A Davit Question

[hmason]

We have an electric crane davit on our boat and will be lifting a 650# Boston Whaler to the boat deck. I am curious if anyone has ever had an electric crane "fail" mid-lift, and if so, how do you get the tender down? Input would be appreciated; please don't say cut the cable!

Thanks, Howie

 

[healhustler]

Howie:

The answer is no and I've taken steps to avoid that possible incident. My davit crane is a custom build but the plan is to utilize the already mounted 900 lb. hand winch as the base point for one end of the line. From there, it goes out the boom of the davit, over one of two pulleys at the end and down to the load (snatch block) and back up to the boom, over the second pulley and down the boom to an electric hoist. That way if the hoist fails, I can simply lower the load by the hand winch at the other end of the line. All this, of course, has to be sized to the load you plan on lifting. If you don't trust a geared hand winch, there are heavy duty rack and pinion style hand winches that are slow to operate, but who cares if you only need to use it in an emergency.

Doing all this, I'll have less than 1300 bucks total in the building and assembly, 600 lb. working load rating with Amsteel 5400 lb. line.

 

[swampu]

Howie, I've had the opposite problem a lot. I do a lot of 4 wheeling and I've had multiple electric winches' fail while pulling me out of the mud. I always have a come-a-long handy, back at the camp or sometimes on my 4 wheeler. I would think the same could apply to your davit. If it fails you could attach it to the davit and the cradle and winch buy hand your whaler and be on your way.
Paul

 

[Ron T]

Why not ask on the Grand Banks Owners site as to how many owners would or do carry a heavy Whaler on their Banks and what system is mounted on board to handle that weight.

 

[Marlinmike]

Actually I think this is a great idea and cost effective:

Howie, I always have a come-a-long handy, back at the camp or sometimes on my 4 wheeler. I would think the same could apply to your davit. If it fails you could attach it to the davit and the cradle and winch buy hand your whaler and be on your way.
Paul

 

[caltexflanc]

Here is what people concerned about this use. I never got round to installing one; you have to have the winch as a maintenance item just like any other system on board. And, a back up alternative power source. There are variations of this, such as those you can open by inserting a fid on the end of a boat hook, rather than having line, I just couldn't quickly find an example. They must be designed to release under load.

Wichard Snap Shackle

OK , here is an example of one that uses a fid, Wichard makes all sorts of vaiations, so does Tylaska:

 

[Northern Spy]

A little chain hoist would work. Kito makes some nice small ones.

 

[psneeld]

I thought just a knot or shackle to the boat bridle thrown over top of the davit or through a snatch block and then a couple round turns of the bitter end around something...that should be able to lower 1000-2000 pounds even by hand...can't get much simpler than that...

....raising it to the boat deck is a whole nother story....

I like chain falls over come-alongs to for up and down....

 

[cafesport]

We have an electric crane davit on our boat and will be lifting a 650# Boston Whaler to the boat deck. I am curious if anyone has ever had an electric crane "fail" mid-lift, and if so, how do you get the tender down? Input would be appreciated; please don't say cut the cable! Thanks, Howie

On my current hydraulic Davit I had electronic controls which failed, but never a hose or a pump. I lowered the dinghy with a block and tackle then I figured a way to hot wire the controls in order to lift and stow it. Fwiw I cruised for four years with a 13' whaler and a 35 hp Johnson which made the package around 500 pounds. All we ever used to handle it were a pair of 5:1 blocks rigged bow and stern. Dink deployment and retrieval were usually a one man operation.

Sent from my iPhone

 

[fryedaze]

Our back up is to shift back to the old backup manual winch with a block and tackle.

 

[swampu]

Thanks MarlinMike. The come-a-long is galv. cable and very durable.