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Old 10-10-2011, 12:02   #1
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Davits or Deck

Having had a less than wonderful experience sailing with a RIB on a set of davits I am wondering whether or not I want to buy any for my boat. Here are my issues with davits maybe you can help convince me that they are not issues. First of all I do not really relish the idea of strapping 350 lbs of weight 3 feet aft of my stern, I have a hard time believing that is really helping my sailing performance, especially in light winds. Second, I do not like the way the dinghy would chafe against the stern rail when we were under way. It seemed like no matter how hard we tried/tied it would always swing back and fourth. I have seen somewhere, a rigid inflatable dinghy/clamp that actually bights on to a rigid dinghy and holds it. Does anyone know what these are?

The other option of course is hoisting the dinghy onto the for-deck which really doesn't seem that bad to me with the exception of it getting in the way when setting the kite etc. And obviously it is a bit of a chore attaching a halyard to the dinghy every time you get under way.
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Old 10-10-2011, 12:13   #2
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Re: Davits or Deck

If your dink is swinging back and forth you have not secured it properly. I use four ratchet straps and mine doesn't budge an inch. Davits or an arch is the way to go.

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Old 10-10-2011, 12:57   #3
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Re: Davits or Deck

There's chafe with a dinghy on deck as well, the securing lines, any hard bits on the deck itself. That said, I'd never go offshore with a dinghy in davits, too many ways that can lead to disaster.
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Old 10-10-2011, 13:27   #4
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Re: Davits or Deck

G'Day Unbusted,

FWIW, I'm with you all the way on shunning davits, especially on a boat the size of your Cal 35. As you have guessed, 350 lbs hanging out there will indeed affect your sailing performance as well as your ultimate stability, should that ever come into play. The potential for major damage if one ships a big sea shouldn't be ignored -- we've seen several examples over the years.

We've decked our dinghies for all the years we've been cruising, and don't find it to be all that onerous. We even have a big radar/solar arch on Insatiable II that could easily be adapted for davits, and we're not all that tempted. We do tow it for short trips in protected waters.

One thing that has eased our routine for decking is a good 12 volt inflator/deflator. Using it, we can get the dink on board and lashed down in 15 minutes or so, and a bit less to launch. In our case the dink is a 3.5 metre RIB. We suck all the air out of the tubes and fold them under the hull before lashing it down... makes the footprint lots smaller on deck.

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Old 10-10-2011, 14:35   #5
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Option 3...

The third option is to go for way less than 350lb (160Kg).

As an example the Quicksilver 240 comes in at 32Kg in PVC add a 2.5 2 stroke, (if you can get one) at 12.5 Kg for a total of 44.5 Kg (98lb). A 4 stroke adds 4.5 Kg.

So having less than one third the weight of your planned dinghy you could hang it off the back, store it on deck or even roll it up and keep it below.
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Old 10-10-2011, 15:13   #6
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Re: Davits or Deck

I added davits as a way to mount our solar. Now that I'm also adding solar to the bimini, I really wish I hadn't added the davits in the first place. On our boat, the rib really blocks the aft view. I feel like I always have something sneaking up behind me that I wont see in time. Also, the added weight isn't fun in stern... I don't like the looks of davits... and it takes me almost as long to pull the dinghy up on the davits as it does on with a halyard (I'm hoping I get quicker).
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Old 10-10-2011, 15:17   #7
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Re: Davits or Deck

Yes. 350 lb is heavy. I carry 2 dinks on my 36 ft boat. Each has it's own motor. Neither of them weighs that much. One is a 10 ft RIB lite. And I trust that "3 feet aft" of your stern is an exaggeration.

Don't like davits either. My boarding ladder and stern arch work together to make my "davit" for the WB sailing dink. But still vulnerable as any davit system.
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Old 10-10-2011, 16:33   #8
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Re: Davits or Deck

Davits are convenient for short hops where the weather is known and the waves are small. Also pretty good for hoisting the dinghy up for security reasons while in port.

