Hard dinghy carrying methods

I'm looking at adding a tender to the stable at some point this season. Due to wanting to keep weight down, not needing to travel long distances with it and budget constraints, it's going to be rowed rather than engine powered. So no inflatables.

Which leaves me with the issue of how do I carry the thing? Most smaller hard dinghies aren't suitable for towing at 17kts, so towing isn't an option (although I might tow for short hops at low speed). As far as what the dinghy will be, I'd love to solve this issue by getting a Porta Bote, but that'll only happen if I come across a good used one (they're too expensive new). Which brings me to the likely candidate, the West Marine Classic Dinghy. Judging by hull shape, it looks pretty similar to the Gig Harbor Captain's Gig, just with a slightly more square and slightly more submerged transom. And 4 inches longer, 2 inches wider, plastic instead of fiberglass and much cheaper. So it should row at least fairly well.

Overall size of that dinghy is 9'9" long, 55" beam. Transom of the boat that'll need to carry it is shown below. I can measure tomorrow for some more precise numbers, but the swim platform is about 11 feet wide with about 8 feet from the stbd edge to the ladder (so about 8.5 feet to the corner of the transom). Platform is about 2 feet deep, maybe just a hair more.

I'd like to avoid a flip-up setup like the Weaver Snap Davits for a couple of reasons. First, the dinghy would block the entire transom (name, stern light, etc.) as it would stick up about a foot above the aft deck (platform to deck is about 3'6"). And I question how well the platform will hold up with the weight supported at 2 small points all the way at the outer edge of it.

Which leaves me thinking it would make sense to put it in chocks on the platform (with the bow partially overlapping the ladder). But all of the off the shelf setups I'm seeing are expensive and also designed for the dinghy to be pulled on sideways, which would be a challenge on this boat (no good place to stand with the narrow platform, high aft deck and no cockpit).

So I'm thinking of building a chock setup myself, but making it designed to load lengthwise instead of sideways. So the dinghy would be pulled on from the stbd side of the boat (which does mean no loading / unloading in a slip unless you can lift it off the chocks). I figure this would put the top of the dinghy about 2 feet above the platform (give or take a couple inches) based on the 21" total height I'm finding for that dinghy. That would partially block the name, but not the stern light (and the name would still be readable from another boat where you're looking somewhat down on it).

Any thoughts on the best way to approach this?

I like my Weaver flip ups but dislike them for the same reason you dislike them. They cover the entire transom,

I have tried on the roof, too heavy and cumbersome,

Towing, a pain at marinas,

Kayaks instead of a dink, can't carry bikes or many groceries,

Davits, I have had the dink load with water but even drained it represents a great strain on the transom, and cumbersome,

I will be following this thread with great interest.

pete

I just ordered a set of Hurley H2O davits.

I plan to use my boom, power winch and lifting bridle to move the dinghy off to the side whenever I need the swim platform, and to assist in loading the dinghy

"And I question how well the platform will hold up with the weight supported at 2 small points all the way at the outer edge of it." This was a concern for me as well. I added additional brackets (2) with pads where I could attach the Weaver Davit receiver and support the extra weight.

I always use the live weight fudge factor....


If 2 good sized adult males can stand out on the very edge of the swim platform with their feet together...it should hold a 400 pound dink, motor and gear. Certainly a 220 to 250 pound setup like a 3.10 dink and 9.9 motor.

psneeld said:

I always use the live weight fudge factor....


If 2 good sized adult males can stand out on the very edge of the swim platform with their feet together...it should hold a 400 pound dink, motor and gear. Certainly a 220 to 250 pound setup like a 3.10 dink and 9.9 motor.

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True. And I'm only looking at 100-ish lbs. But the form factor issue is a bigger concern with the flip-up setup for me anyway.

We've been towing our 11 foot Boston Whaler all over the place for years, with none of the bad things that get predicted happening. We now have a 13.5 Del Quay dinghy.

The most important thing is for it to be self baling, and unsinkable if it does swamp. The second most important thing is to be even more weather cautious when towing a dinghy than you would without one.

If you do it right, it's not a problem If you do it wrong, it is.

Group9 said:

We've been towing our 11 foot Boston Whaler all over the place for years, with none of the bad things that get predicted happening. We now have a 13.5 Del Quay dinghy.

The most important thing is for it to be self baling, and unsinkable if it does swamp. The second most important thing is to be even more weather cautious when towing a dinghy than you would without one.

If you do it right, it's not a problem If you do it wrong, it is.

