Lifting Dinghy with main halyard.. weight question

[Sailing Ohm]

So recently we upgraded to an aluminum hull RIB with a 15hp 2 stroke and have been using the main halyard time pull her out of the water for the night alongside midship. Everything seems to be going fine, I made a lifting harness and she pulls up easy weighing only ~160lb with the motor.
Next, once lifted I step in the dinghy to pull the drain plug (it rains a lot in S. Florida) then step out. Doesn’t seem to be much of an issue but I am a small thin guy.

Anyways my question is how much weight should I reasonably be able to hoist/hold this way?
Is it a negative to keep the dinghy hoisted for an extended period of time?

The Boat is a Hunter 37C with pretty sound rigging.

[Sailmonkey]

The halyard takes a far greater load than that when sailing.

[psk125]

Agree with Monkey that the weight is no issue. To avoid having problems with a bad lead from the sheave at the masthead however, you might want to use a spinnaker halyard, which would offer a better lead off to the side of the boat. You could also set up a block up high to use that had a fair lead athwartships. Or perhaps swing the boom out and hang a tackle from it to hoist with. Running the main halyard off at a 90º angle towards the side of the boat may cause it to jump the sheave or chafe where it exits the mast. You probably don't want that happening up there where you can't see it.

[wsmurdoch]

Do you find the heeling caused by suspending the dinghy alongside the boat to be objectionable? We tried it and did not like heeling at anchor. There was also a little bit of halyard contact with the sheave box at the top of the mast that might over the long term cause a some chafing damage.

[psk125]

Ohm's Hunter37 weighs about 18k pounds. Your PS34 comes in at about two tons less: 14k pounds. Your dinghy is going to impact your heeling a good deal more than his will.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by Sailing Ohm

So recently we upgraded to an aluminum hull RIB with a 15hp 2 stroke and have been using the main halyard time pull her out of the water for the night alongside midship. Everything seems to be going fine, I made a lifting harness and she pulls up easy weighing only ~160lb with the motor.
Next, once lifted I step in the dinghy to pull the drain plug (it rains a lot in S. Florida) then step out. Doesn’t seem to be much of an issue but I am a small thin guy.

Anyways my question is how much weight should I reasonably be able to hoist/hold this way?
Is it a negative to keep the dinghy hoisted for an extended period of time?

The Boat is a Hunter 37C with pretty sound rigging.

The load on your rig when sailing will be well above whatever load you will place on the halyard with your dingy. Overcoming the righting moment (what it takes to heel your boat to 30 degrees, for example) could be over 5000lbs on each the shrouds and they will be much stronger than that.

Your halyards, (if for example they are polyester 1/2" halyards) might have a breaking strength of over 8000lbs. The blocks and sheaves in a halyard system could easily have breaking strengths of over 4000lbs.

So the loads of your hanging dingy are well within the limits of the rig and equipment.

But it is good to examine the attachment points and shackles, not due to the possibility of exceeding their working strength but due to the possibility of crevice corrosion and possibly breakage.

Also consider securing the halyard on a cleat instead of the winch jaws.

Also leash the dingy fore and aft to prevent being swung around in waves or wind. Since it is aluminum it is probably heavy enough but I've seen light dingies, with motor on, being blown right up on it's side in gusty winds.

With all of the above cautions possibly it is not a good idea to leave it unattended for long periods.

[Sailing Ohm]

Healing isn’t that much of an issue. It is noticeable but we lift her up in the ‘light side’ of the boat so I think it helps a bit actually. But it’s all pretty negligible
Earlier post about weight was pretty spot on. When fully stocked we weigh in around 20K

[Sailing Ohm]

Originally Posted by wingssail

The load on your rig when sailing will be well above whatever load you will place on the halyard with your dingy. Overcoming the righting moment (what it takes to heel your boat to 30 degrees, for example) could be over 5000lbs on each the shrouds and they will be much stronger than that.

Your halyards, (if for example they are polyester 1/2" halyards) might have a breaking strength of over 8000lbs. The blocks and sheaves in a halyard system could easily have breaking strengths of over 4000lbs.

