Davits - Are They Necessary ?

[Martinini]

Takea look at these Guys, davits from $750.00 up to around $1200 depending on the size of the dinghy. Martek Dinghy Davits - Consumer Rated #1 for Value and Quality

[Laidback]

In South East Asian Waters there are literally thousands of beaches that can be visited with a dinghy - Hundreds of anchorages where it is not necessary to lift the dinghy at nightfall. In other places especially along the cost of Sabah - East Malaysia lift your dinghy, tie your Rotweiler to it with a steel chain. The O/B should be padlocked onto the dinghy's transom.
Kato marine have some excellent photos of davits for many popular sail boats, and some very good advice. (I'm not a shareholder)
Kato Marine - Sailboat Davits - Boat List & Photos

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by scook1

Did the string really hold the dink well? I would think it would move all the time. That combined with the peace of mind that the dink is not going to be ripped off the stern, would help me to decide on davits. The snaps look really interesting though. Thanks for posting the link. Spencer

Dinghy lives permanently on our stern like that. We park the dinghy sideways and tie two lines attached to the inside tube to the pushpit, pull the dinghy up and use two clips to attach the top two ropes to the top of the pushpit. To launch lift dinghy slightly unclip and let go, Dinghy lands in the water held sideways to the sugar scoop ready to board.

We have now done 6 channel crossings to France (75 miles) without any problems including one trip of F7, system is delightfuly simple. Can't claim it was my idea, the previous owner set it up and we just continued with it. For a really long trip I would take the dink off, but for coastal work it works really well. Since the dinghy tubes lie against the GRP it doesn't move or scratch the yacht. The string is probably 5/16ths. Davits wouldn't work for us because it rains too much in NW Europe you would constantly have to go down and bale the dink out, never mind the cost.

Snap davits very popular in Europe if a little pricey for what you get. US price is probably cheaper, it always is.
Pete

[Laidback]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Davits wouldn't work for us because it rains too much in NW Europe you would constantly have to go down and bale the dink out.
Pete

Most RIBs have transom drain plugs - many have rubber check valves that let rain water out. Does cut down draining in the rain in Spain.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Laidback

Most RIBs have transom drain plugs - many have rubber check valves that let rain water out. Does cut down draining in the rain in Spain.

Yes the dink has two of them and no I don't trust them, either when the dink is out of the water or we are in the dink in the water. Thankfully we are never far from the boat or shore if disaster happens and it will one day

[nhschneider]

Our boat was originally equipped with Simpson Davits Cooney Marine: Stainless Steel Yachting Equipment, Deck Fittings, Cleats, Cranes and Davits and we wouldn't be without them. For one, being a ketch with a staysail, there's no place on deck to store a dinghy. For two, it makes launching and retrieving our dink a 2-minute process. Regardless of where we are, every night we lift the dink out of the water. Our davits have arms that extend across both pontoons of our inflatable and permanently-glued to the dink are chocks into which the arms fit. This means the dink is securely held on the davits without any additional lashing. We've made long ocean passages (even got hit by one nasty gale in the Gulf of Alaska) and the dink on the davits was never a worry.

Now we store my wife's rarely-used kayak (don't get me started!) across the top of the davits. Eventually, I'm going to put solar panels and an antenna farm out there as well.

Fair winds and calm seas.

[sageofsalem]

I have my dink and a five foot wind genny on my 462 morgan davits. With a fold up dive platform it is really handy. Like a garage for a car. The dink goes over the salon hatch on the foredeck for weather, but rides nice with the small honda as long as we ratchet it tight all ways. Being 280 lbs and not getting younger, I am glad now the boat I bought ten years ago had this installed! They are stout enough that I will add a large solar panel, when I get some bucks.

[Stillraining]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Yes the dink has two of them and no I don't trust them, either when the dink is out of the water or we are in the dink in the water. Thankfully we are never far from the boat or shore if disaster happens and it will one day

Its full of air...what could possibly be the worst case senaro?..wet feet at most me thinks...no?

[Roaring Girl]

Another vote for the convenience. We really only got to grips with securing our (GRP) dinghy a couple of years ago and it involves strong rope and two fenders. We do haul up every night because the dinghy bumps our hull otherwise, and it's soooo much easier than pulling it on deck. We leave the engine on if hauling it up at night, but take it off for more than v short passages. Dinghy itself comes off for longer/windier trips and stows on deck, but stays on the davits for daysailing.

[Pelagic]

There are certain rules you invoke upon yourself after many years of cruising.

One of mine is that the tender is always out of the water when the captain goes to bed.

