Have davits, still mount the outboard on the rail?

[michaelratinter]

I store my dinghy upside down on the foredeck so I remove the engine. The British Seagull likes to be stored right side up.

[Moody Mike]

I leave my motor 5 hp Yamaha on the dingy on the davits while in sheltered waters . If we were to do an ocean crossing the motor goes in the lazerette & dingy on the foredeck. I have friends who were pooped on the way to New Zealand when a wave broke over the stern filled the dingy & smashed the davits. A nasty experience to deal with in rough weather.

[zeehag]

leaving engine on dink in open ocean means WHEN you are pooped you will lose both outboard and dink. your call.
former neighbor used his davits to keep dink with engine--he said he would never be pooped--hahahaha he returned with folded davits, and no dink or engine. he only went from san diego to catalina...both ways--was pooped on return.
i was sailing a sloop in gom--we were pooped by an 8.5 ft sea over stbd quarter, 0330 am--never think you will not be pooped.

[SV DestinyAscen]

Depends on the weight of the outboard, weight of the dinghy, balance of their combined weight, your davit and boat and your risk tolerance.

More weight is obviously less safe - but OTOH you sort of gain some safety with a relatively quick deployable dinghy with outboard.

[robert sailor]

We have davits combined with our solar arch. In the Med with lite dink and little engine I used them but I won't use davits crossing oceans. I've only been in really rough conditions twice in well over 30 years but if I had a dink in davits it would have been ripped off probably the davits and panels as well so probably not much of a risk and where most people sail these days maybe even less risk but old experiences and habits die hard. We remove the engine and place dink on fore-deck, it's fast and easy. If we are crossing oceans I deflate the dink and store the tube under the fg floor and it mounts on fore-deck but takes very little space and allows good safe movement on the deck. I have to say I am somewhat envious of the big dinks/engines the cats carry on davits, one of the nice features of cruising with a cat.