Walker Bay dinghy for MS 390?

[Lshulan]

I have a possibility of buying a Walker Bay hard shell dinghy for a really low price and wanted any input as to best way to stow it on my Mainship 390. I know there’s a lot of opinions as to the best kind of dinghy, inflatable, foldbot, hard shell, etc but I can get this at a really good price and then won’t need to worry about leaks, beaching the boat and possible cuts, etc. I will be using a small outboard so no worries about rowing. Anyway, what’s the best way to stow it and be able to get out the transom gate?

 

[Comodave]

Seawise davit will work for that. Not cheap but an excellent product and very quick to launch and recover.

 

[porman]

Weaver davits. They make a kit for Walker Bay dinghies.

 

[Lshulan]

Porman - with the weaver davit system for walker bay dinghies, are you able to access the transom door and still use the swim platform to get on and off the dock for example? What do you use to hold it upright when not in use?

 

[porman]

I had the Weaver davits on a Camano Troll with both a hard shell dinghy and a Zodiac. There are two removable stand-offs that attach to the top of the dinghy and connect to the top of the transom. Depending on which side you have towards the dock, you just remove that stand-off. Take a look at their website.

 

[Lshulan]

Perfect solution. Thanks. Have a great holiday season

 

[HeadedToTexas]

Look into the Dinghy Butler. Ease of launch and retrieval really impacts dinghy usage. Make it easy on yourself.

 

[Lshulan]

That seems like a great system but it will block the swim platform too much. I think the weaver system is gonna be my choice But thanks for the suggestion

 

[rslifkin]

If swim platform access is a concern, what about traditional lifting davits? From the avatar picture, it looks like this boat has a hard top, so it shouldn't be too hard to support a set of davits tall enough to lift the dinghy up high enough to walk under it. The only downsides I can think of is that they'll likely add a little more length than a flip-up solution and that you'll be carrying the weight up higher.

 

[HeadedToTexas]

Swim platform access was critical for us too. Our Dinghy Butler stores the dinghy at bridge deck height leaving the swim platform unobstructed. I am 6' 2" and walk unimpeded under the dinghy and outboard. Talk to Dick about special applications.

 

[rslifkin]

Swim platform access was critical for us too. Our Dinghy Butler stores the dinghy at bridge deck height leaving the swim platform unobstructed. I am 6' 2" and walk unimpeded under the dinghy and outboard. Talk to Dick about special applications.

That's pretty much exactly what I was picturing for the "lifted" position with a set of lifting davits.

 

[HeadedToTexas]

I've seen St. Croix type davits mounted on the bridge deck that store the dinghy up high to allow swim platform access. We looked hard at the Weaver system, but fiddling with the 15 hp outboard was a deal breaker for me.

 

[Lshulan]

Im convinced, a pair of lifting davit’s on the bridge deck is the way I’m gonna go. One question, how deep is the space between the floor of the bridge deck to the roof of the cockpit? The davit system I’m looking at has a receiver that the davit pole slips into and I’m concerned that there may not be enough space between the floor and the roof of the cockpit.

 

[rslifkin]

Im convinced, a pair of lifting davit’s on the bridge deck is the way I’m gonna go. One question, how deep is the space between the floor of the bridge deck to the roof of the cockpit? The davit system I’m looking at has a receiver that the davit pole slips into and I’m concerned that there may not be enough space between the floor and the roof of the cockpit.

For lifting davits, I wouldn't want to mount them to the upper deck. I'd want to get extra tall davits (Garhauer will make theirs taller for no extra cost, for example) and mount them to the caprail. Then brace to the back end of the upper deck for support, that way you don't need to rely on the upper deck rail to take the load. It should make a much stronger setup than something mounted on the upper deck with rail braces.

 

[HeadedToTexas]

That is basically what the Dinghy Butler does. Vertical loads are carried by the transom. The lifting arms are secured to "keepers" mounted on the bridge deck to carry fore and aft loads. The dinghy is secured for travel with additional straps to eyes on the bridge deck to carry lateral loads. It is rock solid when underway.

