Hurley davits.

[KINGFISHER 8]

Pondering some Hurley H20 davits for my swim platform. The rib is 2.8 m (9.24 ft) and beam 1.5 m (5 ft) . Very light 3D aluminium rib.
Anybody got one or had one in the past - pros and cons? ... The rib lives on the flybridge with a crane at the moment, operated with 2 good sized self tailing winches but it's proving a bit of a struggle with arthritis in half of my bendy bits! ..... Any advice appreciated, thanks!

 

[Bouba]

Pondering some Hurley H20 davits for my swim platform. The rib is 2.8 m (9.24 ft) and beam 1.5 m (5 ft) . Very light 3D aluminium rib.
Anybody got one or had one in the past - pros and cons? ... The rib lives on the flybridge with a crane at the moment, operated with 2 good sized self tailing winches but it's proving a bit of a struggle with arthritis in half of my bendy bits! ..... Any advice appreciated, thanks!

I replaced the self tailing winches with quad bike electric winches on remote control. Now fully automatic, and launchable from anywhere on the boat single handed. And it’s a RIB, and you should see the state of my shoulders??‍?‍??‍

 

[mparrish]

I have H2O davits on our swim platform. Tender is a Honwave 2.7 airdeck with a 6hp 4stroke on the back. Setup works really well, but if you struggle to use your current setup I would imagine you'll find dragging an ali rib up a struggle. I like having the tender setup and ready to go with the outboard on - and accept that it's a bit heavy to recover (launching is easy !). I'd have another like this. pm me if you want some photos/discussion.

 

[rafiki_]

I have H20 on my Azi bathing platform. Ribeye 2.6 tender plus Yammy 6 HP 4 stroke. I can just about recover this on my own. Very easy with 2 people.

 

[KINGFISHER 8]

Thanks for your replies.

Bouba - I considered an electric winch but I wouldn't have the knowledge to wire it up so would have to pay someone + there's still a bit of manhandling to do up on the f/b … I remember you telling me before that that's what you had done. Sounds very handy but for me I think the Hurley davits will be best. I'll have to take off the swim ladder and shift the liferaft canister somewhere else, f/b probably as that ought to be the last bit to sink!

mparrish & Rafiki - the dinghy is a 3D Aluminium RIB, 2.8m but extremely light, 2 of us can carry it and turn it over easily, and I will use it with my Torqeedo which I'll take off anyway so shouldn't have a problem hauling it up.
Anyway, I usually let the memsahib do the heavy work, as a special treat you understand!

Thanks all .... I'll post a pic when it's installed.

 

[Bouba]

Thanks for your replies.

Bouba - I considered an electric winch but I wouldn't have the knowledge to wire it up so would have to pay someone + there's still a bit of manhandling to do up on the f/b … I remember you telling me before that that's what you had done. Sounds very handy but for me I think the Hurley davits will be best. I'll have to take off the swim ladder and shift the liferaft canister somewhere else, f/b probably as that ought to be the last bit to sink!

mparrish & Rafiki - the dinghy is a 3D Aluminium RIB, 2.8m but extremely light, 2 of us can carry it and turn it over easily, and I will use it with my Torqeedo which I'll take off anyway so shouldn't have a problem hauling it up.
Anyway, I usually let the memsahib do the heavy work, as a special treat you understand!

Thanks all .... I'll post a pic when it's installed.

Before you decide you can’t do it, wait for my report in a day or two. Wiring was the easiest part and believe me, I’m no plumber

 

[Bouba]

Sorry for not getting back sooner. I have had car trouble wife trouble dog trouble and health trouble.
Anyhow this is not to say that this is what you must do, it’s just to show that the wiring is very simple. These photos are crap, the sun’s glare today was incredible and there was a cloud of dust from the bloke next to me grinding his hull, i couldn’t see a thing.
But here is the big WARNING and disclaimer. Do not try this at home at school or anywhere. A winch is NOT a hoist, it is most definitely not made for lifting. But if anyone was stupid enough to follow my advice, remember, that not all winches are the same, you must get one with a mechanical braking system, that means you cannot use the ridiculously cheap ones. Second, only estimate the lifting capacity as a tiny fraction of the pulling capacity (I’ve used 10%). But those tiny quad bike winches are remarkably powerful. What’s more your mast only has a capacity of 120 kg, and your dingy and outboard is way less than that (as long as it’s not full of rainwater).
And always remember with any lifting keep bodies and body parts out of the way. Phew....

 

[Bouba]

I’ve used the existing mounts from the self tailing winches but I think I probably moved them slightly so the winches don’t come in contact with each other when raising the boom

 

[Bouba]

It is just two wires, positive and negative, from the winches to the winch controllers

 

[Bouba]

Then neg and pos from the winch controllers to the battery

 

[Bouba]

The solar panel can be raised or lowered to either track the sun or keep it out of the way of your launch




The forum is working at a painfully slow speed today

 

[Bouba]

And a pos and neg from the panel to its controller and then pos neg back to the battery

And hey presto that’s it

 

[Bouba]

And these are the remotes


When I get around to it, I’m going to tidy it all (it worked so incredibly well from the off that I never got around to beautifying it), then I’m changing the wire rope to synthetic, so much nicer, and I’ve already done one. Then I’m going to hide as much as possible under the fixed bench seats on the flybridge. Also I will install an emergency battery cut off just in case.
But most of all, the 60 amp battery is way more powerful than I need plus it’s constantly charging from the solar panel (100w). So I’m going to fit an inverter, giving me mains power when ever I need it. I shall be able to charge the Torqeedo battery on the flybridge !!!
So there you go a completely self contained power system

 

[KINGFISHER 8]

Bouba it's very kind of you to post all those photos and explanations but Having looked at them I'm definitely going to get the Hurley H20 davits … just grab the dinghy and haul it aboard = 10 seconds, launching even quicker. I'll be taking the Torqeedo off so there won't even be the weight of that to worry about. I'm ordering the 10" extension option so there should be some room on the platform, all I've got to do is shift the liferaft canister and take the steps off - this won't matter because the only swimming I do these days is in the pool at home at 29 degrees! I'll post a pic when done. Another bonus is that there will also be a great big space on the f/b for sun loungers! Thanks again for your suggestions though - most kind.

