Outboard engine hoist ideas please!

HappyAfloat

HappyAfloat

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Joined
13 Jul 2006
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Historic Dockyard Chatham
www.happyafloat.com
Hello All,

I am looking for outboard engine crane/hoist ideas.

Our current system of manhandling the outboard engine from the pushpit rail mount is not very satisfactory.

And a bonus question, any clever harness setups to provide a lift point for an outboard engine of 4hp?

As ever a picture paints a thousand words!

Thanks!
 
Off the top of my head, its only a small engine so fitting a Davit post that turns will do the job. Fit the bracket to the transom and fit the post as and when needed. You can fit a thicker rope or cable and winch even if needed,
 
Plastimo market a hoist which might be suitable. I was at one time thinking of making something similar
 
I do this all the time on my own with a 3hp, your 4hp wont be much heavier so you wont need a crane arrangement.
Make a harness for your engine from 1" webbing with an eye loop at the top. similar to above, though I have 1 loop.
Get a bit of line 8mm will do and attach a stainless hook in one end, other end to the pushpit length is such that when engine is attached it doesn't get dunked.
Come alongside mother ship, position outboard underneath lifting position, attach dinghy, attach lifting hook to harness, unscrew outboard clamps.
Climb aboard mother ship, go to pushpit grab hold of lifting line, lift outboard off dinghy and stow it on mother ship.
 
I recently made a davit for my outboard. It's just a length of stainless steel tube with a bend in it, and a couple of brackets, one fastened to the toerail, and the other welded to the taffrail. A lug welded at the top, takes the 3:1 tackle, and a cleat welded just about the bend, makes for easy handling. It's arranged so that the tackle is directly above the outboard when it's on its storage bracket. After lifting, it's then swung out, and is directly above the dinghy transom. It has made us much more willing to use the outboard. We made the lifting harness out of 1" webbing. It took some experimenting in the garage to get it right. It fastens together with a small carabiner, but it will normally just stay in place.
 
I made a harness for our 6hp 4 stroke outboard from the webbing strap of an old life jacket. The harness hook that was on the front of the lifejacket made a good strong lifting eye as well. Made in a figure of eight shape of just the right size to slip the loops tightly over front and back, it's not going to fall off by itself.

Screenshot_20220422-133946_Gallery.jpg

I went belt and braces with the lifting gear. I doubled up on block and tackle with some snap clips to clip onto the hook at the top of the engine.

The stainless arm is the basic Force4 one because that came with a nice bracket that bolted to the toe tail and saved having to make any holes in the deck.
 
Martin_J said:
I made a harness for our 6hp 4 stroke outboard from the webbing strap of an old life jacket. The harness hook that was on the front of the lifejacket made a good strong lifting eye as well. Made in a figure of eight shape of just the right size to slip the loops tightly over front and back, it's not going to fall off by itself.

View attachment 133836

I went belt and braces with the lifting gear. I doubled up on block and tackle with some snap clips to clip onto the hook at the top of the engine.

The stainless arm is the basic Force4 one because that came with a nice bracket that bolted to the toe tail and saved having to make any holes in the deck.
Click to expand...

The harness looks quite neat and tidy!
 
I have the outboard and harness but how easy is the force 4 stainless arm to attach ? I was considering one as the 6hp yams are not like the little 3.3 merc to lower down . The float your boat davits seem out of stock but has anyone fitted a pair?
 
If you are going to the trouble of making a device to lift an O/B and you intend sailing 'offshore' you may want consider some, serious, over engineering and make it suitable to retrieve a MOB. If you read MOB threads one of the big issues is - even if you find the MOB but they are incapable - how do you get them back on board. For many yachts -if short handed it would be night on impossible.

Jonathan
 
Neeves said:
If you are going to the trouble of making a device to lift an O/B and you intend sailing 'offshore' you may want consider some, serious, over engineering and make it suitable to retrieve a MOB. If you read MOB threads one of the big issues is - even if you find the MOB but they are incapable - how do you get them back on board. For many yachts -if short handed it would be night on impossible.

Jonathan
[/QUOTE

I don't think you have to be "offshore" for MOB to be a problem. But I have to say that as soon as I saw my davit in place, the potential for use in a MOB situation came to mind. I decided that it wasn't high enough to be useful, and that (God forbid) I would probably use the dinghy, which is always and instantly available. Once the casualty is in the dinghy, there's time to worry about getting them aboard.
Click to expand...
 
There are many ways to skin a cat and for MOB you need as many options as possible. Wheras a dinghy is one solution - its not going to work in many situations - rough water for a start. I'm all for using whatever you have. I can think of inshore waters and weather where I would not want to be trying to drag a comatose individual into a dinghy

If they have harness or are wearing a LJ - you need to get close enough to them to get a halyard, or any bit of cordage onto the harness - with the high topside of most modern yachts - that means the transom or an amidships ladder. Think worst case scenario - the MOB is incapable of helping themselves. You are also going to become wet and cold - immersion suits are one answer - if you have time to put one on.

Actually the worst case scenario is you get them along side and tethered - but they then die because you cannot get them on board.

And it will haunt you for the rest of your life.

On the Clipper boats - on the last event - they recovered - a body. So they did everything right but that was not enough. I don't know why he died, heart attack, the water too cold, hit his head as he went over the side.


When we go offshore my rule to crew is - if you go over the side, you will die. I recommend moving around deck on hands and knees, life lines through stanchions are a compete waste of time if you are standing up - you would go straight over without touching them. If you crawl you are below the top life line. I prefer to have people feel they are wimps (including me). Having raced in the past we have a rather large number of harnesses and tethers - we use two tethers each, one to the jack stays and one to a hard point. MOBs are preventable - and you are the skipper and you are responsible

I don't want to be haunted for the rest of my life.

My father sat in a life raft with his crew of 5 on the 1st December 1941. Being December is was cold and they were wet and had been in the raft for 3 days. They were picked up by a German flak ship. The crew on the flak ship treated then well, hot showers, hot food, dried their clothes - they vacated their berths.

The flak ship came alongside the dinghy and threw down 'man ropes'. - I think that is what they are called - sort of big nets that hung down the side of the ship. None of the men in the life raft we're capable of getting out of the raft and the crew of the flak ship had to come down and manhandle them, one at a time.


Jonathan
 
If you outboard is 2 stroke then yes probably no need for a crane. I have a 4 stroke yamaha that weighs 27kg (according to Google). I love my dinghy crane and would not be without it. The one I have can lift 100kg so good enough to get a MOB back with the help of a winch.

TS
 
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