Installing and Using Davits

[Tomaret]

I keep my Dehler 36 CWs on a trot mooring in the West Country and overnight stays on walk ashore moorings are relatively rare.

I need to take my inflatable dinghy with me when I leave the mooring and am likely to use it to get ashore wherever I stop, so it needs to be readily accessible. It will store on t(e foredeck, but that makes access to the windlass for anchoring tricky and towing certainly slows me down, so I’m wondering about installing davits.

Has anybody got any experience about installing and using davits before I incur the cost and make big holes in the boat to fit them, please?

 

[dunedin]

A picture of the stern might help show what is feasible.
We fitted the Plastimo davits on a 38 footer which has a moderately wide stern with no stern scoop (opening swim platform instead). Needed strengthening under decks with glassed in plywood for fitting, but been a really good investment. Makes using dinghy a pleasure - and leave outboard on April to October which makes even easier. Plus keep a solar panel and a couple of ball fenders in dinghy on the davits.
BUT may be tricky if narrow stern and/or lengthy stern scoop.

 

[Tomaret]

No worthwhile photo to hand I’m afraid, but thanks for the response. I think that the sockets will fit, and I note the advice about glassing in. There’s no stern scoop, but I’ll have to resite the staff for my ensign.

 

[Laminar Flow]

My experience, including offshore, is that the suspended dinghy has to be at least 4' above the water to avoid slamming in a seaway.
The dinghy should not be wider than the mothership. This is not only a problem when heeled at sea, but the silly thing will also catch on every piling or neighbouring yacht. The rear end of inflatables is particularly well designed for this purpose.

On the upside, they make the dullest plastic boat look like a real ship, provide convenient, additional deck storage.

Only the canniest of harbour masters think of davits. I have often been asked whether I have a bowsprit. As at customs: you only answer, truth fully as that may be, questions asked.

 

[Tomaret]

Thanks. I think I can achieve the vertical clearance you mention. Re the dinghy length vs beam of the yacht, do you have in mind the beam at the transom or midships?

 

[Tranona]

At the transom, so you are probably limited to a 2.4-2.6m dinghy.

 

[Tomaret]

Thanks. I think I can achieve the vertical clearance you mention. Re the dinghy length vs beam of the yacht, do you have in mind the beam at the transom or midships?

At the transom, so you are probably limited to a 2.4-2.6m dinghy.

Thanks.

 

[Laminar Flow]

Ideally the width of the transom, but that is hardly achievable. So 3/4 width of the boat it is about max, I would say.

We started hanging our dinghy off the stern gantry about two years ago. I still have to remind my crew of it every time we leave port, especially since we got a larger dinghy with bigger tubes last year.

Our ship is pointy at both ends. Dinghy is 2.6m on 3.35 beam.

 

[Tranona]

Beam is 3.5m so 75% of that is 2,6m. It has a fairly wide transom which is probably about that at deck level.

 

[chris-s]

We ‘hang’ ours from lines over the pushpit rails whilst using a block on the backstay to lift it, but once secured there is no load on the back stay. Dinghy weighs about 26kg and won’t fit in the foredeck due to the babystay.

It doesn’t keep it as high as davits, when heeled well over it can slip to the low side and catch the waves, but most times pulling it a little higher or adjusting the lines gives it enough clearance.

For our use it works fine and with the ready made lines and snap-shackles is just as quick to use as davits.

 

[Stemar]

I see quite a lot of boats that carry their dinghies like that, and I always wonder if the windage of a dinghy on its side has any effect on performance. We fitted some second hand davits to Jazzcat and find them excellent and, as Laminar Flow said, they improve the look of the boat hugely.

For us, the big advantage is that we can leave the OB attached to the dinghy, which avoids having to manhandle the beast while standing in a dinghy that always wants to go off in the most awkward direction. To make lifting the extra weight easier, the bow end has 2:1 blocks and the stern 4:1, though it's my intention to have 4:1 on both for extra flexibility.

One last thought: you'll need to be able to tie the dinghy to the transom so it doesn't rub when things get bumpy.

 

[Supertramp]

My boat (35' hull) came with davits and they were massively installed from new with backing pads etc. They swing inboard 180 degrees when not in use. They turn my 36 into a 40 but outside of marinas I don't notice them.

They are great for cruising and quick and easy to use. I don't leave the outboard on but could. I have a 2:1 purchase on a 2.4m dinghy.

I agree with comments about keeping it up high as it can catch the water when heeled in seas. Water can collect in it, but not excessively when sailing as it slops out or drains. It needs well secured to stop movement in rough weather - I use two fenders to stop chafe.

Each boat is different and with a reverse stern #10's solution with or without davits looks good.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

This is a 36' boat with narrow stern that demonstrates that davits can be fitted onto special brackets mounted on the outside of the stern. In this case it allows the davits to be raised slightly higher than the davit base, flush mount option if fitted through the deck at the stern. No doubt a suitable raised table arrangement could also be fabricated inside on the stern.

Looking at the picture of the Dehler 36 CWs (1992) the room at the stern is quite restricted with the coaming and stern seat. Perhaps a mount like the image below would work better for your davit fitting.

 

[Stemar]

Measure the beam of your dinghy. You want the davits to extend at least half that so the dinghy can hang free and not rub as it's lifted and lowered.

 

[Jim@sea]

There was a story in the 1970's going round boat dealers about when a new Birchwood boat (Cabin Cruisers) was ordered the owner specified that he wanted davits fitting and when he hung his dingy on them the weight ripped the davits out of the transom.

I went to buy a Conway 26 and the builder said that he made his transoms strong enough to take davits,

I would be inclined to drill a hole where you would stick the davits on and measure the thickness of the GRP and ask boatbuilders.

 

[Tomaret]

There was a story in the 1970's going round boat dealers about when a new Birchwood boat (Cabin Cruisers) was ordered the owner specified that he wanted davits fitting and when he hung his dingy on them the weight ripped the davits out of the transom.

I went to buy a Conway 26 and the builder said that he made his transoms strong enough to take davits,

I would be inclined to drill a hole where you would stick the davits on and measure the thickness of the GRP and ask boatbuilders.

I’ve taken it as a given that it would be wise to glass in pads to strengthen the coaming.

 

[KompetentKrew]

My 40' boat came with davits, and they're wonderful. I would not be without them on a boat this size.

 

[Boathook]

I'm lucky that my dinghy just balances on my back deck with engine fitted, etc. It does increase the length of the boat but no harbourmaster has ever said anything, and if they did I would take the engine off and tilt the dinghy up to fit in the back deck.

 

[ashtead]

You can buy some nice Italian telescopic davits by oscalatti I suspect but at a price. A number of more recent Hanse etc have then fitted or there are some Nordic versions like these on attached. I recall that in a vid of sailing Ran he fitted some to the stern of their Najad .Appreciate these might not fit an older dehler though -had you thought of asking the owners association for views?

 

[Tomaret]

You can buy some nice Italian telescopic davits by oscalatti I suspect but at a price. A number of more recent Hanse etc have then fitted or there are some Nordic versions like these on attached. I recall that in a vid of sailing Ran he fitted some to the stern of their Najad .Appreciate these might not fit an older dehler though -had you thought of asking the owners association for views?

There isn’t an active Owners Association as there is, for example, for Moody, Sadler or Westerly. There used to be a website, but that’s disappeared. There are a couple of FB groups, one dedicated to the 36 CWs, but that didn’t elicit much response on davits.