 

[rslifkin]

That is basically what the Dinghy Butler does. Vertical loads are carried by the transom. The lifting arms are secured to "keepers" mounted on the bridge deck to carry fore and aft loads. The dinghy is secured for travel with additional straps to eyes on the bridge deck to carry lateral loads. It is rock solid when underway.

Agreed, that's also a very good setup for this type of mounting. Choice between that and conventional lifting davits would be pretty much just a price and availability question in my mind, as either would work well in this application.

 

[Bacchus]

Larry

On our MS 34 HT I use the Weaver system for our inflatable and like the simplicity. I used a couple stand offs and by mounting it towaards the post side it allows not only use of the tuna door. I can access most of the swim deck w/o issues. I do need to duck under the stand offs to get to the port side but thats an infrequent issue as we typically dock & lock on our stbd side.
How long is the hard dingy you are considering? and how does it compare to the swim deck width?
I would not install a system that relies on rails for any load - either downward or lateral. I would want support to be from the transom structure or swim deck brackets that are through bolted and adequately backed up. If you use the bridge deck for lateral support I'd recemmend adding access plates so you can add adequate stiffening / backers.
Are you sure the Weaver system won't satisfy your needs... I seem to recall Cartouche photos with a dingy??

 

[Bacchus]

Larry
I found a couple pics of the dingy on Cartouche
https://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/members/17760-albums778-picture8114.jpg
If you go to the cartouche profile you can go to his album of pics that include a couple with his dingy.
It looks like maybe his stand offs were attached to the bridge deck which would provide lots of space to duck under and access the opposite side in front of the dingy.
IMO why reinvent the wheel? Is the Weaver hardware still in place?

 

[Xlantic]

Before you start spending money on davits you might try-out the Walker Bay first.

The 8’ model weighs only 71 lbs. and you should be able to manhandle it on to the swim platform where you can stand it on the side or even on the stern and then tie in place with a line or two.

BTW, given their rigid hull they row decently.

 

[gilbertpark]

I had a 10 foot walker Bay hard shell (RID) and fitted weaver davits on a swim platform. I had to raise the side of the boat from the deck. I couldn't do it, the boat was too heavy. In the end I devised a block and tackle to use either from the boom or else where on the deck.

I have just had the 8 foot RID (without a collar) in a pair of davits. I could just about lift it into position with a 4 to one pulley system.

They are heavier than inflatables of the same length.

You may be much stronger than an old fella like me!

Gilbert

 

[TrawlerAJ]

For what it's worth, we removed davits from our swim platform, as they blocked the transom door from opening more than about 45 degrees, and took up a substantial amount of space on the swim platform. Having 3 kids, going to the beach often, the davits had to go. The motor was too heavy for the whole system, anyway, eliminating the convenience of crane style davits.

We have, for many seasons now, kept an inflatable (air floor, so it's light), tipped up on it's side, secured with 2 dock lines that connect through the cutouts in the platform. It's way easier to deploy the dinghy when we get somewhere, untie and push it off, as opposed to messing with the block and tackle setup that was there before! A short "dockline" stays attached to a side handle on the dinghy, which is what we use to tie it up wherever we're going, and also to pull it up while standing on the platform. Nothing is permanently attached to either boat anymore, nothing to get in the way of enjoying the swim platform, and deploying and retrieval, I feel, is way quicker than davits.

NOTE: We also have a Walker Bay that we bought for kids with the sail kit and the inflatable tubes. We kept that on the back of the 400 for two seasons in this exact same configuration. The Walker Bay was a bit heavier than our Mercury branded inflatable, so after putting the closer tube on the swim platform, I would go up top to pull the "retrieving line" from up there, and lash it so I could go down and put the lines on it. It was a bit more unwieldly, but it worked. Kids rarely sailed it at the beach, so we went back to the inflatable.

Also worth noting; the Walker Bay with 2 adults and 3 kids takes on water over the centerboard trunk opening. I've never had the plug in there to see if that increased capacity. We used it to get from the boat to the beach and back in the spring when the water was too chilly for swimming, so not a long ride. The inflatable has a much greater carrying capacity...