2006 Mainship 34T Dinghy/RIB Recommendation

[DonW28]

Good morning,
I'm not trying to rehash the question of "best dinghy/tender/rib." I know it has been well covered. What I'm really interested in is what you have on your early 2000s 34T Mainship. Likes and dislikes, etc. How it is mounted. I don't want to reinvent the wheel and I know there are some folks here with that specific boat with a dinghy. Thanks for the assistance.


Don

 

[DavidM]

I had a 34T a few years back with a 9' Caribe RIB. Then I just used two straps tied to the swim platform that I used to hold it in place after pulling it up by hand. Was kind of awkward to do. Today I would use Weaver davits on the swim platform and a block and tackle to pull it up like I had on my Pilot 34 later.

The 34T has a very wide beam for its size so I am sure a 10' RIB would work equally well.

David

 

[rsn48]

If you are old and getting older, unlike me, Seawise davits - if you have the bucks - is the way to go. I really don't want to be struggling with a motor attaching it to the dinghy.

If you are big money blessed get the electric Seawise system, video below:

See video showing you how to operate your davit system - Sea Wise Davit System

If you are poorer like me, here is the manual system. Note, you can use a rechargeable drill to power the boat down or up:

 

[danderer]

I had an 8'10" RIB on St Croix davits. It was mounted off-center to port allowing room for the door to the swim platform to fully operate.

 

[DonW28]

We have a set a mounts that cradle the tubes if we go with a rib and allow it to tilt up. Similar to the Weavers but probably not a secure. I doubt we will go with davits.



And there is a used Walker Bay 10 with tube kit for sale locally that would probably work but I can't figure out how it would mount to the swim platform. Vertically from the transom using a block and tackle would seem to make the most sense. I guess.



Don

 

[Bacchus]

I had an 8'10" RIB on St Croix davits. It was mounted off-center to port allowing room for the door to the swim platform to fully operate.

We have the same using Weaver mounts.
I Remove a small outboard and mount it on a DIY mount on the platform under the tilted up dingy.
The smaller size makes swim platform very usable for boarding.

 

[bill.kimbell]

+1

 

[Duetto]

having to get back to the boat in many rough anchorages in bahamas, i'd get the biggest dinghy that reasonably fits...with the biggest engine

 

[Dougcole]

having to get back to the boat in many rough anchorages in bahamas, i'd get the biggest dinghy that reasonably fits...with the biggest engine

This.

We have an 11 highfield Rib with a 20hp zuki. I wouldn’t go any smaller, but we use it for fishing, diving and long runs. We have trick davits with a block and tackle system on our MS 400.

 

[bill.kimbell]

+1

+1 was ref to danderer. I have St Croix davits, off center, to allow access to stern door...a bit awkward but possible. 2007 Mainship 34 Pilot

 

[PocketAces]

I have a 34T and now have a 10' Walker bay with a 10HP engine. I am also too old to want to hoist heavy engines/boats. I have Weaver davits and was lucky enough to locate a fellow in Vancouver who built a engine bracket and winch very similar to the Seawise system. I could have gone with Seawise, but they were very expensive and you had to go with everything, so I would have had to throw away the Weaver mounts which I already had. The system I god was about half of Seawise and the winch is 30:1, so really easy to get the dinghy up and down.
The pic also shows the square bow of the Walker Bay dinghy which is a nice feature.