Beneteau 46 / 49 Davits ?

[shanes]

Help. Anyone have any good ideas on davit installation on the "new" style Beneteau 46/49? The transom design makes it difficult to support davits at normal starboard to port installation widths. Kato marine said they can't figure it out and offered a very expensive arch as the solution.

[nigel1]

Is this like the Bene with the short swim platform?
Could you not set the davits as far outboard on the platform as allows, with a couple of horizontal braces back to the tramson, and if need be, a diagonal brace from each davit to the deck.

[shanes]

There-in lies the problem. A life raft storage cabinet/area occupies the starboard side and it's door cannot support a mounting brace. The only suitable locations for support braces are on the extremes of the hull to the port and starboard. This makes the width and dinghy hanging angle well beyond the normal range. The rails just are not robust enough to support davits without braces. My local Beneteau guy (Annapolis MD) also said that they don't have a good solution. But our community is so clever that I figured SOMEONE must have figured it out. (smile).

[nigel1]

OH, I see, not very joined up thinking on the part of the designer then.
Only solution I could think of would be deck mount the raft and replace the hatch door with something more permanent and more robust.
Cant say I fancy having to go out the swim platform in conditions where the raft might be needed.

[shanes]

You are absolutely right concerning access to the raft in heavy following seas. On my next crossing plan on using the life raft locker for general storage and stowing the raft in a under-seat cockpit locker.