Dinghy davits and lifts?

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

The swim platform was also beefed up.

[bligh]

Originally Posted by Alaskan Sea-Duction

Here is a pic of my set up. Worked great all summer long in the Inside Passage.

That is a sweet davit system. How do you keep your dink from flopping all around in heavy seas, especially if your trawler is rolling? I took my davit system off because the dinghy was flailing all around if my boat was rolling. My davits weren't as heavy duty as yours, but I did notice quite a bit of movement where the dinghy would work itself side to side and I was sure something would give way or a pontoon would get chaffed through. Maybe I need to relocate the lifting eyes to create more of an angle side to side to prevent my dinghy from swaying.

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Originally Posted by bligh

That is a sweet davit system. How do you keep your dink from flopping all around in heavy seas, especially if your trawler is rolling? I took my davit system off because the dinghy was flailing all around if my boat was rolling. My davits weren't as heavy duty as yours, but I did notice quite a bit of movement where the dinghy would work itself side to side and I was sure something would give way or a pontoon would get chaffed through. Maybe I need to relocate the lifting eyes to create more of an angle side to side to prevent my dinghy from swaying.

The dink naturally sits in the curve of the davit. I also use cross ratchet straps to suck it in nice and tight when I am on open ocean. Most of the time it just hangs and I can have it off and in the water in 3 minutes or less.

[healhustler]

Originally Posted by Alaskan Sea-Duction

The dink naturally sits in the curve of the davit. I also use cross ratchet straps to suck it in nice and tight when I am on open ocean. Most of the time it just hangs and I can have it off and in the water in 3 minutes or less.

You must’ve figured it right the first time Sea-Duction. Bligh Has some good points. Almost everything I’ve engineered for my boat, there came the predictible (but not perfectable) details with each design that were only realized after some accute observation in various sea conditions. Even overbuilt designs revealed weaknesses down the line somewhere. Your platform reinforcement below does a nice job of distributing the loads.

[Sailor of Fortune]

that looks good ASD. I like any davits that get the tender above and off the swim platform. Yours looks heavy duty.

[jimL]

Hi all, This post has been interesting as we all have different requirements and configurations. We're looking for any dinghy davit ideas from owners or former owners of a Mainship 430 aft cabin trawler. The boat has an integrated step in the swimg platform that needs a slight work around. Any pics other members can post is appreciated.

Happy New Year,

jimL

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by jimL

We're looking for any dinghy davit ideas from owners or former owners of a Mainship 430 aft cabin trawler. The boat has an integrated step in the swimg platform that needs a slight work around. Any pics other members can post is appreciated.

Can't remember if I posted about it before...

See here: JATCO Marine Products - Online Catalog

FWIW, our is their original Trillogy Dinghy Lift -- not "davit" and not "cradle" -- and it works well enough. (Trillogy is not a mis-spelling; the engineer's name is Joe Trillo.)

Not obvious in their pics is that the systems designed for heavier weights don't depend entirely on the swim platform for support. There's available additional bracing from dinghy mount directly to transom, underwater...

IIRC, ours is the 450 version, and so incorporates two additional bracing struts like that. We mounted it all in a cantilever position, so we can walk between transom and dinghy. It's pretty much a one-handed operation to bring the ~250-lb dinghy/motor aboard using the manual winch.

-Chris

[PiperG]

Are you happy with whaler set up?
I am wanting to use stern davits for my whaler but concerned it will put too much strain on stern.

Originally Posted by S41

We have a Nick Jackson davit on our stern. Electric wench and does a great job. Fast up and down. We carry a 12' Boston Whaler on it with a 40 HP merc. Personally I think the boat (too big for a dinghy) and motor are over kill, but it came with our trawler when we purchased her last summer.

The plus to this davit:
Very strong.
Lifts a heavy load securely and fast
Keeps the dinghy weight off the top of the aft deck cover

Disadvantages:
Takes up the swim platform with or without the boat on it.
Expensive to buy and mount

My last boat had a 9 ft Livingston Dinghy on a Weaver davit system.
It worked great!