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The WM Classic Dinghy I'm looking at does have flotation chambers and is listed as self bailing, but it's not a planing hull, so I'm not sure how well it would do towing at high speed. If I were only carrying it occasionally I'd be tempted to put the transom of it on the platform, tie it down and tie the bow off to my stern cleats and just accept the extra 7 feet of boat length back there.

psneeld said:

I just ordered a set of Hurley H2O davits.

I plan to use my boom, power winch and lifting bridle to move the dinghy off to the side whenever I need the swim platform, and to assist in loading the dinghy

Click to expand...

These look pretty cool ! Please post a critique after the install and use.

My seven foot fiberglass skiff weighs 42 pounds, rows good and I can carry it on deck over my engine box. I'm thinking of a frame that I can put it on top of which may not work with your boat, I also have a small mast and boom so I can easily lift it aboard alone. I built it myself by using an old wood skiff as male mold. I hate towing and as my boats a double ender I have no transom.

In my case, I've got no mast and also no good deck space to store the thing up top. The only empty flat space big enough is right in front of the windshields, so visibility would become a bit of a problem. It would be a great spot for a strapped down (folded) portabote or something though.

Here's a side profile of the boat (from this winter's haul out) to give an idea of the overall layout and storage options. For length reference, it's 38 feet on deck (excluding the bow pulpit and swim platform).

Yeah it appears you have little choice beside a transom mount then. I was born in Rochester, NY by the way, I ran the R/V Seth Greene for NYDEC on Lake Ontario for a couple of years.

Fish53 said:

Yeah it appears you have little choice beside a transom mount then. I was born in Rochester, NY by the way, I ran the R/V Seth Greene for NYDEC on Lake Ontario for a couple of years.

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That boat is still around and I saw her in Rochester at one point last summer. I'm a transplant to Rochester though, originally from CT.

As far as the transom mount, the issue is mostly just figuring out the best way to do it as far as reasonable cost and ease of loading / unloading. I'm picturing some sort of chock / cradle arrangement designed for the dinghy to be slid on / off from the stbd side, just not sure of the details or any design features that might make it easier to use.

I have been looking at different cradles, davits, etc. to carry a dink as well. On the old GB, we carried one on the aft cabin roof and launched it with the mast and boom. That wasn't the easiest way to launch and retrieve but it worked. The OA will require a swim platform cradle and I agree that the Hurley looks like it will work well. We have a soft bottom at present but are looking to buy a RIB and the H2O model appears to be able to handle either.
The Weaver style seems like a good system but the reduction in visibility and impact on transom appearance turns me off.

I bought a sling system.

Home of the Dinghy Sling Davit System

I have had it about a year and it carries my Walker bay 10 very well and securely.

VERY easy to lift the boat with one man and is secure while cruising.

Tim

I had an 8' Walker Bay which rowed very well.

It was very light and I was able to get up on the swim platform on its side (flotation tube on the platform, dinghy hull facing aft) and just tie there.

To bring it up from the water I would have the dink alongside the swim platform and then raise the edge of near-side flotation tube up on to the platform. I would then climb up to the mother ship (a GB 42 Classic in those days) and pull the dinghy up vertically with lines tied to the bow and farther side of the stern.

I could do this by myself but was easier between two people.

To launch I would just untie and push into the water.

There is an 8' Walker Bay which should row even better but would be a bit heavier.

The flotation tubes are optional. Without them the boats would be even lighter but they provide very good stability.

Check out the 11 foot Whaler and Ross Kelly davit system in the boats for sale section. We used it on our GB42 for many years. So simple to launch and retrieve. New 20 h 4. stroke engine.

I did some measuring today while I was at the boat. I was dead on about the platform being 11ft wide and the 8.5 feet from the ladder to the stbd transom corner. However, the platform is only 20" deep. Which means I have to pretty much rule out the cradle idea, as I'd have to deal with 2/3 of the dinghy being behind the platform.

Based on that, I'm left with the not-great flip up davits option (which would involve a somewhat challenging stern light relocation). Or a porta-bote. Or towing, which would require a hull shape that's ok with being dragged at 17 kts, which I'm not convinced the West Marine dinghy would be.

So for now, I think I'm going to start hunting for a used 10 ft Porta Bote. It'll fit nicely strapped to one of the hand rails on the forward cabin top (forward of the windshields) with a little overhang over the bow seat (windshield base to top edge of the bow seat is 9 feet). That'll keep it out of the way. From what I've read they tow reasonably, so for low speed (7 kts or less) hops I'd have the option of towing it to reduce the number of collapse / assemble cycles (although we'd still do that for faster runs).

Some random comments about stern mounts...

It'll likely block a stern light on a transom, and it'll likely block the vessel name and hailing port.

Backwash when coming down off plane (if you do that) takes some management.

Crossed stern lines will usually rub the snot out of the dinghy material.

