any opinions on a dinghy and davits

I think I found a boat.
1988 38ft Bayliner with twin diesels.
Not exactly what I wanted but it is a compromise.

It does not have a dinghy and anything to hold one.

Any opinions on what to buy or what to stay away from?

Thanks

Even signed up for boating class this winter to learn how
to run this boat.

You can get tremendous amount of information and feedback on this boat and the Hino engines at the Bayliner owners club under the motoryachts section.


baylinerownersclub(dot)org


When we owned our 38 Bayliner we 'tipped' an 11' inflatable up on the swim step and stored the 8hp outboard behind the engine room door outboard of the battery boxes. There are many other options which owners have used on the site I posted.
Good luck with the new boat we really liked the 38 ourselves.

For a dinghy that will last, get one made in hypalon, a rubber that is less affected by sunlight than PVC. It does require special techniques and cement to repair them. Avon, Caribe and AB make good hypalon ones. Zodiac makes a good PVC dinghy.


I like fiberglass tub RIBs. But inflatable floor dinghy saves a bunch of weight. Rare and expensive are aluminum tub RIBs, but would be my favorite if money were no object.


Weaver davits are an easy way to flip up your dinghy on the swim platform.


David

CT, I agree with the recommendation on getting a Hypalon dinghy. You won't be sorry, especially if the boat and dinghy is stored outside.


If you are looking for a very good quality davit system, check out Sea Wise Marine (seawisemarine.com).


If you like it, I have a manual Sea Wise system that I used on my last boat but now have a dinghy that's too heavy for it, so it's for sale. PM me if you get the Bayliner and we'll talk about the Sea Wise.

Weaver snap davits work fine - just watch your toes.

I have had a gut full of Davits and dinghy problems. I tow a 17' Boston Whaler and watch the weather. What I cannot anticipate are the fkin Sea Ray Drivers.

I have applied for a hunting Licence but the various states and the Coast Guard has not defined the season, bag limits or whether the tag goes on the ears or toes.

We chose the Grand S275 Rib which is 9' long as it fit the stern width nicely and use a St. Croix davit system. Works great for us. I put a 6 hp Tohatsu on it but wish I had bought an 8hp Yamaha instead. Had a lot of trouble with the Tohatsu and it is still doesn't run right.

Off topic, seen this same issue of not running right on our dock, and not exclusive to Tohatsu, basically any new outboard, personally think it comes down to the tight emissions and carb jets really lean, slightest bit of contaminant and runs crappy.

I also vote for Weaver, also good company to work with if any issues.

LaBomba said:

We chose the Grand S275 Rib which is 9' long as it fit the stern width nicely and use a St. Croix davit system. Works great for us. I put a 6 hp Tohatsu on it but wish I had bought an 8hp Yamaha instead. Had a lot of trouble with the Tohatsu and it is still doesn't run right.

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I was just turned onto Hurley H30 davits. Anybody use these?? It looks like it would fit my boat perfectly.

West Marine seems to have the best priced dinghies if you're buying new. ANd even cheaper with Port Supply.

Make sure you go 4 stroke and fuel injected.

Baker said:

West Marine seems to have the best priced dinghies if you're buying new. ANd even cheaper with Port Supply.

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Ahhh but if CT IS from Ct then it's worth a trip to Defender. I got a great deal on a floor model a few years ago.
And sometimes they get "rejects" that can be a great deal also. I bought one there that the seat didn't fit properly , but since we don't use it, it was no issue.

jleonard said:

Ahhh but if CT IS from Ct then it's worth a trip to Defender. I got a great deal on a floor model a few years ago.
And sometimes they get "rejects" that can be a great deal also. I bought one there that the seat didn't fit properly , but since we don't use it, it was no issue.

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And what is CT?

Baker said:

And what is CT?

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The OP I believe

Check out Flexboat. Expensive but by far the best built rib and inflatables made. Recently bought one and we are super happy with it.

Home - AI Boats

As to the question of Hurley Davits, we have Trick Davits on our boat, very similar to Hurley. We have an 11' Carib Light with a 20hp Suzuki 4 stroke.

Pros: Very easy launch, I can have the dinghy in the water all by myself in less than 5 minutes. Pretty easy to load, but we have a big dink with a big motor, so I set up a 4 way ratchet block that attaches to the cockpit overhead and clips to the stern eye of the dinghy. It pulls up the heavy end of the boat, the bow can be pulled up by hand.

Cons. Not super heavily built. The arms mount on four starboard (?) plates that rotate when the dink slides onto them. They are very fragile, and if they break the entire arm assembly comes loose. I ended up having four replacement plates machined out of 5/8 inch aluminum. They are bomb proof now.

