Dinghy Davits for Catalina 30

[Piratenorm]

I'm planning on making my own davits using aluminum flat bar stock, either 4" wide X 1/2" thick or 3 &1/4" wide X 3/4" thick. It will be to support a 10' dinghy and a 9.9 hp motor, plus my solar panels, total weight about 350 lbs. I'd prefer to leave the motor attached but may mount a pushpit rail bracket to support it. My question is this: The foot plate for the uprights, that I need to support all this weight on the transom, would you use 5" X 5" outer plates mated to larger backing plates inside the aft lazarette, drilled through the transom just below the rear rub strip, or make a U shaped bracket that wraps upside down around the top of the coaming at the extreme aft of the cockpit, with an inner spacer plate inside the lazarette as a backing plate? The easiest way is just the 5X5s but I want this to last. Fresh water cruising only, with a planned trip from Midland Ontario to Chicago via the Great Lakes. Any advice and pictures of your homemade remedy will be appreciated. Thanks. Norm

 

[Bad Obsession]

Having that much suspended weight on the Back of a Catalina 30 could do some interesting things. It may effect the performance of the boat by pushing the stern down too much. I don't think that I would like to have davits on my C-30. You may want to ask around some more before you make this modification.

 

[Dean5735]

A 10 footer seems pretty big to me too. I don't think you could get it high enough to sail in more than a couple foot waves, and in that case you could just tow it. I have strapped my 8' inflatable to the back of my C30 and it sucked. Always grabbing water and almost getting ripped off.

 

[Bad Obsession]

I tow a hard dingy behind me. It has been following me for over three years. It is easy to do, doesn't require a lot of maintenance, is always there, and doesn't cost me that much speed. On a weekend trip the dingy stays home.

Everything that you do on a boat is a compromise of some sort. Either you get an inflatable and have the storage issues or you get a hard dingy and tow it around and loose some speed.

If you get a hard dingy do yourself a favor and put a fender on the front of your dingy so it doesn't injure your transom when it bumps it. That can happen from time to time.

Hard dingies are a bit more tippy, but they are better for putting things like bikes in because you don't have to worry about puncturing the floor. You can also beach a hard dingy and not worry. If you get a hole in it you can patch it.

If I had a bigger boat I would love to have a RIB or some other inflatable dingy. Since I don't the hard dingy being towed works just fine for me.

 

[Piratenorm]

Thanks to all for your input, I still plan to proceed but may downsize dinghy/motor for weight. I need a platform to mount the solar panels and davits are the logical place. The issue of lowering the stern due to weight is being dealt with by an all-chain rode up front. Balance and slightly heavier displacement together, speed is not an issue for me. Not enough wind? C'est la vie!
Pirate Norm

 

[David Underwood]

Added them to my H33

My 1982 Hunter 33 has a small stern, however, I managed davits to work out pretty well. Attached pic if all works uploading. I lift a small hard dinghy, tried with 11' inflatable, but too large for my stern. Plan to build a dinghy one day that fits my needs perfectly, but til then, will do with this one. Oh, also makes a great storage for empty beer cans.. just kidding, well maybe.

 

[Don Guillette]

Re: Added them to my H33

I had a set of davits on my C30. How I came by them was from a live aboard dock neighbor. A power boat came by and hit one of his davits. When the marina police come by to take the report they added insult to injury by measuring his boat and charging him for the extra length. Instead of paying the extra charge he removed them. He was always short of money and I decided that shortly those davits would be mine, which they were.

I rigged them up to be temporary. The problem was they would only hold the 11' rigid dingy without the motor due to the temporay setup. .

Here's the real reason for this post. Tryin to attach and remove the motor with the dingy in the water is not easy. One solution is a OB motor hoist but they are expensive. Another way is to use you boom as a crane. In other words, I would secure the boom with a toping lift and attach a small (any size will work) soft vang to the end of the boom and then push the boom over the side of the boat, attach the motor to the soft vang by the motor carry strap and haul away or drop the motor down to the dingy.

 

[The Journey]

Dinghy davits

I tow a hard dingy behind me. It has been following me for over three years. It is easy to do, doesn't require a lot of maintenance, is always there, and doesn't cost me that much speed. On a weekend trip the dingy stays home.

Everything that you do on a boat is a compromise of some sort. Either you get an inflatable and have the storage issues or you get a hard dingy and tow it around and loose some speed.

If you get a hard dingy do yourself a favor and put a fender on the front of your dingy so it doesn't injure your transom when it bumps it. That can happen from time to time.

Hard dingies are a bit more tippy, but they are better for putting things like bikes in because you don't have to worry about puncturing the floor. You can also beach a hard dingy and not worry. If you get a hole in it you can patch it.

If I had a bigger boat I would love to have a RIB or some other inflatable dingy. Since I don't the hard dingy being towed works just fine for me.

A few years ago I saw davits that hauled the stern of the dinghy, motor and all, up the transom, leaving the dinghy bow skimming along the water. I drug my 10 ft w/8hp all the way to the Bahamas and back with no issues at all.

 

[tomfoolery]

I fabricated a set of ss davits for my cat 30 years ago and wouldn't be without them, no drag, noise or wear on the dinghy from towing, no theft risk I have a 6 part tackle crane to lower my engine. I now have a 10 ft aqua pro and a 15 hp yamaha. The extra weight is no different than having a couple of friends sitting on the aft rail - I leave the friends at home. I did not design the davits to lift the engine on the dinghy, I keep the engine on a stern rail mount. I also fabricated a swim grid which makes boarding safer and easier.