Securing a RIB on davits

[Andy G]

I need some advice.

I have a 10' RIB which I hang off our sturdy davits via two cradles. Over the years I have never satisfactorily worked out a system to secure the inflatable to stop it bouncing around in a sloppy sea.

The most effective I have managed is to secure the boat hard up against the davits, this is not great as it results in some chafing etc on the hyperlon tubes.

Does anyone use a fixed system, that is stainless steel rods etc, that provides a secure point for the dingy but still leaves the RIB clear of the davits.

Any advice gratefully received.

Cheers,

Andy

 

[Comodave]

Do you have a photo of your setup? Might help with suggestions.

 

[jleonard]

I bring mine tight aginst the davits, then I have one line from the back of the dinghy to about midship on the big boat that I cleat off tightly. This keeps the dinghy from swaying in all but really bad seas.
I don't get any chafe on the tubes.

 

[Pete Meisinger]

I used Weaver mounts for a couple seasons . The inflatable had a fabric bottom with plywood inserts from the inside.

It did not work at all. The bottom was black, it absorbed so much heat it expanded enough to rip loose from the tubes.

pete

 

[Mischief Managed]

I have not installed my system yet, but I will be using normal davits to lift my 11' tender and Hurley davits to store and launch it. The Hurley setup came with stainless steel ratcheting tie downs and D-rings that secure the tender to the swim platform on the Hurley chocks, thus it can't really move around. Normally, people would use regular davits or the Hurley davits, I am hopeful that a combination of the two setups will be ideal for my needs.

 

[firehoser75]

Hi Andy,
On my former boat, a sailboat, we used a dinghy davit (the type that has 2 arms with block and tackle used to raise the dinghy) for years. With a sailboat, the need to secure the dinghy was high or damage would occur.
As instructed from the manufacturer, we would pull the dinghy up as high as possible with one of the tubes up in the "elbow" of the davits (the 90 degree portion), and put some chafing material between the davits and the tube. We then used 2 ratcheting straps to secure the dinghy from sliding fore and aft (the dinghy's fore and aft) as the sailboat heeled over. One of these straps attached to the bow ring on the dinghy, and the other attached to a "glued on" D ring we installed on the inboard tube near the dinghy's stern. In essence these straps acted like "spring lines". Sometimes we also used 2 web straps to "encircle" the dinghy to "pull it up real tight" into the davit elbow. The dinghy did not move even with the sailboat was really heeled over. If you get stainless ratchets and keep them lubed up, they last quite well.

On my trawler, I use the Seawise davit and am quite happy with it so far. The dinghy does not appear to move at all, but we don't heel over (at least I hope so)

 

[danderer]

What was recommended to me by the inflatable dealer was to sung the dinghy against the davits and use two straps, crossed, to secure it.

One ran from forward inside the dinghy (lifting eye in the dinghy floor), over the tube and around to the aft davit. The second strap ran from aft inside the dinghy (lifting eye at base of transom), over the tube and around to the forward davit. Cinch them both tight.

The wear from bearing on the davits was minimal.

 

[AlanT]

Having crossed the Atlantic Ocean (W to E) with our dinghy lashed to the foredeck, we decided to return (E to W) with our dinghy in its normal stowage arrangement in our Stern Arch. We suffered no chafe. Here is our arrangement for that voyage. We hauled the dinghy as high as it would go at which point it is leaning hard against the frame of the arch. We deflated the inboard tube very slightly, to allow the dinghy fabric to wrap a little around the struts of the arch. We then secured an additional line from the bow U in the dinghy to the arch on opposite side and the same with the Stern U. So these lines are crossed like scissors. We used ratchet straps with Stainless Steel ratchets for these to they are easily adjustable/tensioned as the dinghy swells in the sun and shrinks in cold weather. They are black and can be seen in one of the photos. We (had previously) added a sacrificial patch on each tube of the dinghy where it comes up against the arch. We experienced no chafe to these patches and in hindsight the sacrificial patches were likely not necessary, they had some rust staining transfer from the 316SS arch but no apparent damage.

 

[koliver]

A common problem. My RIB hangs from a pair of custom SS davits, sized so that the tubes just touch the davit structure at the widest part of the tubes.
I use the hoisting lines to secure the ends of the dingy from swinging, by securing the port davit to the stern of the dinghy (which hangs at the Stb side of the trawler) and the Stb davit to the bow of the dinghy. Those lines also pull the dinghy towards the stern of the trawler, so now other control is required to prevent fore and aft swinging. I also use a pair of fenders to keep the sides of the dinghy from chafing against the davits. The fenders are sized to occupy more than the thickness of the davit supports.

When this larger, heavier dinghy was new to me I tried using cables (vinyl covered SS, lifeline stock, with turnbuckles for adjustment) to eliminate swaying, but later found the cables too complicated to adjust, so went back to using the tails of the hoisting lines, which is quite satisfactory.

 

[OldDan1943]

Find the wear points on the RIB and the davits, glue some wear pads to protect the the RIB

 

[Rufus]

Here are photos of the arrangement on our boat. If you enlarge the first one you can make out a stainless (Weaver) rod that extends downward and forward from the davit structure to an attach tab that is fastened low in the dink fiberglass structure. The angle of this link is such that both lateral and longitudinal movement is snubbed. Not visible, but at the rear of the dink is a long rod that reaches from the boat transom to a second tab that is fastened to the fiberglass structure of the dink (below the outer Hypalon tube). This rod snubs in and out movement at the rear. Both rods are visible in the second photo if you blow it up. The tripod lift cable arrangement at the outboard motor end also stabilizes things. Between all the angles, the dinghy has been rock solid in some very nasty conditions including waves slamming upward against the bottom. The fabric tubes do not rub anywhere.

 

[Andy G]

Do you have a photo of your setup? Might help with suggestions.

I looked through my photo's however none of the davit system cropped up, and with lock down in place here , I guess it will be a while till I get down to the boat again.

 

[Andy G]

Here are photos of the arrangement on our boat. If you enlarge the first one you can make out a stainless (Weaver) rod that extends downward and forward from the davit structure to an attach tab that is fastened low in the dink fiberglass structure. The angle of this link is such that both lateral and longitudinal movement is snubbed. Not visible, but at the rear of the dink is a long rod that reaches from the boat transom to a second tab that is fastened to the fiberglass structure of the dink (below the outer Hypalon tube). This rod snubs in and out movement at the rear. Both rods are visible in the second photo if you blow it up. The tripod lift cable arrangement at the outboard motor end also stabilizes things. Between all the angles, the dinghy has been rock solid in some very nasty conditions including waves slamming upward against the bottom. The fabric tubes do not rub anywhere.

I like the idea of the Weaver SS rods, I think that would work on our davit system. Our previous RIB was secured against the davit and that took a toll on the hypalon tube and I wish avoid that again.

Thanks to all for your observations and advice.