Have davits, still mount the outboard on the rail?

[BrettB]

I completely understand mounting your outboard, if you tow or put your dinghy on the deck, but do cruisers still mount their outboard even when they have the dinghy on davits?

Why would you still remove the outboard from the dinghy that is raised on the davits? Seems like it would you increase your chances of loosing the outboard.

[GILow]

On the rail for ours, even though it is a tiny little 3.5 HP.

You never know what seastate is around the corner waiting to shake things up.


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[thinwater]

I have never removed the engine. If the seastate is a question, either the davit design needs work, the hoist is not high enough, the dinghy needs triced, or the dinghy is coming on-board and being deflated anyway.

No, no reason unless the dinghy is way too low. Certainly not on a cat.

Sail Delmarva: Hang Em' High

[StuM]

I always remove the outboard before leaving sheltered waters.

I don't want the additional loads of it swinging around being imposed on the dinghy or the davits.

[thinwater]

The OPs not talking about a 15hp 4-stroke, he's talking about a 3.5hp he can pick up with 1 finger. Triva.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by thinwater

The OPs not talking about a 15hp 4-stroke, he's talking about a 3.5hp he can pick up with 1 finger. Triva.

The OP does not mention the size of his engine.

As for "hang em high"... that 'aint high at all. :^)

[BrettB]

LOL, definitely makes sense to not have the seas knocking around the dinghy when it is on the davits.

Assuming the dinghy is nice and high, davits can support the weight, and the engine is not bumping anything, I don't understand the reasoning to take the engine on and off so often and thus increasing the risk that it might get dropped in the transfer or poorly mounted at some point.

[sailorboy1]

I leave mine on. If your dinghy is swinging around at sea you have an issue you need to fix.

[GILow]

It does not matter whether the dinghy is swinging or not. Fixating on that issue is missing the point.

The whole system is dynamic and therefore the kinetic loads are directly proportional to mass and the square of the velocity.

Hard to do much about the velocity but easier to manage the mass. And of course the irony is that it is very easy to remove a small and light outboard.


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[a64pilot]

I take mine and mount it on the rail for passages as it's another 100 lbs I can remove from the davits, that I have loaded pretty heavy now, and of course that is not evenly distributed weight, its all on one davit.
My dinghy stays in its davits, no matter what, the bottom of the dinghy is about three feet above the stern of the boat, an IP has a very high stern and I have never heard of one being pooped, but of course anything can happen. If I get into weather that bad, likely I will be cutting dingy loose, and I'd rather if I could, save that $3,000 motor.

Little bitty motor? I'd probably leave it.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by GILow

The OP does not mention the size of his engine.

As for "hang em high"... that 'aint high at all. :^)

Oops, second post.

Actually, yes it is in proportion to the heeled stern. Catamarans carry the dingy forward and don't lean, which makes a huge difference. Monos carry the dinghy astern. Since that picture the transoms have been extended; the dinghy is no longer behind the boat at all. Part of why most cats almost never take the dinghy off the davits.

If it's small and light that rather deflates the argument.

Assuming the boat was designed for a dinghy on the davits (the OPs boat was and mine was) the trim adjustment should not be needed. If they are large add-on constructions, that is a different matter.

The OP could even remove it as weather approached, if he chose. I've been known to work on the engine underway, standing on the sugar scope. I could remove the engine easily by loosening the bolts by reaching through the rail and using the topping lift. Cats are like that.

[rognvald]

Unless you're on a Cat, always remove your outboard from your dink. Ask why? We once got caught in the Gulfstream with an "unexpected" weather system on a shakedown sail and the extra weight caused by the motor started swinging our davits(rotating) dangerously in the building seas. The dink was well padded and secured yet the motion of the boat in the beam seas made the situation almost untenable. Once we made it to the shallow banks, we dropped the dink and towed it into calmer waters. We never made that mistake again. Good luck and safe sailing.

[Suijin]

There's no point in arguing one way or the other, since every boat and it's davits and tackle are different. If it's strong and high enough for the load and the sea state and weather window, it's good, if it's not it's not, and it's up to the skipper to exercise good judgement either way.

I lost a towed dinghy years ago in a sudden and unexpected storm in Long Island Sound. Flipped, started submarining, and had to cut it loose. Learned a lesson the expensive way. Mine comes on deck except in the most benign of conditions. If I had davits I would err on the side of caution, since the unexpected never gives you warning, but my decision making would be situational to the boat and gear.

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by Suijin

SNIP

If it's strong and high enough for the load and the sea state and weather window, it's good, if it's not it's not, and it's up to the skipper to exercise good judgement either way.


SNIP

As we all know no skipper has ever misjudged the expected sea state.

[thinwater]

I think my feeling--relating to cats with with strong factory davits--is a matter of risk comparison:

1. The engine compared tot he dinghy is trivial. Certainly for my 3.5 hp kicker, whether the engine is in place or not has no effect on how the boat or the dinghy rides. If the dinghy were at risk of strike in a survival storm, whether the engine is in place is trivia; it will be ripped from the davits by the weight of a breaking wave. In other words, the presence of the engine has NOTHING to do with my decision to remove the dinghy from the davits in a hurricane (I've had it there during a number of gales--the waves never got within 2 feet of it). In the case of a survival storm, it would not go on the rail anyway but in the stern locker.

2. The risk of dropping the engine or injuring my back FAR outweighs the likely hood of trouble in anything short of a survival storm. While the dinghy has some theoretical risk (very, very low on most cats), stories of wrenched backs and dropped motors are not rare at all, perhaps 1000 times more likely on a cat. Frankly, avoiding a bad back back injury is worth far more to me than the whole damn dinghy. As for loosing the engine, removing it is a greater risk, taken over time, than leaving it in place.

I believe the simple math, at least for cats, is strongly in favor of leaving it in position. The vast majority of cat owners agree. Not perfect, but lower overall risk than moving it to the rail.