Davits

I have a Grand Banks 36 Classic. The dinghy is stored on the deck above the aft cabin. I'm considering a single point davit to lift it off and on. Any ideas?

no mast and boom on that GB?

sorry..... on phone .....if pic in avatar shows that.

I share psneed's confusion. You have a mast and boom to lift it. I must be missing something.

I have a mast and boom. Seems like a single davit would have greater lifting power and be easier to handle.

A davit is just a different sort of mast and boom. It's the same engineering problem. Requires the same lifting capacity. Requires the same resistance of the boat's structure.

The OEM mast and boom on a GB is rarely strong enough to lift much weight and the boom is rarely long enough. A proper davit would be much better.

Or, you could replace the OEM mast and boom with a setup that is actually useful.

I had a Sabot when I got my trawler. It was built to the racing rule, which mandated that it had to weigh in at 52 lb, minimum, all sailing gear aboard. Mine was within ounces of that desired weight. I would win every race in it. I tried lifting just the hull onto the back of my trawler, using the OEM mast and boom. Couldn't do it. First, the boom was too short, and only protruded out over the side of my boat by a foot or 18". Second, when I had a helper holding the Sabot off the side of the boat, the mast step broke off with the puny weight of the Sabot suspended above the water and all came crashing down. Luckily no damage to the Sabot.
A serious redesign followed, which I have detailed in another thread recently. I now have a mast and boom that work. They also look a lot like the original, and hold up my radar as well, which the original didn't do.
I can lift my Laser, have done so many times, even when there was a lot of water inside its hull, so I estimate I have lifted 300 lb successfully.
I have a much heavier dinghy, that lives on a pair of proper davits, designed for its load, on the transom.

Although I had no problem using the original mast & boom on my Krogen Manatee, my Admiral couldn't. After choosing a location for a new dinghy crane to also facilitate MOB emergencies, I made one from 2.5" solid alum. bar and 3.5" alum. tubing. Cost was about 1K with 900 lb. hand winch. Capacity is 500 lb. with Amsteel grey single line. The Admiral can lift dinghy and motor no problem, and swing control is much better. Reach is 66", and 52" over port side. Our 9.5 ft. Caribe doesn't touch on the way up and clears the top rail of boat deck by 18" with a three point sling. Easy peasy now. I might add an electric winch later.

St Croix make a smart good quality manual crane which may do the job. I imported one but have not fitted it yet. It is removable from a base plate in whole, or just the jib. Best price was from Defender. You need to check capacity, especially if you plan to lift with outboard engine.

Mast and boom on the Krogen 42 will lift a normal sized dinghy and motor. The problem is you have two different lines to deal with and must switch between them when lifting the dinghy. Did this for 12 years then decided it was too much trouble, also riskier as more then once I made a mistake while shifting between the lines.

Now with a dinghy crane life is much simpler. Lifting the dinghy is a one man job, rather than two.

I have a Prairie 36 with a mast and boom that I have used to lift my dinghy aboard, but the top section of the mast bends when lifting.

The dinghy & motor weigh about 200 lbs. I have tied a line from the top of the mast to a cleat in the opposite direction when lifting. The bend is less but I'm still uncomfortable with it.

I've decided to build transom davits for the dinghy.

Bryant said:

I have a mast and boom. Seems like a single davit would have greater lifting power and be easier to handle.

Click to expand...

We have a mast and boom and they are a PIA and you have less control compared to a lifting crane/davit. Our lifting crane was made by Nick Jackson, Redmond, WA. It's a low profile 1200 model.

A pipe davit, which is cheaper, could work just as well.

Thanks to all. All comments are appreciated and helpful. Several of them more or less confirmed what I was thinking.