I have a Catalina 320 and wish to place our inflatable dinghy across the stern. I prefer to attach something to the swim deck of the transom, rather than the lift type. Has anyone tried one of these (see link) or know of other options ?
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This might work for you...
Ron, Go to the photo forum and in the search box, write, "dinghy davits." In the resutls you should find the title of my report, called "Dinghy Davits on a Sugar Scoop Stern." I put dinghy davits on my Avon inflateable and on my Hunter 380 several years ago. I am very pleased with the results. Biggest problem--on a big heal (under a big gust) the dinghy does drag into the water. With a smaller stern as you may have it could be a potential problem. When that happens to me (once) I just drop the dinghy and tow it. Hope this helps. Les
Ron, Go to the photo forum and in the search box, write, "dinghy davits." In the resutls you should find the title of my report, called "Dinghy Davits on a Sugar Scoop Stern." I put dinghy davits on my Avon inflateable and on my Hunter 380 several years ago. I am very pleased with the results. Biggest problem--on a big heal (under a big gust) the dinghy does drag into the water. With a smaller stern as you may have it could be a potential problem. When that happens to me (once) I just drop the dinghy and tow it. Hope this helps. Les
Ron again
Thanks for the input so far. To clarify my intent a little more, I moor the boat bow in. The storage of the Avon on the stern is mainly for staying at the dock. It tows great. I can haul it on deck with the spinnaker halyard, but it's a tight fit and it's a lot to handle in the wind at 63 pounds and 9'3" long. I use an electric trolling motor that I store below until needed. I have never drilled into the transom before, where the base for the swim ladder attaches. Is it solid, or is there an access I haven't found allowibg me to use nuts and bolts for connecting ?
Thanks for the input so far. To clarify my intent a little more, I moor the boat bow in. The storage of the Avon on the stern is mainly for staying at the dock. It tows great. I can haul it on deck with the spinnaker halyard, but it's a tight fit and it's a lot to handle in the wind at 63 pounds and 9'3" long. I use an electric trolling motor that I store below until needed. I have never drilled into the transom before, where the base for the swim ladder attaches. Is it solid, or is there an access I haven't found allowibg me to use nuts and bolts for connecting ?
Have you seen a Dingy-tow?
I have thought about this for our boat too. http://www.dinghy-tow.com/
I have thought about this for our boat too. http://www.dinghy-tow.com/
St. Croix
St. Croix makes excellent Dinghy Davits, I have them on my Cat 30. A PO had them installed, but they have held up very well.
St. Croix makes excellent Dinghy Davits, I have them on my Cat 30. A PO had them installed, but they have held up very well.
Get dirty
Making your own davits is not hard. I did it for my Catalina 30 and they where strong enough to hold an 8' hard shell 1/2 full of rain water. Total cost was around $35 if I remember right. It took me three weekends to complete. The only hard part was finding a place to mount them that I had access to. It was a real bear getting the lower mounting point rigged up as it was right in the hull to deck seam area and had some nasty rough FG edges to contend with. My design was an I-beam type made of 1/4" plywood covered with FG.
Making your own davits is not hard. I did it for my Catalina 30 and they where strong enough to hold an 8' hard shell 1/2 full of rain water. Total cost was around $35 if I remember right. It took me three weekends to complete. The only hard part was finding a place to mount them that I had access to. It was a real bear getting the lower mounting point rigged up as it was right in the hull to deck seam area and had some nasty rough FG edges to contend with. My design was an I-beam type made of 1/4" plywood covered with FG.