On my Caliber 33 I put my rollup dinghy on the foredeck if I am not dead sure of the weather and rolled up below if I am on passage. What somebody said above about ratchets is true - I ratchet the dinghy up tight against a fender on the stern rail and it doesnt move at all.

These various options worked fine for going from the Chesapeake to the Grenadines and back. But 350 lbs? Really? I looked at those kinds of dinghys and rejected them as being way too big for my boat. Sure I would like a bigger one but it will have to wait until I get a bigger boat to put it on
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Old 10-10-2011, 16:57   #9
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Re: Davits or Deck

Since having the convenience of Davits I would have a hard time not having them. You must have a really heavy dingy. One option: have davits and use them for the 90% of the time you are in port or making short 1-2 day trips. If you are more comfortable with the dingy on deck for long voyages you can still put it there. (after totally derigging it, washing the goo off, raising it on deck, tieing it down, storing the gear and OB etc etc!) Why not have both options!
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Old 10-10-2011, 18:50   #10
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Re: Davits or Deck

I don't have a dinghy yet and 350lbs was a random, if not, heavy estimate. Thanks for your thoughts and input. It seems to me that if you are hoisting a dinghy on deck when heading out for a long trip anyway then what's the point of having davits at all? It does take a long time to haul a dinghy up on davits almost as much time as it does to hoist it up on deck. It also adds overall length to your boat which can suck in some marinas. I am voting no on davits for my boat. So there.
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Old 10-10-2011, 18:57   #11
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Re: Davits or Deck

I carry an 11 ft Caribe light and a 4 cycle 15 hp Yamaha. The dinghy when off shore is upside down and partially deflated ahead of the mast. The engine is on the stern rail. Combined weight is about 200 pounds. I would never cary the dinghy on davits. A friend of mine desroyed his davits on the way to the Caribbean and that was a 54 foot Oyster with stainless bar davits.
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Old 11-10-2011, 18:53   #12
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Re: Davits or Deck

Quote:
Originally Posted by unbusted67 View Post
I don't have a dinghy yet and 350lbs was a random, if not, heavy estimate. Thanks for your thoughts and input. It seems to me that if you are hoisting a dinghy on deck when heading out for a long trip anyway then what's the point of having davits at all? It does take a long time to haul a dinghy up on davits almost as much time as it does to hoist it up on deck. It also adds overall length to your boat which can suck in some marinas. I am voting no on davits for my boat. So there.
Boy,I dont understand the "takes time to use the davits...." thing. My experience is maybe 3 minutes to hoist and 1 minute to to splash the dingy. The real advantage is that 90% of the time you just hoist it up and go, Crossing oceans is a small part of the situation.
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Old 11-10-2011, 19:54   #13
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Re: Davits or Deck

Ok - maybe not as experienced as most here - so I have a question on this. . .we're in the process of bringing our dream to fruition with an Atlantic 57 Cat and for our dink, research led us to a 12' livingston with a 10 horse outboard.
Let me say that I'm a pretty big guy at 6'6 and trying to fit into anything smaller would require a dink for each foot.
Given that, who has suggestions/recommendations because we had figured on davits - storing a rigid like the Livingston on deck is really out of the question - rigging it and mounting the motor continuously just doesn't make sense. . .We will be live aboards about 9 months a year
I'm open - so please let me know your thoughts. . .

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Old 11-10-2011, 20:02   #14
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Re: Davits or Deck

I use both, davits at anchor, in a marina, or on short hops in good weather; and lashed down atop the cabin out of the way on longer voyages or in bad weather. The dink is a rowing/sailing dink. I could mount an outboard if I had one, but the exercise with the oars is good in the long run.
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Old 11-10-2011, 20:05   #15
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Love our davits. Got Guerhaur davits that work great! I do not miss removing the dink from the forward deck in big winds. It takes no time to let down off the davits and only a little up (majority of time is tying/untying lines We also have straps to tie it down to the stern rail which lets very little moving (even with RIB & heavy 9.9 hp motor). We have traveled to & back from Ensenada, MX this summer to Channel Islands with no issues including some 35 kt winds and major choppy seas. If we travel farther or with chance of worse weather we can take davits off & tie dingy back on bow.
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