How do you secure an inflatable RIB in davits?

Saguday said:
We have a small rib on davits. 3 lifting eyes mounted on the fibreglass bottom make it relatively straightforward to lift, which I realise doesn't help the OP very much.

However, one thing I would say is that we *never* lift the dinghy onto the davits with the outboard on the transom - just too much weight not balanced properly and I hate to think what loads would be generated in any kind of seaway. We have a separate engine crane (not expensive) next to the davits with a 6:1 tackle and a pad mounted to the stern rail to sit the outboard on. It's a bit of faff to lift on and off but not too bad once you get into the swing of it, so to speak. Engine is a 10HP Tohatsu 4-stroke.

For a non-rib inflatable dinghy I'd suggest the first thing to do is have an arrangement for storing the outboard separately, which will eliminate a whole world of stress and make tube-moounted lifting eyes more feasible.

All IMHO, YMMV etc etc
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I think that removing the engine from the dinghy before lifting the dinghy in its davits does away with half of the pleasure of having davits!

Our davits are rated at 85kg lift each and the advice is that the total load of dinghy plus outboard should be within the load spec of each davit. We always leave the engine on the dinghy and the lifting wire at the ob end clips onto the transom immediately under the engine. The dinghy is an Avon airedeck with a glued on lifting eye in the bow.

One of the real pleasure of having the dinghy on davits is the ease with which you can lower it and be ready to go ashore.

I try to remember to leave the drain valve open when it rains... It would be easy to exceed the design load if the thing filled with water.
 
Yes, but... :)

Our dinghy is an AB RIB and weighs about 80kg. The outboard weighs another 40kg or so, giving an all up weight of about 120kg. This is within the safe working load of our davits (136kg each) but a) it's not a lot of margin if you should happen to take a lot of water in on top of that and b) it's bloody heavy to haul out of the water :)

We have done it, for storing overnight say or when moving anchorages in calm water, but it's actually easier to lift the engine off separately, especially when the kids are available to do the lifting! :D
 
My seago dinghy has both a towing ring and a pair of d rings either side.I have a webbing tape link between the two D rings joined in centre to a stainless triangle to which I clip the liffting line.
Once the dinghy is up I also secure the towing line and also if traveling along way secure the dinghy recovery lines to the davits.
On a nice day I just tow the dinghy.
 
john_morris_uk said:
I think that removing the engine from the dinghy before lifting the dinghy in its davits does away with half of the pleasure of having davits!
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Yes that's the joy of davits. I don't know how much ours are rated to but they were fine with a 68kg Walker Bay with a 15kg ob on the back. Blumin tough to lift though. The new one is 47kg with a 30kg ob so I'm fitting a handy billy to sort out the lift. For long term storage in the marina I'll take the ob off using one of the davits. But on hols you just want to lift the lot up in one go. I'll order some strops I think, I just don't trust glue that much.
 
Lazy Kipper said:
Thanks for that. Yes, inflatable bottom - SeaPro 340HD. It does worry me that it's taking a fair chunk of the 80kg. Glued lifting rings?
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I also use those patches, they take their share of 52kg inflatable + 27kg engine plus my weight when fitting the engine whilst it's hanging. You need to use the 2 part adhesive and leave for 7 days before loading - follow Polymarine's instructions.
 
prv said:
Surely a "soft-bottom RIB" is an inflatable? :)

A strap from the tip of the davit arm, under the dinghy, and back up to the davit seems like a seamanlike stowage arrangement to me.

If the aft end of the dinghy is heavier, then obviously the davit closer to its stern will be carrying more weight.

Pete
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Yes Indeed,

The 3.4 in a big Dinghy, the wooden panel at the back needs to have two stainless steel brackets made up for it so that the davit wire can hook either side of the transom (on the inside) so that the wire and then davit clears the engine when it is being lifted and when the outboard and dinghy are up.

Apologies - I am thinking Simpson Davits.

A word on the pathes - get a pro to do them and if possibly always have the bow higher than the stern with the bung out otherwise what could happen if you dont have a cover will fill with water and pull the patches away from the sponsons.
 
Yes, pro not me - I'm too good and breaking things.

I always left the dinghy very stern down. I also drilled a second bung hole in the Walker Bay in case the first got blocked.

New dinghy and o/b arrive Monday so we can test all these ideas over Christmas.
 
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