Production boat swim platforms are likely not engineered to handle significant dead weight. Our builder told me their spec was for 500 lbs of LIVE weight, mostly meaning occasional. (We were able to add extra struts from davit straight to transom, underwater, to mitigate that.)

Launch direction can be an issue. Ours launches to port... when there's room. Or I could have chosen to starboard. Some launch aft... when there's room, often depending on whether docked stern-to or not, and if so, space between slips.

A transom-mounted dinghy could interfere with deploying built-in/on swim ladders... in case that's important for emergency reboarding as from a MOB situation. (It happens, that's why our's offloads to port; that lets me quickly clear the swim ladder with minimal energy...)

Horsing a dinghy/outboard up onto a davit can be an issue; our's uses a manual winch and electric was available... but some of the units on the market seem to be designed for brute force.

Getting on/off the boat at floating docks often demands using the swim platform... which in turn sometimes suggests a cantilever mount so there's space to walk between mother-ship transom and dinghy.

None of that is insurmountable....

-Chris

We have used the Ross Kelly davit for years. It mounts on the transom, it lifts with an electric winch. One button UP. One button down. Move the stern. light to the aft rail above the dingy. Put the boat name and haling port on the side of the Whaler. Use an under the swim step MOB boarding ladder. Attaching the dingy to the davit is easy clip two carabiners to the bridle on the dingy. Step out onto the swim step, push the button, then two clips and you are ready to go. We have never had problem with following seas here in the North west as far north as Alaska. One can still use the swim step to get on and off the boat. We have starting towing a 17 ft Whaler for fishing and crabbing in bigger waters.

With the prevalence of dropped stich high pressure inflatable technology (like in a SUP), I'm surprised someone hasn't reinvented the RIB with smaller tubes.

Something like the Walker Bay with inflatable collars, but more of a rectangular cross section.

An aluminum dink is far cheaper than plastic and weighs less.

They also take perhaps 10-20 times the abuse of plastic and are easy to lift aboard or row.

As they are common they seem to be stolen less from dink docks..

So while I was at the boat today, I took a look around at a few other other boats in the storage shed for ideas. And I found a solution I haven't seen before. The Jatco Trillogy davits. I wouldn't need the big, super-beefy set one boat in the shed has, but one of their smaller setups would do the trick nicely I think. Or quite likely, I could build something similar for a good bit less than the $1300 they want for their cheapest setup (which is mostly painted stainless box tube and PVC pipe it appears).

From a practical standpoint, it's exactly what I need. Side-loading and designed to have the centerline of the dinghy behind the aft end of the platform. Their design can also be folded up against the transom, so you can get rid of the bit of extra boat length it adds when you're not using them if desired.

Covering the stern light may be a problem but it is not insurmountable. My BIL had the same problem so we put the light on a post to raise the light above the dinghy about a foot.

As for covering the name I had the same problem and it is part of the identification of the boat so it has to show. I got a vinyl lettering name made and put that on the dinghy bottom so regardless whether the dinghy is up or down the name is present.
Mine is not fancy but it is clear. But you could have a fancier one made that is an image of the transom name..

My dinghy mount is the Weaver of course.

C lectric said:

My dinghy mount is the Weaver of course.

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+1. Weavers just work.

If the weaver will stick to the hypalon

Found a decent picture of the Jatco setup online. Looks like the basic idea is just square tube and PVC pipe with some wheels added. I'll have to do some design work, but it should be easy enough to build something similar.

If you're worried about the weight, take a look at the Costco 10' 10" PVC aluminum floor with an inflated keel. It's 115 lbs and typically around $500 each spring.

It's quite the package. 17 inch tubes, gas tank mount, 2 aluminum benches and a dry ride with a 15HP Merc 2-stroke at 15 kts. At ~$500, if it only lasts 3-5 years, I figure I'm money ahead.

I've been extremely pleased with mine and frequently tilt it onto the back swimstep in 10 easy minutes with my ~$400 Garhauer Lifting davit. I don't use Weavers because I don't normally store it there and the handles are perfectly positioned to protect the tubes when tilted. It's normally just upright for transit. In the slip, it rests on a floating dink lift in my covered slip that I can drive onto and easily drag off from my stbd side deck. I recently added a matching burgundy dink cover to provide some dust and dampness protection.

With your aft ladder, I'd think that you'd benefit nicely from a set of Weavers with standoffs.

As a thought on the aft ladder thing, it's extremely rare that I board via the swim platform at a dock, so partially blocking the ladder isn't a big deal. I can always launch the dinghy if we want to swim.

I moved the ladder to the port side

Plenty of room.
Still trying to figure the best dinghy motor.
4hp merc too slow.
Looking for a yamaha 8hp