Seawise Dinghy Davit

[Gordon J]

I am thinking of going with a Seawise davit on my Ocean Alexander 456 so I can keep one side of the swim platform free. I am looking at the manual model with a hand crank. I learned that I need to mount a crossed member on the dinghy floor to stiffen the whole structure. Does the cross member get in the way?

Can anyone with a seawise davit comment on their satisfaction or frustrations with the system? I have a fuel tank which fits over the transom. Would I be able to keep it on the transom with the engine, or would I need to remove?

Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences.

Gordon

 

[koliver]

You will need to use a battery that can be left on its side while stowed. Your dinghy must have sufficient strength to hold together while you get tossed around in a seaway, while on its side.
My dinghy was from a Seawise application. The attachment points were not reinforced, so failed. Even the seat was broken and repaired, though that may have more to do with the stresses inherent in being used by very large people. Mine is a 12' Caribe carrying a 40 Honda. Approx 750# total weight.

 

[dhays]

I have a Seawise that came with the boat when I bought it. I really like it.

The dinghy is a Walker Bay 10' Genesis with a floor. Pretty heavy dinghy and has an 8hp 4 stroke Honda with electric start and power tilt, so the thing is very heavy for an 8hp motor. The dinghy has held up just fine. One of the pads that was glued on to the tube is starting to come off. This is after 6 years of sitting on the pads. I think it was simply an inadequate installation of the pads. I understand that to work well, you really need to be careful about the glueing and then leave it untouched for a week. As Kieth mentioned, I have an AGM battery for the dinghy so it can be stored on its side. I leave the gas tank in the dinghy oriented so that when it is upright the fill opening and vent are towards the top.

I really like the system. Easy and convenient to use.

 

[Comodave]

We bought a Sea Wise system for one of our boats. Great support from them. We had a 10' with a 9.9 Mercury. No problem raising it or lowering it. It was very fast in and out. You do need to reinforce the attachment points on the boat. We had one of the L shaped gas tank mounted so that when the dinghy was raised up the gas would flow into the L part of the tank and the fuel level would drop below the filler neck. Had an AGM battery. Did not have any problems with the attachment points on the dinghy, but you do need to be very careful and do it exactly per the directions. I made a canvas "bucket" that we used to flush the outboard so we did not have to pull the prop to install the flushing adapter. Made it very easy to flush the outboard. Overall we loved the system.

 

[Gordon J]

My fuel tank, hangs on the transom with a couple of metal L brackets. I would be hopeful that the fuel tank would stay in the proper position along with the engine when the dinghy is put in the vertical position.

Gordon

 

[GFC]

Gordon, when I bought my 330 Sundancer years ago it had a manual Sea Wise system on it and we loved it. It was easy to crank up the dinghy (10' Zodiac with 9.9 Merc 4-stroke) and it stowed securely in the raised position.


Now I have a larger boat and a Boston Whaler dinghy that is too heavy for the Sea Wise system, so guess what--my Sea Wise is for sale!


It's off the boat, sitting in a plastic tub in my garage. If you are interested, PM me and we'll talk.


Mike

 

[seabum]

My boat came with a Sea Wise hydraulic system and a West Marine Rib with a 4 hp Merc. The West dinghy is rated for a 10 hp motor so I assume the tilting transom bracket is suitably sized.

I also have an Avon 310 RIB and a 15 hp Merc that I want to use with the Sea Wise system, so I need to swap the dinghy parts from one dinghy to the other. Anyone been through this process?

 

[dhays]

My boat came with a Sea Wise hydraulic system and a West Marine Rib with a 4 hp Merc. The West dinghy is rated for a 10 hp motor so I assume the tilting transom bracket is suitably sized.

I also have an Avon 310 RIB and a 15 hp Merc that I want to use with the Sea Wise system, so I need to swap the dinghy parts from one dinghy to the other. Anyone been through this process?

The transom fittings shouldn't be too bad to swap, but the glued on clips will be tough. I would think you will need to by another set of clips for the AVon 310.

 

[GFC]

The parts that attach to the dinghy are separated from the hypalon (or whatever material you have) by a rubber pad that's about 1/8" thick. I found it's dam near impossible to get that rubber part off the stainless part unless you use one of these sanders. I got mine from Harbor Freight for $20 and used the metal blade with the knife edge. I just slide it between the two layers (rubber and stainless) and the rubber came right off.

A bit of touch up with some MEK removed every bit of the rubber and the cement from the stainless.

https://shop.harborfreight.com/medi...b33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/i/m/image_25860.jpg

BTW, my SeaWise system is still for sale if anyone wants to buy it. I won't sell just parts, only the whole setup is for sale.

PM me if you're interested.

 

[koliver]

My dinghy came to me with remnants of a SeaWise system. The parts that attached to the mother ship did not come to me. I removed the parts that were glued to the hypalon with the aid of a heat gun, then removed most of the glue with Toluene, then covered the unremoveable remnants of the glue with a patch of hypalon that was close in colour to my tubes. That was 7 yrs ago now and it still looks decent.

I gave the pieces away at the time.