Dinghy Stowage on a Sundeck Trawler? Ideas?

Maybe it is time for Marina to move to a more boating-inducive climate, like central California.* It's sunny and in the mid-sixties here, with some fog in the morning to practice your radar skills.* No icebergs, I promise.

markpierce wrote:

Maybe it is time for Marina to move to a more boating-inducive climate, like central California.* It's sunny and in the mid-sixties here, with some fog in the morning to practice your radar skills.* No icebergs, I promise.

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Marin should too!!!

California !!!??? Get real. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. Never again. I'm busy enough trying to keep Californians (and everyone else) out of this place

California's way too hot and sunny for me. To much like Hawaii. Except when it rains but then it rains too much and the whole state slides downhill. Plus the place is always on fire. Just like Florida. You'd think they'd have figured out a way to coordinate the fires with the rain by now so they'd cancel each other out but so far no luck.

So no thanks. For me, the US stops at the southern Oregon border and the west bank of the Mississippi. The rest of it can go back to whoever we stole it from.

We carry our inflatable on Weaver davits and I find it very quick and easy to use. However, I did read an account of a boat sinking in GeorgiaStrait where the crew had difficulty getting the dingy released from a swimstep davit. I like the idea of bing able to use a knife to cut the dingy free. I've watched folks lower their dingy off the sundeck in calm water marinas. It seemed to take them forever and its noisier then heck.

As for using the inflatable as a life raft, that was my sales pitch to the Admiral to justify the expense. She is very safety conscious so she went for the deal. After being in 8+ foot breaking seas in the Strait of Juan de Fuca she didn't think the inflatable would have been of much help.

Even when we move up in size I plan to continue using the Weaver davit system or something similar. I like the fact that once the dingy is deployed the swimstep is clear for other use. I also like the way the Weaver system keeps the dingy stable while you load it with motor, passengers and gear. I can stand in the dingy while the Admiral hands me the cooler of refreshments. When we are ready to go we simply release the davit snaps and away we go. When we return its easy to snap back into the davits and then stand up and step onto the swim step.

-- Edited by Budds Outlet on Tuesday 25th of January 2011 09:41:23 PM

I think the answer the IP was looking for is a no brainer. The sundeckmotor yacht has an extremely high CG and the windage tops even that. In view of extreme windage and a very high CG the dinghy's only responsible place is on the swim step.

OK it should be in the For Sale area , but IF anyone needs a great set of Edison Dink brackets for a condom boat .Troll the old adds.