Livingston dinghy

[Island fish lifter]

Hi all. I have 10’ Livingston I was planning on using as a swim grid mounted tender utilizing weaver Davits.
I’m concerned about the integrity of the gunnels. They don’t seem strong enough to support the weight of the boat.
I’m sure someone has run into this before, so my question- can I reinforce the sides of the boat to make this functional? Or should I be looking for a different dinghy?

 

[koliver]

I’m concerned about the integrity of the gunnels. They don’t seem strong enough to support the weight of the boat. Correct, they are not strong enough.
I’m sure someone has run into this before, so my question- can I reinforce the sides of the boat to make this functional?Yes Or should I be looking for a different dinghy?Definitely

A friend had a Livingstone on the swimgrid, on Weavers for years. All the bad you imagine came true. His reinforcements worked, after a fashion, but looked ugly as could be.
Others, with inflatables on Weavers, had different issues. Remember that on Weavers, your dinghy will catch rainwater and keep it, getting filthy. Your dinghy isn't strong where it needs to be for Weavers, no matter what dinghy you have, so you need to be sure it is not too heavy for the attachment points.
My own is a 750# load, heavier at the stern, with the 40 hp outboard, and when its PO used Seawise, destroyed the fibreglass at the attachment points for the stern end. Lesser problem with less weight, but still, no dinghy is actually built to be stowed on its side for long periods of time.

 

[C lectric]

Livingston offered a reinforced side for this purpose. If it is not reinforced then yes the side will likely fail. I have one now, the 9' with the reinforced side and it has been aboard on the Weavers for nearly 20 yrs.
THe previous unit was the 8' but no side reinforcing untill I did it. Once done the side was strong as all get out.
I wish I could fit the 10'.

I did not and do not leave the engine on the dinghy though. If that is what you want you MUST reinforce the reinforcement some more. Put the Weaver mount very close to the transom so the transom is carrying the weight to the Weaver and the side is out of the load as much as possible.

It is possible to fit an engine lifting hoist so you do not have to hoist the engine on and off carrying the weight. THe hoist will do the work, you just have to secure and set the engine up. I will do this in a few years as I am reaching the point where even my 60# engine is getting to be a handfull.

Or consider the mount with the bracket, name escapes me right now, that uses a swim grid mounted post and either a manual windup or a motor. Even that could be modified to a block and tackle system with some effort and the post of your own design.

It is possible to use the dinghys successfully as you wish.

 

[boathealer]

We used a 9ft Livingston and Weaver davits on our last boat, an AT34. Our dinghy didn't have the reinforced gunnel (or at least I didn't know if it did).

What I did is get a piece of square tube aluminum, thick-walled, and bolted it up under the "rollover" part of the gunnel. It had to stop short of the bow where the boat begins to curve in. I can't remember if it was 3/4" or 1" square (you'll have to measure), but it really stiffened up the gunnel at the davit connection points.

We used it for 2 years with no issue. Don't know how long over decades it would have lasted.

 

[Dwk]

Our Livingston has been on swim platform for 3 yrs. with no problems. We were concern about the strength of the teak swim grid with the weaver davits being installed so close to the edge. We had additional stainless brackets with pads
fabricated to thru bolt the weaver davits and help with the load. On the Livingston we didn't reinforced the sides but made backing plates for the weavers and have had no problems.

 

[Ken E.]

I have a 9' Sterling, which is similar to Livingston. It's on Weaver Snap Davits mounted on the swim step and flips up, just like Boathealer's setup above, except that I have a Weaver Leaver, which allows the outboard to tilt sideways 90 degrees. I haul mine up with a Lewmar sailboat winch mounted on to of the gunwale and double-pully block and tackle. The davits on the dink are backplated with 3/4" Starboard. The swim step attachment is similarly backplated underneath.There is a small amount of flexation in the dinghy when it's rough, but in 15 years of use, this method has performed well, including a few unexpectedly nasty roundings of Cape Caution and generally hard use during the summer.