Using Split Backstay to Support Dinghy Davits?

[Piratenorm]

My Catalina 30 has a medium service davit set that uses 1" stainless steel tubing properly and professionally made. From my split backstay I am considering taking a lead off back to both horizontal arms of my dinghy davits to give them additional support to help control the stress the arms have with the dinghy up so the motor may be left on it. Currently I remove the motor and hang it off the pushpit but that's time consuming and a pain in the rump and would prefer to just leave it attached to the dink. I have adjustable stays leading forward from the vertical davit posts to padeyes on both sides on the deck ahead of the davits and will add an additional cross beam to help make it a tighter box. The line from the backstay to the davit arms is meant to help stiffen up the box that all the points of the davits form. I don't see an extreme amount of weight being added to the back of the rig but want to know if anyone else has done this. I know I will have to tension the rig correctly when this is added.
Thanks

 

[jrowan]

If your davits are built correctly & affixed adequately with proper backing plates, etc. then they should be able to handle the load that they are specifically rated for. Most davits are not rated to hold the substantial extra weight that an outboard requires. Most folks just buy & mount a seperate winch & bracket to raise the outboard seperately. I would put money into that type of system which is less problematic. I don't see why you would want to stress out an already aged standing rig with extra, unecessary load? It's not worth the risk, but to each their own. The job of the standing rig is designed to support the load of the mast column & sail plan, period. Anything else is adding uneccessary risk, in my opinion. Ask my neighbor who lost his mast a few weeks ago while racing, & I bet he'd tell you not to do it. My other neighbor actually has his hard dinghy suspended from his topping lift & main halyard right now (for the past several weeks) & I've been waiting for this thing to come crashing down. I just hope it doesn't hit my boat or someone else doesn't get hurt with his experiment. I'll post when or if something happens to it, & that would be a good indicator of what the mast will support. Although his boat is a 28 ft. Morgan that is in very sorry shape, so I'm not sure if its really a valid comparison. Check out a used chandlery for an outboard bracket & winch raising system as an affordable & safe way to raise an outboard without wrecking your back. Cheers.

 

[Piratenorm]

I already have a motor crane and pushpit bracket and have been using both to lift-support the engine up till now, I just wanted to simplify my situation by having it all together each time I raise the dink. A career choice has left me with back issues and my idea would make it easier on me, but not at the risk of losing my rig. The davits are already cross braced and supported with adequate backing plates and additional reinforcing stays back to deck mounted padeyes, and I tie the dink off with four separate rope points to minimize swing, this was just a matter of added insurance the davits wouldn't fail if I took a sudden wave or pitch. Kind of a britches and belt approach. You are the only person who has waded in on this so far so I'll wait and see what others say before making a decision. It's not a tall-rig boat so I am inclined to think it could work, and I have seen other boats with a similar setup. Thanks for your warning.
Norm

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

My first thought is that it sounds like you are adding a stress load to the rigging it wasn't intended or designed to handle. I have no clue what size or strength you backstay has but it's a safe bet it isn't over-built. Also, without knowing what davit you have and it's safe working load, there is no way to objectively determine how much additional load this might place on the rigging. We also don't know how well or with what the davits are mounted.

Add to that the inevitability of extra weight when someone forgets to remove the drain plug or it gets obstructed by the painter or something else after a heavy rain and water fills up the dinghy or a breaking wave enters the dinghy because it can't be that high.( it happens).

I understand why you want to do this but my 2 cents is that you are planning the absolute worst solution.