 

[alandalus11]

Kingfisher, years ago on our first boat I managed to manufacture something very similar along the lines of the Hurley davits system for our swim platform. Having looked into various types of davits my initial thought was that these did the job very well for keeping the tender and engine all ready to go when needed. The ones I made for our boat were over engineered and very strong but if you look at the positioning of the davits they make the tender sit very near to the edge of the swim platform and half the tender overhangs the swim platform .

Depending on how high your swim platform is, the problem I found, was that when going through a choppy sea or rough waves the tender was constantly being hit by the wash and the waves behind the boat. (probably not explained myself well here ) and the half of the tender that was overhanging the swim platform caused a huge amount of stress on the platform, fixings and tender where it was being lifted by the waves behind the boat.

All in all the system in my view is a great way of storing your tender and easily launched but takes a lot to retrieve it. It is also a good way of storing your tender on the swim platform but in my view only if you are going to use your boat in flat calm seas as a nasty chop or rough weather will cause a lot of stress to your tender, the swim platform and the fixings and straps.

1 minute and 31 seconds into clip.

in the clip the flybridge doesn't have a hurley davit but the tender is located centrally and well onto the swim platform. Still gets a good soaking and stress on the fixings after which he loses it. If that was a hurley then I reckon he would have lost the tender a lot sooner as half the tender would have been overhanging the platform.

Hope my experiences with this type of system help.

 

[KINGFISHER 8]

Thanks for the advice … I can promise you I don't go anywhere in any sort of weather but if I did get caught out I can still put it on the flybridge as a last resort. As for retrieving it, it only weighs about 28 kilos and there will be two of us so I don't see it will be a problem. The swim platform top is 19" above the water and the davits jack it up a good bit higher. I sure as hell won't be out in waves like the video of Haulover Inlet and also. the way that dinghy shifted it looked like it was just sitting in its chocks without being tied on! ..... I'll let you know!

 

[Bouba]

Bouba it's very kind of you to post all those photos and explanations but Having looked at them I'm definitely going to get the Hurley H20 davits … just grab the dinghy and haul it aboard = 10 seconds, launching even quicker. I'll be taking the Torqeedo off so there won't even be the weight of that to worry about. I'm ordering the 10" extension option so there should be some room on the platform, all I've got to do is shift the liferaft canister and take the steps off - this won't matter because the only swimming I do these days is in the pool at home at 29 degrees! I'll post a pic when done. Another bonus is that there will also be a great big space on the f/b for sun loungers! Thanks again for your suggestions though - most kind.

Moving the swim ladder you say!! This is what I did this evening
Well I removed the old swim ladder (too big, always in the way) and put a discreet one in its place (but on the port side).
I used these to attach it, because they probably won’t stub your toes

I used eight because that is how many fixing holes there were on the ladder




The studs were long to clear the lip of the swim platform

And look! Four rungs!

Going to have to wait for the warm water to test it and see if it needs a hand hold or something.
My shoulders are killing me, lots of over head work

 

[Sticky Fingers]

I'm following this with interest. Thinking of using Hurley Davits on my boat.

 

[KINGFISHER 8]

Bouba that swim ladder looks useful. The Hurley davits turned up today which is pretty quick from England! Thankfully they look easy to fit! Did you have any trouble taking off the 2 round bar fittings for the swim ladder? Fixed with allen key bolts I think - no idea what size nuts I suppose because I'm afloat so will need a ratchet spanner!? Ive also got a big life-raft canister bolted through the transom right behind the ladder in a big stainless bracket - that'll have to go somewhere. I've got room on the port side but in the unlikely event of wanting to swim off the back I'd probably use one of those fender ladders … I've got a 4 step one in the garage somewhere! I've got 2 industrial size stainless cleats either side of the platform which I could hang it on.

 

[Bouba]

Bouba that swim ladder looks useful. The Hurley davits turned up today which is pretty quick from England! Thankfully they look easy to fit! Did you have any trouble taking off the 2 round bar fittings for the swim ladder? Fixed with allen key bolts I think - no idea what size nuts I suppose because I'm afloat so will need a ratchet spanner!? Ive also got a big life-raft canister bolted through the transom right behind the ladder in a big stainless bracket - that'll have to go somewhere. I've got room on the port side but in the unlikely event of wanting to swim off the back I'd probably use one of those fender ladders … I've got a 4 step one in the garage somewhere! I've got 2 industrial size stainless cleats either side of the platform which I could hang it on.

The swim ladder wasn’t hard to remove, but my boat is on the hard, I could just about reach both sides. If you do it in the water you probably need someone on the deck holding the Allen key and someone in the water. Think carefully how you are going to get back on the boat after you remove the ladder??