Dinghy swing

Jan 5, 2021
158
Hunter 41 DS Saint Petersburg
I'm looking for some ideas to control or eliminate the swinging of my dinghy while underway. Having it hit the stanchion for the davit is not doing it any favors or to my stress level.
 
Feb 10, 2004
3,918
Hunter 40.5 Warwick, RI
The dinghy needs to be tied to the davits, not just hoisted up. After properly tying the dinghy you should not be able to move the dinghy in any direction by pushing or pulling on it hard. If the dinghy can move it will chafe at any rub point, and you also don't want it to get loose in a seaway.
There are techniques for accomplishing this proper tie-up. Much of the technique depends upon the length of the dinghy, where it's tie points are located, and the distance between the davits. The worst situation is where the spacing of the davits are equal to the spacing of the hoist points on the dinghy. Imagine a line drawn from davit to davit to one dinghy hoist point to the other dinghy hoist point and back to the davit. The shape will be a rectangle and it will allow the dinghy to swing from bow to stern. If this is your dimensional setup, you can tie two ratchet straps between the dinghy hoist points and the davit connection points so that these two ratchet straps form an "X".
A better setup is where the davit hoist points are separated by a distance that is less than the dinghy hoist points. This changes the line connections from a rectangle to a trapezoid. When the dinghy tries to swing on the trapezoid, it will need to rise on one end. Gravity will work against that motion. You will still need some cross ratchet straps, but it will be inherently much better to resist movement.
I use 1" stainless steel ratchet straps on my dinghy.
But even after making all of the best configuration, it will take some experimentation to find the exact placement of the straps. If any of this is confusing, contact me via a PM and we can talk on the phone.
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Dec 19, 2006
5,809
Hunter 36 Punta Gorda
I have bars parallel to each Davits like left to right and I have ratchet straps go around dinghy and
the strut barts so that the dinghy is strapped to those bars and have felt protection wrapped around
the vertical part of protection to keep from chafing.
Works great.
 
Jun 4, 2004
1,071
Hunter 410 Punta Gorda
Every set up is different but your dingy should become part of the boat - no swinging. I have a bow and stern lines attached to cleats on my arch and bow and stern lines crisscrossed under the dingy attached to other cleats on the rails.
 
Dec 19, 2006
5,809
Hunter 36 Punta Gorda
I trow ratcheting straps on each bow and stern of dinghy around Davits struts and tighten
and dinghy does not move this way works real good no chaffing with padding on Davits up rights.
 
Oct 2, 2008
3,807
Pearson/ 530 Strafford, NH
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We have ratchet straps that hold the dinghy against pads on the davits.