Hoisting a Heavy Dinghy

[redhead]

Last summer we traded our camper for a sweet 11 foot RIB with a Honda 25hp outboard. Since we're constrained by our deep draft to anchor pretty far off the shore in many places it's practical as well as a hell of a lot of fun.

Bringing it up on deck is not a hell of a lot of fun. Right now we are using our mizzen boom with an electric cable winch and we know we're pushing our limit as the dinghy + outboard weighs over 400 pounds.

So, for those of you constrained by budget (as we are) has anyone come up with a creative solution to hoisting a heavy rig like this? Not asking to debate the qualities of the setup, this is what we have.

Thanks all.

[redhead]

Originally Posted by redhead

Last summer we traded our camper for a sweet 11 foot RIB with a Honda 25hp outboard. Since we're constrained by our deep draft to anchor pretty far off the shore in many places it's practical as well as a hell of a lot of fun.

Bringing it up on deck is not a hell of a lot of fun. Right now we are using our mizzen boom with an electric cable winch and we know we're pushing our limit as the dinghy + outboard weighs over 400 pounds.

So, for those of you constrained by budget (as we are) has anyone come up with a creative solution to hoisting a heavy rig like this? Not asking to debate the qualities of the setup, this is what we have.

Thanks all.

This is the rig

[JPA Cate]

Hi, redhead,

We hoist our dinghy alongside, sometimes, using the spinny halyard. The whole rig, dinghy, full tank, o/b, and anchor and chain, weighs ~ 255 lbs., and about 110 lbs. empty. Halyard is 1/2" doublebraid, polyester, breaking strength around 5200 lbs, new.

At 400+ pounds, you may have to install a crane, if two people are going to manage it. We store our RIB disinflated on the foredeck for passages, and it is a handful to inflate and launch over about 15 knots. Then we move the o/b from its mount on the pushpit, to the stern of the dinghy, and slowly lower it down. We can do this safely up to about 20 knots, but the motor only weighs about 85 lbs, and it is hard to control when all that mass is chest high, (to clear the rail). At ~ 235 lbs., your engine would be almost 3 times more difficult to handle the way we do ours. Both your dinghy and its engine are so massy, you'd want them under control the whole time. And, possibly, the engine is too heavy to mount on a pushpit, anyway, without reinforcing the attachments to the deck for a larger footprint per each, and stiffening the structure, as needed.

Someone may recommend the addition of davits. I'd recommend you read this thread: http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ad-114857.html It tell of Dockhead's travails with his big, heavy dinghy on his 57 footer. The problems with davits, in no particular order are chafe from dinghy movement, vulnerability to getting wiped off the boat if you lose control near something strong enough to do it, vulnerability to being swamped by a wave, windage, and, of course, having them engineered sufficiently strongly. And berthing fees may be greater because the boat just got longer from the marina's point of view.

Good luck with it, you may be able to figure out a satisfactory way to handle it, or you may revisit the decision and get something lighter, for ease of handling, which would be the more frugal solution.

Ann