Our new boat has these posts on the transom. They are quite sturdy but their original purpose is no longer evident. My assumption is that they are for a davit to mount to, somehow. I can't recall ever seeing anything like this on other boats. Ideas?
Are These Davit Mounts?
- Thread starter Foswick
- Start date
I agree, they kind of do, but they are solid stainless steel, not tubes. These are definitely meant to take some pretty serious load and are backed with 1/4" SS backer plates. About the only things that are more solid are the mast and winches. My initial inclination was that they were some sort of bollard, but they have that groove that clearly has some purpose. And, the groove has crisp edges and I would expect anything meant for line-handling to have rounded edges.
Also, notice that they are mounted on wood blocks to bring the bottom flush with the toe rail. That seems intentional and suggests either line handling (via the nearby chock, perhaps). Or, it means that whatever attached to it needed to clear the toe rail.
I doubt they are solid. More likely they have caps welded on. This can be done very neatly.
High res close-ups will get you better answers.
After some time out in the islands, I am finally getting around to giving this some more thought, as I am rebedding deck hardware and deciding whether to remove these. They are quite beefy, so seem useful for something. But, I am not using them, currently. Took a better picture. I am backpedalling a bit about my assertion that they are solid all the way through (rather than welded tubing). Closer inspection reveals that an end cap might have been welded and carefully ground down and polished. If so, they did a nice job with no clear evidence it was ever welded. In any case, it feels completely solid and clanging on it with a wrench sounds solid though inconclusive. If not solid, it is made of thick-walled tubing.
I am well-convinced that no part of the assembly is meant to be unscrewed. It is also clear they are not original equipment because the deck has been repainted at least once and this was installed after it was last repainted. I have maintenance logs going back to the original owner in 1976, but no mention of these.
In the groove, there is some evidence that something used to ride in that groove, as there are some wear indication in there - not a lot, but some. But, if you look above and below the groove, you can see some wear scratches that clearly show something has been rotated around the assembly and rubbing outside of the groove. The odd thing (and perhaps an important clue) is that those scratches are not perpendicular to the groove. They sort of spiral up (or down). Of course, I neglected to note if the scratches on the port-side spiral in the same or opposite direction. I'll look when I'm back out there in the next day or two.
If I can't figure out what they are and/or I don't need them for their original purpose, I am trying to come up with a clever secondary usage. They are so solidly built and installed, I kind of hate to just remove them.
I am well-convinced that no part of the assembly is meant to be unscrewed. It is also clear they are not original equipment because the deck has been repainted at least once and this was installed after it was last repainted. I have maintenance logs going back to the original owner in 1976, but no mention of these.
In the groove, there is some evidence that something used to ride in that groove, as there are some wear indication in there - not a lot, but some. But, if you look above and below the groove, you can see some wear scratches that clearly show something has been rotated around the assembly and rubbing outside of the groove. The odd thing (and perhaps an important clue) is that those scratches are not perpendicular to the groove. They sort of spiral up (or down). Of course, I neglected to note if the scratches on the port-side spiral in the same or opposite direction. I'll look when I'm back out there in the next day or two.
If I can't figure out what they are and/or I don't need them for their original purpose, I am trying to come up with a clever secondary usage. They are so solidly built and installed, I kind of hate to just remove them.
That is certainly a well made piece of metal work (solid or not) fabricated for a specific purpose. You might want to check that they are attached to the deck with through bolts and fairly large backing plates, not screws, if you were thinking of keeping them in place.