BILL ROOSA and FRED FICARRA
Bill......do you have pics? Fred.....I dont quite understand how your dink is suspended, can you give more details. No probs in rough weatherwith dink like that? I had the Martek davits on my catalina 30, i didnt use the stiffener bar between the davits, that way the davits would swing in or out. I used enough line in the blocks so that the dink could be lowered into the water and spun in either direction so that i could lift either the bow or the stern up high and drag the other end in the water. The end dragging in the water was disconnected from the block, then the davits could be folded in towards eachother and act like a single pivot point. When it got real rough, i raised it on deck with the halyard. I now have the 'I' beam style which dont swing. I hate them even though they are much stronger. It is much harder to maneuver the dink to remove the O/B and cant tow the way i like. Im waiting for a reply by fred and bill, they mmay have a b etter idea.
Bill......do you have pics? Fred.....I dont quite understand how your dink is suspended, can you give more details. No probs in rough weatherwith dink like that? I had the Martek davits on my catalina 30, i didnt use the stiffener bar between the davits, that way the davits would swing in or out. I used enough line in the blocks so that the dink could be lowered into the water and spun in either direction so that i could lift either the bow or the stern up high and drag the other end in the water. The end dragging in the water was disconnected from the block, then the davits could be folded in towards eachother and act like a single pivot point. When it got real rough, i raised it on deck with the halyard. I now have the 'I' beam style which dont swing. I hate them even though they are much stronger. It is much harder to maneuver the dink to remove the O/B and cant tow the way i like. Im waiting for a reply by fred and bill, they mmay have a b etter idea.
Sailortonyb, I'm not sure what you're asking.
I've been scratching my head and re-reading your post. It seems that your goal for a set of davits is to use them as a tool to use and control your dink as if you DIDN'T have davits. You want to pull the engine and also tow your dink. Why have davits? WadImiss?
I've been scratching my head and re-reading your post. It seems that your goal for a set of davits is to use them as a tool to use and control your dink as if you DIDN'T have davits. You want to pull the engine and also tow your dink. Why have davits? WadImiss?
FRED
Forget my system for a minute. I looked at the pic of your davit system and i cant figure out how your dink is suspended. Is it suspended from a split back stay. Since you already crossed the Carribbean with your system, i assume it works well. I dont like my current system and am going to change it.
Forget my system for a minute. I looked at the pic of your davit system and i cant figure out how your dink is suspended. Is it suspended from a split back stay. Since you already crossed the Carribbean with your system, i assume it works well. I dont like my current system and am going to change it.
ya learn something new every day!
I like what sailorTonyB had to say about how he drags his dink with his davits cause I have the same davits and always hoist the dink up B4 sailing,now I have a better system. OBTW I use one davit to hoist the engine up off the dink
I like what sailorTonyB had to say about how he drags his dink with his davits cause I have the same davits and always hoist the dink up B4 sailing,now I have a better system. OBTW I use one davit to hoist the engine up off the dink
RAD
I dont like my current davits...the "I" beam type. I liked the system i used with the Martek davits. When i was in the cockpit of my Catalina 30, i would take the O/B off the bracket and set it in the dink. Lower the dink into the water, get in it and set the O/B in place in the dink. When i was done for the day, i would take O/B off its mount on dink and set it on floor of dink. Climb out of dink onto baot, raise davits and them remove O/B from dink and put back on Boat bracket. This system worked great for me. Only drawback is that when dink is in up position, without the bracing piece between the 2 davits, the dink would swing. So i used pins to hold the brace in place instead of screws for quick removal. Since i havent replace my current davits on my current boat, i was wondering what FRED had to offer. I'm always open to suggestions. BTW, I'm originally a Brooklyn boy, left there at age 25 about 34 years ag0. Unfortunately, i was not a sailor back then.
I dont like my current davits...the "I" beam type. I liked the system i used with the Martek davits. When i was in the cockpit of my Catalina 30, i would take the O/B off the bracket and set it in the dink. Lower the dink into the water, get in it and set the O/B in place in the dink. When i was done for the day, i would take O/B off its mount on dink and set it on floor of dink. Climb out of dink onto baot, raise davits and them remove O/B from dink and put back on Boat bracket. This system worked great for me. Only drawback is that when dink is in up position, without the bracing piece between the 2 davits, the dink would swing. So i used pins to hold the brace in place instead of screws for quick removal. Since i havent replace my current davits on my current boat, i was wondering what FRED had to offer. I'm always open to suggestions. BTW, I'm originally a Brooklyn boy, left there at age 25 about 34 years ag0. Unfortunately, i was not a sailor back then.
