I thought I'd put some closure on this (since I'm the one who started it). I contacted both Kato and Ocean Marine, and they both had a number of photos of their davit installations on past Passage 42s. It appears that their davit construction and pricing is similar, so I focused on mounting design and load distribution. (I'm always anxious about attachment points when I use the hull or deck for supports like this). I think the main difference between the manufacturers appears to be that Kato davits utilize attachment points that are all located on the horizontal deck surface (for their Passage 42 mounting system), while Ocean Marine utilizes main attachment points that are on the vertical part of the hull by the aft-facing lower scuttles on the stern. That puts the load on a compression point rather than one that pulls upward off of the horizontal attachment. While I suspect that either design provides more than enough support for my purposes, (all other things being equal) I prefer to put the least amount of stress possible on the attachment points. I'm looking at something like a 10 foot aluminum hulled hypalon tube dingy (like the Highfield CL310).
Both outfits have good customer service, and both provided me with rapid and helpful information on everything from design and installation to pricing and shipping. Very user friendly.