It doesn’t have to be your rule … but it is mine.

Having strong davits and tackle that make this an easy chore rather than an event has allowed me to quietly deal with middle of the night decisions to leave a beautiful but exposed anchorage when I feel a local change bringing in a major ground swell.

I like to be prepared.

[Euro Cruiser]

Mystique:

Good luck on the refit and prep. Re: your Q about davits and to offer some counterpoint, here are some additional thoughts for you:
-- davits are clearly not necessary; neither are long RIBs and 15 hp outboards for that matter
-- davits are more easily accommodated on bigger boats (and praised by their crews) than smaller ones; your boat falls into the middle ground
-- smaller boats have solved all the issues mentioned without davits because they have had to, and these solutions work on big boats too
-- on the whole, the cruising community has grown more and more concerned with adding gear topside and less and less concerned about sailing performance; it's pretty easy, after installing the dodger/bimini canvas, arch festooned with solar panels, and perhaps an anchor, wind gen and other debris back aft, to conclude that the added weight of davits and dink - let alone the windage - makes little difference. Sadly, that may in fact be the case
-- tho' it isn't relevant to you given your current sailing plans, the most reliable form of offshore self-steering, a wind vane, rarely lives happily with a dink & davits

Obviously, some here love their davits; good on 'em. For you - prepping a boat you've yet to cruise - let me suggest you stick to the plan you seem to have hatched: focus during the refit on the necessities, then take off and form your own opinions on just how important the 'nice to haves' are for you two, and then add what your budget and preferences dictate. You'll save much time on the refit and much money, ultimately, on making the boat your own.

FWIW after 37 countries and island nations, we've kept the bottom of the dink completely clean, routinely hoisted our dink at night for security, and I routinely launch/retrieve it single-handed, all without davits. This doesn't make davits a bad choice; it does illustrate that one can solve these issues without adding more hardware, weight and cost.

Jack

[swagman]

Hi Mystique,
Happy New Year.
Jacks right - one can always cope with whatever kit one has, but for me davits just make it a little easier.
I'm not in favour of lots of top side clutter either, so we got the Simpson Lawrence removable davits which can be taken off when required. Racing, winter storage, passages over 3 days etc. The dinghy gets deflated and stored on deck for those longer legs.
When we day cruise they stay in place and easily carry our 3 metre plastic floor rib with 8 hp Yamaha when moving from one achorage to another.
They also double to hold our passarell / gangway up off any jetty we lower the dinghy almost to water level and back in Med style. The gangway runs over the top of the dinghy.
So not neccessary - but in my book - nice.
Enjoy
JOHN

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Stillraining

Its full of air...what could possibly be the worst case senaro?..wet feet at most me thinks...no?

I don't think Viv would appreciate going shopping and then finding the fresh french bread and cheese sloshing around the bottom of the tender. I am lucky, she enjoys sailing holidays so have to work hard to ensure things are comfortable for her. Certinly don't want to end up sailing solo.

4 bits of string and 2 clips provides a neat solution and stowing the dink vertically does provide additional protection to the stern of the cockpit in inclement weather.

Pete

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by s/v Moondancer

We had our's built in a commercial fishing yard in Rockland Maine for less than a third of the cost of the yuppie ones advertised in the sailing magazine and they are substantilly stronger than the yuppie ones, they are built out of 2 in diameter stainless working in compression and not as long cantilevers..........

A wise post by Moondancer! We also have beautifully built davits made of 2" diameter SS pipe that we had custom fabricated for barter. If you are in or near an industrial area that employs pipefitters, this could be your plan too. Many pipefitters are artisans with their craft and some moonlight out of their garage. I found a man who was able to take a few measurements, light up his torches, cut, weld and artfully sculpt my davits in a few hours in his garage. My only cost was the pipe and trading a few hours of my time with my own skills. 'take care and joy, Aythya crew

[sv-Mystique]

Sailors, thanks for the great personal experience and feedback!

The thread confirmed our thoughts and opinion for moving forward with adding davits to our to do’s (grrrr expense) although, we already budgeted for the project. We attended a couple of holiday parties the past few days and met a friend of a friend that works in the metal fabrication trade. We are actually getting together this afternoon to review dimensions and design for how we would like the system to work. I would like to have removable lateral stabilizers between the arms and supports to the pushpit rails and a system to raise and lower the outboard. Add a couple of cleats and line stoppers, solar and wind generator mounts, also, GPS and WIFI antenna mounts. We have a couple of other questions to ask the group, however, we’ll start new threads for those, again thanks!!

Martin and Angela
s/v Mystique