Dinghy Davits

[justus]

We have been researching davits and find that Kato, Martek, and Garhauer all seem to be built the same and attach about the same, however, garhauer is a few hundred dollars less. Has any one had experience with any of these davits.

[Vasco]

Try this. Ocean Marine Systems - Davits, Rails, Lifts, and Platforms.
Best davits going.

[Cheechako]

They all seem to be similar, Garhauer probably as good as any of those type.

[keepondancin]

I have had Garhauer Davits, the heavier ones, for about 5 or 6 years. I hang a Caribe C9X RIB of them. I don't keep the outboard on, the stern pulpit flexes more than I am comfortable with. The only complaint was the cross bar was held in place with set screws, and pulled apart twice. I wound up through drilling into the cross bar and tapping it to accept a 1/4-20 screw. That has been good for 2 years. If ordering from garhauer, I would consider having two cross bars in case you ever want to use them for Solar Panels. Garhauer is good to deal with, you talk to owners.

[Sailor Doug]

You need to determine how they attach to your boat and how far they extend out. I don't have much confidence in ones that only use the stern rail to handle rotational force. A 150 lbs dink plus a 100lbs motor 3 feet out the back of the boat = 750 foot pounds of load. A lot of load on stern rail if you add a couple of people siting on stern seats.

[Matt Johnson]

We have the Garhauer and had an issue with them the weekend we were scheduled to leave for full time cruising.... Nothing a three week delay couldn't fix, but a frustrating start. We were doing a shake down sail and our 1" davits bent in half at the 90 degree corner. Garhauer replaced then under warranty and they were great to deal with. We upgraded to the 1 1/4" and have been happy with these and should have gone larger to start.

Garhauer builds them to order so you can pick the height and reach of the davits. Not sure if the others do this, but it's a nice extra. Also, they have a 6:1 purchase on their block and tackle.... Nice with our 10hp and RIB. The price if of course much better than the competition.

Make sure your pushpit is up to having the davits mount to them. Watching the stern rails flex every time a wave goes under the boat is a stressful thing to see. We haven't fixed our rail flex yet, but will have that done when we find a stainless fabricator in the islands. I'm thinking a combing strap like Kato offers to reduce flex will be the direction we go. We now just use the davits to hoist the dinghy at night to prevent theft.

Honestly, I wouldn't get davits again regardless of the manufacturer. Unless you are doing only coastal sailing, they really aren't needed. Tow the dinghy when jumping between coastal ports, and put it on deck when going offshore. The only place we really liked them was when we motored down the ICW.

Cons:

1) It's easy to hoist the dinghy at night with just the spinnaker halyard and bridle.

2) rear visibility is compromised on most boats with the dinghy hanging. We now have to duck down to see what's coming up behind us.

3) the stern doesn't need any more weight on most boats.

4) the thousand can be spent in better places for most people.

5). Dinghy needs to be on deck or rolled for any offshore sailing anyway.

6). No worries about stern rail flex

7) extra charge at docks for the added length, but I haven't ran into this while cruising so far.

8). They never add to the looks of sailboats.... Only take away.

pros:

1) no reduction in speed from towing

2). Great place to mount solar


That's my two cents


Matt

[rourkeh]

I looked at all the brands mentioned previously and ended up choosing Besenzoni G141 retractable, telescoping davits. They handle 400lb for the pair and when not using them they retract into the transom of the boat so you don't have all that metal hanging off the back. they cost $2,300 a pair and are extremely well made.

[Cotemar]

Garhauer has excellent davits.
At $1,400 for the 1-1/4 tube model you can not go wrong.

[ReMetau]

We like our Kato's and they were very helpful getting things setup on our canoe stern. We switched to the double stabilizing bar in order to put solar panels on them which are also very nice designed mounts.

[cfarrar]

Kato provided us with two struts, installed vertically from the pushpit down to the transom step, making the whole assembly very strong. Like this.
We have the Island model, and the crossbar is robust.

If you use a stern navigation light (vice masthead) check if the dinghy will obstruct it. I moved mine to the crossbar.

Funjohnson made some legit points about the downsides of davits, including the cost and what the dinghy's weight does for boat trim. I don't know if I'd get them again, either. Still, we don't like to tow except on the calmest bodies of water, and we feel confident using our davits for coastal overnights, island hopping - anything short of a long, offshore passage. Plus, they have handy benefits:

- Faster to get underway than hoisting the dink on deck, and faster (and quieter) than towing
- Dink doesn't obstruct the forward view from the helm (helpful for lobster pots)
- A dink in the davits is the perfect place for trash, muddy shoes, wet clothes, etc.
- If you board your boat at the stern, the davit crossbar provides the perfect way to get in and out of the dinghy

[justus]

Thanks for everyones input. We ordered our Garhauer davits today and feel with your help we have made the right decision.

[Matt Johnson]

Originally Posted by rourkeh

I looked at all the brands mentioned previously and ended up choosing Besenzoni G141 retractable, telescoping davits. They handle 400lb for the pair and when not using them they retract into the transom of the boat so you don't have all that metal hanging off the back. they cost $2,300 a pair and are extremely well made.

Have you installed them yet? Would love to see photos! What prevents them from moving (swinging) side to side?

[Hudson Force]

An experienced moonlighting pipe fitter can produce something twice as strong as anything on the marine market with SS pipe; by your design; and at half the price!

[mistersmith2017]

I know you've already ordered your davits, but I'd like to share with others that I have the Kato davits on my Hunter 30 and they are great! In fact, I just finished installing solar panels on top of them. I have been to Kato's shop many times and find they have excellent customer service!