RAD......
You got the idea now. Its much easier to do than to explain. And its all because the davits swing. Good luck. Anyway, my new/old boat has the heavy duty "I" beam davits. other than hold the dink, they are not very versatile. I have a fairly new set of Martek davits in my storage unit. It is rated , i think for 250 lbs per. I'm eventually going to sell them and buy the ones rated for 350 lbs per, and i will feel comfortable with that rating offshore. Till then i will continue to use the "I" beam type already installed. That is, if i ever get to see my boat again. We re separated by 7 hrs of driving and right now i work 6 day a week.
You got the idea now. Its much easier to do than to explain. And its all because the davits swing. Good luck. Anyway, my new/old boat has the heavy duty "I" beam davits. other than hold the dink, they are not very versatile. I have a fairly new set of Martek davits in my storage unit. It is rated , i think for 250 lbs per. I'm eventually going to sell them and buy the ones rated for 350 lbs per, and i will feel comfortable with that rating offshore. Till then i will continue to use the "I" beam type already installed. That is, if i ever get to see my boat again. We re separated by 7 hrs of driving and right now i work 6 day a week.
OK all you Italians,
I'm a baby boomer. Dad was in the U.S. Army. My twin brother and I were born in Santa Maria Coupua Vetera (or something). It's 40 miles outside of Rome. Back to davits. I'm still not sure why you need davits if they're only used to lift the engine and tow the dink. The split backstay seen in the picture I posted is an extra backstay behind the one for the mast. It takes the weight of the dingy off of the stern rail. Those davits also used to swing. Terrible. Even with the cross bar. In Key West a welder built an H beam to lock them up. That's what the flag pole is mounted on. By the way, we don't need davits now. For the flat water cruising that we do, it's too much work. But still, the whole idea of davits is so as NOT to have to tow the dink.
I'm a baby boomer. Dad was in the U.S. Army. My twin brother and I were born in Santa Maria Coupua Vetera (or something). It's 40 miles outside of Rome. Back to davits. I'm still not sure why you need davits if they're only used to lift the engine and tow the dink. The split backstay seen in the picture I posted is an extra backstay behind the one for the mast. It takes the weight of the dingy off of the stern rail. Those davits also used to swing. Terrible. Even with the cross bar. In Key West a welder built an H beam to lock them up. That's what the flag pole is mounted on. By the way, we don't need davits now. For the flat water cruising that we do, it's too much work. But still, the whole idea of davits is so as NOT to have to tow the dink.
Thanks Fred..
Now i got the picture, thanks. The reason that i sometomes towed the dink was to take the weight off of the stern and when the seas are choppy, the swinging would drive me nuts. On a Catalina 30, the bow seems to ride high and the stern squats low. The boat sailed better when dink was towed. Maybe i need to give up pasta. Anyway, most of the time the dink is in the up position, especially at anchor I thought i explained that i was not Italian, I'm Sicilian. That ought to be food for thought for those that are 'ethnically challenged' Ive been in the south so long , i ought to change it to sailorbubbaB
Now i got the picture, thanks. The reason that i sometomes towed the dink was to take the weight off of the stern and when the seas are choppy, the swinging would drive me nuts. On a Catalina 30, the bow seems to ride high and the stern squats low. The boat sailed better when dink was towed. Maybe i need to give up pasta. Anyway, most of the time the dink is in the up position, especially at anchor I thought i explained that i was not Italian, I'm Sicilian. That ought to be food for thought for those that are 'ethnically challenged' Ive been in the south so long , i ought to change it to sailorbubbaB
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