summer they were going to close their sling launch as it was becoming too expensive to maintain and operate.
There is also a nice sling at Edmonds Marina which we checked out this summer. They say they have launched Macs with no problems before and it looks like they have good parking available.
At all of these, we have always just taken an empty guest slip for setup and tear down. The few times anyone asked, I have just told them I'm here for the launch and will be gone in half an hour. On a couple of trips we actually planned as part of the trip to stay at the marina we launched in for the first night. This let's us leave later in the afternoon (we never manage to get going early), launch the boat and then motor over to our assigned slip where we set up at a leisurely pace. In the morning we are rested and ready to get a start on the trip.
