Dinghy Davits

Could any of you with a double cabin type trawler that has a dinghy davit show me a picture of it please. I see alot on the stick boats around here, but seeing one* a trawler would be nice so I can get one made. Thanks ,BB

None of these were taken to show the davits, but by careful examination you should have no trouble seeing the basics.* The lower piece applies pressure 18" lower on the transom, to relieve the torquing of the upper bulwarks with a heavy load.* My first dinghy, weighing only 200 lb (+-) at the transom end, did no damage to the rail adjacent to the davit.* When I went to a dinghy weighing closer to* 300lb, I had the extension fabricated, and solved the problem.* This has the capacity for the present dinghy, shown in the third picture, weighing nearer to 500 lb at that end.

All pieces are 1/4 SS.* The winches are single speed saiboat winches.* trailer winches, less elegant, would work.

This is a broker's picture from before we bought the boat. St. Croix davits -- hold 350 lbs. They work OK, though I probably would have mounted them a bit higher.

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dvd

BB - We have Weaver Davits on the swim platform.* We have a block and tackle over to the far side of the dinghy to pull it up with.* It's easy to deploy and I really like being able to load the dog into the dinghy with the stablization that the davits give us.* Then we unhook and go about our way.* When at anchor, we float the dinghy from a cleat so we have full use of the swim platform.* This is a bad picture...but it shows the dinghy up.

Bill: *Bucky came with a set of Kato "Island" Davits made in Annapolis. *The first photo below is the mounting on my boat. *With the outriggers supports extending behind the davits (optional), the capacity is 385 lbs. each davit. *Standard setup for this davit without the outriggers are 300 lbs. each. *The 2nd photo is their engineering drawing off the brochure, the third is the same type davit mounted on a MT 36 just like yours, and the fourth photo shows the top boxing bracket you'd need to keep them from flexing with the type of mounting you would need. *Hope this helps.

These came with the boat when we purchased her.I have had davits on previous boats and what I like about the present set-up is a single large self locking winch with a*5:1 ratio gearing, the previous boat had two smaller individual winches, a bit fiddly.

The second thing I like about this set up is the solid cross member, which makes the unit very stable.The dingy is a 10'RIB with a 15hp motor.

We*have boats where we stowed the dingy on the duck board, on the bow and on davits, FWIW for the way we use the dingy a davit is the way to go.It takes about 90 seconds to lift and secure the boat.

With a 15hp motor it's just too heavy to be manhandling on and off the dingy.With a smaller set up though*the Weaver snap davit *system may be worth thinking about.



-- Edited by Andy G on Monday 2nd of January 2012 09:20:43 PM


-- Edited by Andy G on Monday 2nd of January 2012 09:21:36 PM

Andy, how do you stop the dinghy jerking around in a seaway..? We had really solid alloy davits on our boat when we bought her, and the simple block arrangement on either davit was quite easy to use, but what I found hard was stopping it jerking back and forth, as the arrangement seems to work better with a rigid dinghy. I was not happy with this facet, even tho being able to leave the motor on and ready to go was convenient, so I was considering alternatives. In the end the decision to change to snap davit type arrangement was taken out of our hands when someone backed into the port davit and broke in two. I use a small, lightweight, air-cooled Honda 2.5 hp 4 stroke motor, so taking it off and remounting it is not really an issue, and the dink does sit much more securely on it's side on the platform. But if one could solve the side to side snatching of a suspended inflatable dinghy on a lifting davit that would still be the most convenient overall I think.

I have Kato transom mounted davits. My dinghy is a hard 9' Livingston cat style. When moving I put a couple of large ball fenders between the dingy and the transom. Then using a line to the bow of the dinghy and one at the stern of the dinghy each to a cleat on the transom I snug the dinghy tight against the balls this secures it from swinging forward or back. then I put a line from the bow of the dinghy to a cleat at the opposite end of the transom and one from the stern across to a cleat on other side these act like spring lines and hold it very securely and keep it from moving from side to side. They may need to be tightened from time to time but so far have worked well for me, I did the same with my previous dinghy which was an Avon RIB.
Steve W

Peter B wrote:
Andy, how do you stop the dinghy jerking around in a seaway..? But if one could solve the side to side snatching of a suspended inflatable dinghy on a lifting davit that would still be the most convenient overall I think.