Also, the exhaust from the main engines blows all over the dinghy and gets it dirty.

Dougcole said:

As to the question of Hurley Davits, we have Trick Davits on our boat, very similar to Hurley. We have an 11' Carib Light with a 20hp Suzuki 4 stroke.

Pros: Very easy launch, I can have the dinghy in the water all by myself in less than 5 minutes. Pretty easy to load, but we have a big dink with a big motor, so I set up a 4 way ratchet block that attaches to the cockpit overhead and clips to the stern eye of the dinghy. It pulls up the heavy end of the boat, the bow can be pulled up by hand.

Cons. Not super heavily built. The arms mount on four starboard (?) plates that rotate when the dink slides onto them. They are very fragile, and if they break the entire arm assembly comes loose. I ended up having four replacement plates machined out of 5/8 inch aluminum. They are bomb proof now.

Also, the exhaust from the main engines blows all over the dinghy and gets it dirty.

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Thanks for the review. I will look into the Trick davits and their similarity to the Hurleys

Dougcole said:

As to the question of Hurley Davits, we have Trick Davits on our boat, very similar to Hurley. We have an 11' Carib Light with a 20hp Suzuki 4 stroke.

Pros: Very easy launch, I can have the dinghy in the water all by myself in less than 5 minutes. Pretty easy to load, but we have a big dink with a big motor, so I set up a 4 way ratchet block that attaches to the cockpit overhead and clips to the stern eye of the dinghy. It pulls up the heavy end of the boat, the bow can be pulled up by hand.

Cons. Not super heavily built. The arms mount on four starboard (?) plates that rotate when the dink slides onto them. They are very fragile, and if they break the entire arm assembly comes

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We have the Trick davits as well but ours mount on two plates that seem quite strong. No problems and easy to use.
Rob

Baker said:

Thanks for the review. I will look into the Trick davits and their similarity to the Hurleys

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Overall, I'm really happy with them, no system is perfect. They were also easy to install. We have a very strong swim platform, I think that's key.

When we do any sort of open water run, I criss cross two ratchet straps from the bow of the dink to the port stern cleat on the big boat, and a second strap from the further aft transom eye on the dink to the starboard stern cleat on the big boat. Two more short ratchet strap run to eyes on the swim grid to hold the dink down. The dink is very secure that way.

If you go with the trick davits, shoot me an email and I can send you some pics of the plates I had made. Not real pretty (you hardly see them anyway) but strong. I think they cost me about $300 to have machined.

Seawise dingy lift

We have a 8 1/2 ft AB aluminum bottom dingy with a 9.9hp Tahatsu on a Seawize system on our Beneteau 42 swift trawler. It works great-flipping up like a Weaver but with the outboard rotating. The winch that has it up easily in 2 minutes Roughed,high quality fixtures
Bob Nordstrom

I second the favorable comments for Weaver snap davis for a flip-up dinghy system. Simple, strong and the best stainless and welding that you'll ever see. I've used them for years.

For what it's worth, I have been investigating hydraulic lift davits & really like this one!
(The price? Not so much!) I can buy a whole suite of electronics or a dinghy and motor for the price of one of these. They do allow good access to the swim platform however & when the dinghy is up, it''s quite a bit higher than the platform.

Cradle Lifts | Hydraulic Watercraft Lifts | SeaLift USA

I have an old Avon 310RIB. It has had one repair (damage I caused) since I purchased it back in 1987. The boat performs today the same as it did when it was new. Another feature of this no longer available dinghy is that it has a flat fiberglass floor with a small bilge under it. Works wonders keeping feet dry.

I used to haul the dingy up onto the front deck of my old sailboat using a halyard. This of course was after I lugged the 8HP outboat from the dinghy to down below in the sailboat. And yes there was the gas tank, oars, seat, anchor and other what nots to take care of before cranking it up to the forward deck.

When I purchased my Silverton, I was determined to stop all the lugging! I installed a davit crane on the forward deck and made my own dinghy chocks. Now when I want to use the dingy, just raise the crane, push the power button to lower the hook, attach the lifting straps, push the 'up' button which raises the fully loaded, ready to go dinghy. Swing the crane so the dink is over the water and lower it. To haul, I just reverse the procedure.

This is fantastic!!! Even Wifey can do it.............if she wanted to learn which buttons to push and when. I will always have a davit crane on anything I own in the future. Got too old to bust my hump needlessly.

EDIT: Another feature of storing the dinghy into chocks on the forward deck is that it minimizes risk of vandalism and theft that is encountered storing it onto the swim platform.