Most unexpected attribute of your boat

Moonstruck said:

I guess the Weaver hydraulic hoist would be my pleasant surprise. It is a game changer for getting the dinghy tilted up for storage. That along with the leaver gets the 15 hp engine stored vertically on the platform. The hoist is foot activated, so no arm or back problem. Easy-peasy.

Click to expand...

Don, can you post a video of that in operation on Moonstruck? Feel free to use youthful, bikini-clad models in the demonstration. If you don't know any of those, talk to Baker.

FlyWright said:

Don, can you post a video of that in operation on Moonstruck? Feel free to use youthful, bikini-clad models in the demonstration. If you don't know any of those, talk to Baker.

Click to expand...

Not quite a bikini clad model. Where is Baker when we need him.

Pretty clever system. Thanks for posting the video. I've never seen one of these up here. The most common dinghy deploy/retreive system seen in this area is the Seawise, either manual or electric.

Marin said:

Pretty clever system. Thanks for posting the video. I've never seen one of these up here. The most common dinghy deploy/retreive system seen in this area is the Seawise, either manual or electric.

Click to expand...

Marin, there is a lot to like about the Seawise system. Not cheap, but very good. Of course, the Weaver system is no that I would call cheap, but they both use top quality materials.

What is really nice about the Weaver hoist is that you can just stand there turning the knob to regulate the hydraulic pressure to let it down.

Don, do you use your left leg to pump up the dinghy to help assure both legs are equally developed?

markpierce said:

Don, do you use your left leg to pump up the dinghy to help assure both legs are equally developed?

Click to expand...

No Mark, my right leg is huge. Thanks for the tip.

Not always bikini clad...it is nice to find girls that still enjoy boating even when there is a chill in the air!!! These 4 are all teachers and just all around great girls!!!

Peter B said:

I just luuurve the pilot door, right there beside the main helm. Just makes the whole journey so good, I usually have no need or desire to even use the upper helm.

Click to expand...

+ 1

Baker said:

Not always bikini clad...it is nice to find girls that still enjoy boating even when there is a chill in the air!!! These 4 are all teachers and just all around great girls!!!

Click to expand...

I knew we could count on you, John. I forgot it gets cold there.

FlyWright said:

I knew we could count on you, John. I forgot it gets cold there.

Click to expand...

I hate it when it's cold. I can't tell if the girls are cold or just glad to see me!

Marin, I found a video of the Seawise system retrieval system. I like their snap davit harware better than Weaver, but I like the SS Weaver arcs to support the dinghy better. No stress on the tubes. I also like the foot pump for the Weaver better than the crank of the Seawise. Really, I could be happy with either.

Moonstruck said:

I hate it when it's cold. I can't tell if the girls are cold or just glad to see me!

Click to expand...

D. O. M.

Moonstruck said:

Marin, I found a video of the Seawise system retrieval system. I like their snap davit harware better than Weaver, but I like the SS Weaver arcs to support the dinghy better. No stress on the tubes. I also like the foot pump for the Weaver better than the crank of the Seawise. Really, I could be happy with either.

Click to expand...

From experience, with different but similar rig, I know it is a real PIA (ugly/unsightly too - lol) if inflatable support bladder looses most of its air over span of time while away from boat.

The most beneficial or unexpected?
Not having to alter course for wakes! Very, very little rolling or pitching even through the breaking wakes -- she just goes up and down. We used to have to holler below to warn of wakes...not a problem with Big Duck, even without a course change.

And my boat can/does provide all the comforts of home either on the road or on the water or as a guest house in the yard.

And she is a great source of tinkering pleasure for a 70 year old with very limited funds. Here's the latest tinkering...
One More Time Around: Big Duck Trolling Motor

Lots of storage space all over and plenty of room in the engine area.

The videos of the Seawise system retrieval system and Weaver hydraulic hoist system would make the start of a great thread.

FlyWright said:

Don, can you post a video of that in operation on Moonstruck? Feel free to use youthful, bikini-clad models in the demonstration. If you don't know any of those, talk to Baker.

Click to expand...

Yeah…where does Baker get those from..?

Art said:

From experience, with different but similar rig, I know it is a real PIA (ugly/unsightly too - lol) if inflatable support bladder looses most of its air over span of time while away from boat.

Click to expand...

The Seawise system is a good rig albeit it more expensive than one might think. It's also available with electric drive.

We came up with a fast and easy way of deploying and retrieving our swimstep-mounted 9' Livingston by using the GB's boom and a 100' boom fall threaded through a pair of dual-sheave blocks. The Livingston sits on a pair of Weaver Snap-Davits.

The boom fall is long enough to let the dinghy all the way down to the water without having to reposition the boom itself, and the dual-sheave block setup makes it an (almost) one-hand operation to pull the dinghy back up into its upright (on its side) position on the swimstep.

The dinghy's motor is on a manual swivel mount, so the end result is sort of a poor-man's Seawise Davit. In fact it has an advantage over the Seawise system (and the Weaver system) in that moving the dinghy from it's in the water postion to its stowed position takes about five seconds. Letting it down takes even less.

But if we had a heavier dinghy setup, a Seawise or Weaver would be the way to go, I think.