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*Pete......I totally agree, and you may notice that I don't have a cross member on my davits in the photo above. *My dinghy is a 9.5' Carribe with a 9.9 Mercury. *I don't leave the outboard on during open ocean passages, but I crank the dinghy all the way up against the davits, then attach an X-type nylon strap from the point of the davit, around and across the dinghy to the opposite stern cleat. *The davits themselves have a ball and socket mounting that does rotate some, so there is no twisting stress to the mounting itself. *This pretty much takes care of the problem in seas up to 5', but if I know I'm going to be a day or more out to sea, the dinghy goes on the boat-deck. *Davits are really nice, but they are what they are, and are best suited for coastal convenience. Going to the trouble of making them super stable and rigid enough for the weight of a decent sized dinghy and outboard in heavy seas probably exceed the reasonable cost and capacity of most leisure boat and transom construction.

Peter B wrote:
Andy, how do you stop the dinghy jerking around in a seaway..? We had really solid alloy davits on our boat when we bought her, and the simple block arrangement on either davit was quite easy to use, but what I found hard was stopping it jerking back and forth, as the arrangement seems to work better with a rigid dinghy. I was not happy with this facet, even tho being able to leave the motor on and ready to go was convenient, so I was considering alternatives. In the end the decision to change to snap davit type arrangement was taken out of our hands when someone backed into the port davit and broke in two. I use a small, lightweight, air-cooled Honda 2.5 hp 4 stroke motor, so taking it off and remounting it is not really an issue, and the dink does sit much more securely on it's side on the platform. But if one could solve the side to side snatching of a suspended inflatable dinghy on a lifting davit that would still be the most convenient overall I think.

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*Pete, I have never been able to completly stop the RIB from bouncing a bit. We just use three tie off points to the transom, that seems to do the job. Using the cross over techique that Steve uses seems a good idea to me, I will try it out on the RIB next time I'm out and about.

These three photos are for Elwin.

I'm gonna chime in here (because I can) and add that Carey's self-designed davits are not the only impressive thing in his photos. The dinghy is too, a 10' Bullfrog with a 15hp Honda. When and if the day comes my wife and I can take longer cruises in our boat our intention is to acquire a 10' Bullfrog to use in place of our 9' LIvingston. However, we will have to tow the Bullfrog.

I've been in Carey's Bullfrog on a number of occasions in smooth and choppy water and for my money, it is the best dinghy/shoreboat solution available today.

Tks Carey, I can take the pictures from here. Looks great.

Elwin*

Marin wrote:
I'm gonna chime in here (because I can) and add that Carey's self-designed davits are not the only impressive thing in his photos. The dinghy is too, a 10' Bullfrog with a 15hp Honda. When and if the day comes my wife and I can take longer cruises in our boat our intention is to acquire a 10' Bullfrog to use in place of our 9' LIvingston. However, we will have to tow the Bullfrog.

I've been in Carey's Bullfrog on a number of occasions in smooth and choppy water and for my money, it is the best dinghy/shoreboat solution available today.

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One of the concerns (maybe unfounded) is the weight vs carrying capacity of the Bullfrog...* Heavy but only rated for 575lbs or so.*

Marginal as my kids grow and might want to bring a friend.**A 10' RIB is*rated for over 1000lbs usually.*

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The 10' Bullfrog weighs 225 lbs (without motor) and the carrying capacity is 589 pounds. That may not be enough for some peoples' applications. It is for ours.

But the main reason I prefer the Bullfrog to all other dinghies is that if I'm gonna plunk down several thousand dollars for something like a boat, it's not gonna be for a boat with a finite life. If I had a buck for every deflated inflatable, or worn out, patched RIB I saw in our marina, or owner trying to find and fix a leaking tube I've seen, I could not only buy a new Bullfrog and motor, I could probalby buy a Fleming.

We briefly considered an RIB when we decided to augment the sailing/rowing dinghy that came with our boat with a more stable, higher capacity shoreboat. But after watching friends patch their fabric dinghies and lament about leaks that showed up when they got scraped on a rocky shore, of which we have a lot of around here, the idea of anything with a hull made out of fabric went out the window. Particularly when one considers the very high cost of an inflatable or RIB. A lot of money to pay for something that vulnerable. I know the newer fabrics or coatings are much more resistant to UV breakdown so they last longer than the older generations of them, but they nevertheless reach a point where they're shot. We prefer to buy something like a dinghy and never have to think about it again.