Lifting a dinghy with a towing bridle

[Harry Greenspun]

Has anyone used their towing bridle to raise a dinghy out of the water? I have one made by C-Level (http://www.clevel.com/towingbridle.shtml) and was considering attaching my spinnaker halyard to the ring to haul my 10' inflatable on deck. I am also considering attaching another length of webbing from the dinghy transom to the bridle ring to get a 3 point hoist so the dinghy will raise horizontally. (FYI, dinghy has a high pressure air floor, so no specific lifting points. It does have towing rings on either side of the bow and a ring on the transom for the outboard safety line.)Stupid? Genius? Anybody "been there, done that"?HarryBethesda, MDHunter 456 - "Czech Mate"harry@greenspun.com

 

[Jim Wolfgram]

Interesting Idea, and here's another thought.

What an intriguing idea, using a spinnaker Halyard. Here's another thought on these lines. Once attachment points on the dingy or inflatible are established, couldn't whisker pole and halyard be used as a "free" substitute for davits. I.e., the line could be attached to the lifting point, the pole could be used to swing the dingy either on or off of the vessel. In fact on my 320, I could see the following sequence to get the dingy on board. 1. tie up on stern, come aboard.2. pull spinnaker halyard to the rear, attach to the lift point.3. Release inflatible from stern, walk to the side of the boat using the halyard.4. Attach pole to the inflatible and the mast, effectively using it as a boom.5. Hoist her up and swing onto the fore deck. I'm gonna give it a try weekend after next!

 

[Mike D]

I've done it

I have used the bridle in the past. I am sure that the load rating exceeds the weight of dinghy in order to allow for the stress of the constant jolts of a hefty sea state. If you use the two point connection of the bridle or the three point, we use a tag line to help control the sway while lifting.good luck,Mike D

 

[Les Murray]

Do it all the time

I have the towing bridle and use it as a dinghy lift. I attach the bridle to two lifting eyes at the aft of the dinghy, run my spare halyard though the bridle and attach it to the bow eye. Works pretty good except that the bridle is a bit long and the dinghy wants to come up bow high. I usually tie an overhand knot in the bridle to center the lifting point.Works pretty well. I have not tried using the spinaker pole as a lever arm. Might want to try that to keep the dinghy off the topsides and lifelines.Good luck,Les Murrays/v Ceilidh'86 C-36 #560

 

[Harry Greenspun]

Nigel Calder's book shows both methods

As with most things, Nigel Calder has done this first. I was leafing through his "Cruising Handbook" and found pictures of a dinghy being raised by the towing bridle and another being hoisted with a spinnaker pole as a crane arm.HarryBethesda, MDHunter 456 - "Czech Mate"harry@greenspun.com