To davit, or not to davit -- a dinghy of course

[Sailor Nin]

Wondering about your experiences with a dinghy on davits for a smaller (34' sv, 12500 displacement) vessel. We won't be sailing big waters initially -- the Great Loop. We have been advised against it, rather drawing the dinghy up on the deck. We're looking at a boat with nice davits. Thoughts, experience? Thanks!

[IdoraKeeper]

Davits are just Carp on small vessels. Windage increases, hobby horse action increases, they break ect ect ect. I wish it were not so but it is true.

[Cheechako]

I absolutely love davits. They start being less useful on smaller boat though. But think of it this way; having davits doesn't exclude you from storing your dingy the other way! And the plus is, for just raising and protecting your dingy at night, they are great and simple. Remember, you are often at anchor 90% of time. If you are willing to use a small lightweight dingy on your 34 ft boat, you will love them. Since having them, They are likely in my top 10 cruising items I must have. Store the motor on the rail if sailing in any wave action or if you don't have a mini motor anytime.

[Suijin]

I think if you're already looking at a 34' boat with davits, why not. I would not hang the dinghy with the motor on it, but another @ 100 lbs. on the back of that boat is not going to make a huge difference. Some but not huge. It would certainly be worth the convenience, particularly since on a 34' boat there's a good chance that you'll have to deflate the dinghy, if it's a RIB, when you get it on deck, to make it fit.

I would be more concerned about whether the davits were properly supported and not just braced to the stern rail.

I don't have davits, and have a block and tackle that I use off a halyard to bring my 110 lb. hard bottom RIB on to the foredeck. Takes just a few more minutes than it would take to clip it into davits and raise it. It's the inflating/deflating that kills ya.

[skipmac]

Another vote for davits IF you are planning a relatively small, light weight dinghy.

[thinwater]

9,000 pounds, 34 feet, davits.

If I didn't have davits I would sell the dinghy and us a kayak. I'm just not willing to go through all of that every time I want to go somewhere.

• Light dinghy
• Stuff only breaks if it was junk
• Come to think of it, I use the kayak more often

I'm also pretty sure a dinghy on the bow increases horsing at anchor (windage).

[jkleins]

Originally Posted by Sailor Nin

Wondering about your experiences with a dinghy on davits for a smaller (34' sv, 12500 displacement) vessel. We won't be sailing big waters initially -- the Great Loop. We have been advised against it, rather drawing the dinghy up on the deck. We're looking at a boat with nice davits. Thoughts, experience? Thanks!

We were a little bigger at 38 feet but had a small dinghy on davits that we loved. We would put it on deck when we went out for any real sailing but for night time pickups and for hop to a different anchorage there was nothing better. We did mount them fairly high to avoid the dinghy getting caught by a deep heel.
Our current boat has a swim platform and that changes the equation considerably. We are still debating the davits on this boat.
We got the light ones from Kate Marine and they were very good quality.

Jim

[barnakiel]

I hate davits. I prefer the dink on the deck.

b.

[SeaSon]

HAVING DONE THE LOOP THIS YEAR:
You will find the dingy of constant use if you like to mostly anchor vs go to marinas.
If you have a dog to walk and like to sometimes anchor.
If you like to anchor for a few days for R&R, you will use the dingy on the Chesapeake Bay, Georgian Bay, North Channel, a few towns along the Intracoastal, along the Gulf Coast. But really nowhere else for one reason or another.
My 4hp was fine mostly, but I sorely wished for a 9.9 so I could get on plane in Canada because the provincial parks are huge and beautiful to explore.

If the dingy is easy to access, you'll use it. Otherwise, you won't.

[sailjumanji]

Originally Posted by SeaSon

If the dingy is easy to access, you'll use it. Otherwise, you won't.

Ding, ding, ding - WINNER! Plus in some areas, if you leave it in the water overnight, it won't be there in the morning. Raising on davits with the motor still on the transom is a lot easier than removing the motor, and then hoisting the dinghy onto the deck with a halyard.

Better yet is an arch with integrated davits. Arch is best place for solar panels. If you have a cat, this is all no-brainer.

[Panope]

Add me to the "must have davit" camp. Boat is 34 feet.

Dinghy in davit is un-noticeable (unless I turn around and look at it).

Dinghy on coach-roof severely restricts forward visibility. Not really an issue off-shore but for busy waters, it is a problem.

Steve

[seahag]

We fish a lot off the stern and therefore don't use the davits. I don't like towing the dink for the same reason but it's more doable at least.

[Pete7]

Dinghy can still go on the stern even without davits, this works well for us. 4 pieces of string and some carabiners. Easy to launch and recover.

Pete

[sailjumanji]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Dinghy can still go on the stern even without davits, this works well for us. 4 pieces of string and some carabiners. Easy to launch and recover.

Pete

Plus you have to remove the motor beforehand. Most sailors I know - especially the older ones - don't want to deal with putting motor on and off. And with the dinghy in the davits at eye level, it's easy to load stuff into the boat before lowering, and unload at the end of the day. If at a marina, I also hook up the fresh water hose and flush the motor with it running and hanging in the davits.

That said, I guess if you have a monohull with stern swim steps, the hanging dinghy could block access to those. (Although in the pic above, it certainly blocks everything on the stern, but OTOH, allows for forward visibility by not being piled on the foredeck.) Our dinghy hangs between our two stern steps. Which also leaves them open for fish retrieval.

[Goosebumps]

Originally Posted by IdoraKeeper

Davits are just Carp on small vessels. Windage increases, hobby horse action increases, they break ect ect ect. I wish it were not so but it is true.

Very good points. However you have to investigate this properly. What weight is the dinghy. Keep it as light as possible don't leave outboard on it when underway. The sea conditions can deteriorate quickly with davits unfriendly wave action. If type of davits installed are high, very aft, don't allow tying up the dinghy so it cannot move at all forget trying to keep dinghy on it.