Davits

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Davits

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Iain C
United Kingdom
181 Posts

Posted - 10/08/2011 : 11:21:10
Due to work constraints, a lot of my sailing is weekend trips with the lads, which usually tend to involve marinas...stumbling back from the pub you can almost ignore the noise, and split 4 ways marina fees are bearable.

But I'm just back from a most enjoyable week's sailing with the other half...part of which was due to the fact that we just avoided marinas, thereby having lots of peace and quiet, and saving a fortune too. Obviously this did require lots of use of the dinghy, and we started getting quite lazy packing it away...so we dragged it round behind us for much of the time.

Which, after seeing London Apprentice and Kilncraft, got me thinking about davits. Seems an ideal place to put my XM230 dinghy, and also might free up a bit of space on my stern rail, currently groaning under the weight of danbouy, light, drogue, throwline, rescue sling, GPS antenna, ensign, stern light, Forgen generator (useless thing!)and outboard. I have a solar panel ready to fit, so I was thinking about installing a "goalpost" hoop thing to sit that on.

So I've just acquired these very cheaply, (they were custom built in 316 stainless for a Hunter 26), and I want to get people's experiences of fitting davits.

Image

Obviously the angle of the mounting plate is wrong, so I am trying to decide whether to modify the plate (needs a fabricator) or just to make up some big wooden mounting pads to get the angle right. Any thoughts?

Also, where is best to drill the holes? How big do the backing pads need to be? Does it need fixing to the pushpit as well ideally? What sort of system is needed to raise the dinghy? Is a single line system worth the hassle or shall I just have separate ones?

Any thoughts or experiences whatsoever would be most welcome!

Thanks
Edited by - Iain C on 10/08/2011 11:22:33
jerryo
Ireland
70 Posts

Posted - 10/08/2011 : 17:32:23
Hi Iain
Just some thoughts.
Have you thought about how much windage this will produce when fully loaded with dinghy and all.

What about making vertical s/steel sleeves and mounting those on the transom then slipping the davits into them with a securing bolt/pin. If in a marina they could be removed to save money on berthing fee.

A 2.3mt inflatable will be pretty wide on the stern of the sabre.

If you go ahead you could use a simple 2 line system to raise/lower the dinghy like is used on a clothes dryer rack which is raised to the ceiling.

Interesting project. Do let us know what decide.
Jerry

Iain C
United Kingdom
181 Posts

Posted - 11/08/2011 : 13:21:15
Hi Jerry

Thanks for your thoughts. Good point on windage…however I reckon it should still be OK…

-For weekend marina hopping, the dinghy may just stay where it is, in it’s bag, below, so won’t be a permanent fixture. If the dinghy is still below, the windage on the davits alone will be less than one additional person stood at the back of the cockpit. However it does mean that a maneuvering error could get ugly!
-Again, compared to all the current clobber on my stern rail, the windage of a few extra bits of steel is fairly minimal
-If the dinghy was in the davits, I’d probably rather have it there and deal with the windage rather than having the dinghy trailing behind/beside/wrapped round stuff when maneuvering! It does seems to have an incredible ability to nestle up under the stbd quarter and fill up with exhaust water no matter where it’s tied on!
-Any detrimental effects on performance will be far lower than dragging the thing around for a week…and it’s amazing just how much growth and dirt you get on your dinghy after just a few days in the water
-I’d also thought about sleeves and pins so that it would come apart, but as far as marinas go I will probably still say twenty seven feet! As it is, pulpits, outboards on rails, and anchors make Sabres longer than that, but I doubt many people volunteer that extra length at the tills! And I’ve never paid additional for the tender floating in the water behind me. OK if it was a permanent berth, questions may be asked, but I can’t see many office staff getting too upset about the occasional visitor berth…
-And this really is a dual purpose idea, partly dinghy davits, but also somewhere for the solar panel, and more importantly my stern light, as it must be all but obscured by all the other clutter!

(Windage disclaimer…all this from the man who wears a rash vest over the top of BA and harness when sailing the 49er to cut windage…and has tapered halyards and 3mm vectran trapeze wires!)

Mikenfi
United Kingdom
40 Posts

Posted - 08/12/2015 : 20:10:42
Did you go ahead with this project can I see some pictures if you have! We need somewhere to put solar panels our dingy fits on the fore deck but it would be nice not to have to tow it or haul it out when on anchor.
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