So the loads of your hanging dingy are well within the limits of the rig and equipment.

But it is good to examine the attachment points and shackles, not due to the possibility of exceeding their working strength but due to the possibility of crevice corrosion and possibly breakage.

Also consider securing the halyard on a cleat instead of the winch jaws.

Also leash the dingy fore and aft to prevent being swung around in waves or wind. Since it is aluminum it is probably heavy enough but I've seen light dingies, with motor on, being blown right up on it's side in gusty winds.

With all of the above cautions possibly it is not a good idea to leave it unattended for long periods.

Lots of good info here thanks. So I guess pretty much no need to worry about it unless corrosion or extreme chafe sets in.
We learned the hard way During a blow about securing fore and aft. Also ensuring the fore line is nice and tight as to avoid a dinghy at a 70degree angle...
I think why I like the aft line the most is the slight tension holds it well away from one of our stays.
Thanks for the info everyone

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by psk125

Agree with Monkey that the weight is no issue. To avoid having problems with a bad lead from the sheave at the masthead however, you might want to use a spinnaker halyard, which would offer a better lead off to the side of the boat. You could also set up a block up high to use that had a fair lead athwartships. Or perhaps swing the boom out and hang a tackle from it to hoist with. Running the main halyard off at a 90º angle towards the side of the boat may cause it to jump the sheave or chafe where it exits the mast. You probably don't want that happening up there where you can't see it.

I agree with the preference of using a spinnaker halyard which typically will not have chafe problems when pulling slightly off of vertical.

However rigging a boom or spar or special block is not needed in my opinion and sort of defeats the purpose of a quick and easy dingy lift.

When you have it set up and practiced you can probably hook up and hoist your dingy in 2-3 minutes after you have arrived back at your boat.

Keep it simple.

[Sailing Ohm]

Originally Posted by wsmurdoch

Do you find the heeling caused by suspending the dinghy alongside the boat to be objectionable? We tried it and did not like heeling at anchor. There was also a little bit of halyard contact with the sheave box at the top of the mast that might over the long term cause a some chafing damage.

I think having the aft line helps us here also. It’s tension holds
The dinghy aft so hopefully a better angle up top. I’ve also been using the side the sheave exits from to keep chafe down with the other exit point.

[Sailing Ohm]

Ok follow up question... perhaps another post elsewhere but I’ll ask here first.
Anyone single handing and/or have some nifty advice about taking a larger outboard off the dinghy and getting her secured somewhere? WITHOUT scuffing up every surface along the way?
Not sure where it goes yet. I also have a 3.5merc that now lives off the stern rail so I was thinking of having the 15hp live in the lazarette (it’s a 2 stroke so no real worry about orientation).

[sailingabe41ds]

Hope this helps....I have a motor lift on my boat for a 9.9 Yahama. I think that may be the limit weight.

Abe

[CarinaPDX]

Using the spinnaker halyard and 3-part bridle works great for lifting the dinghy, with or without the motor. The forward lead of the bridle consists of two parts, each a section of SS wire with eyes made with Nicopress fittings, and linked together. The long section of wire is the correct length for lifting the dinghy without the motor and keep it almost level and draining. I move the attachment point to the end of the short wire (thus extending the length) for when the motor is on the dinghy, which keeps the dinghy level with the extra weight on the transom. Otherwise the bow is very high.

I made a crane on the radar tower mounted on Carina's transom, for lifting the outboard off the dinghy and onto the pulpit mount. I use a simple 4-part block and tackle with cam cleat. I maneuver the dinghy such that the engine is under the crane and lift the motor off with the hoist (which means backing the dinghy into the boat). I start in the dinghy but once the motor is clear of the transom I climb up and finish lifting and setting the motor on the pulpit. It is a little awkward but always under control. I do use a second safety line while lifting, just in case, but never had to rely on it.

Greg

[Letterkenny]

Reviving an old thread here. Is there an easy way to use the main halyard or topping lift for bringing up the dinghy outsid of a spinnaker halyard? I like to keep my code always hoisted with the uv cover given the halyards tendencies to get twists and get stuck.