Davits - need some advice

[gilbertM]

I have a 3.50 m rib on the back of my motor yacht. However the wire keeps breaking and the rib falling down.

The wire doesn't sound happy when winding up and eventually goes.

Does anyone have any experience of using, say vectran or some other material to lift up their ribs?

This is becoming very frustrating!

All tips gratefully received.

 

[tritonofnor]

Just a thought, but does one of the sheaves have a nick in it which is abrading the wire? Or is the wire parting where it's formed into a loop at the end? Wires on my mates boat, which has a 3.5 rib with a 15hp engine, are still going strong after more than ten years, and it's regularly exercised as his RIB's our pub taxi!

 

[Dalliance]

It sounds as though one of the sheaves may be missaligned causing abrasion of the wire.

 

[gilbertM]

So, I'm best off dismantling the davits to get at the sheeve? It seems a problem on both sides....

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

What gauge wire is it?

It maybe the wrong size for the sheaves, and hence perhaps 'rolling about' on the sheaves and this destroying itself, or more likely the sheaves, which is then exacerbating the damage to the wire..... or if it is oversize, not sitting properly on the sheave, with the same end game....

Just a thought....

 

[Searush]

Check alignment too. Are davits closer together - or further apart, than lifting points of RIB?