Stupid Question: Should I fit davits to my 32ft motorsailer?

yodave

yodave

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Hi,

I'm a newbie, and have just bought my first boat. It's a 70s, 32ft GRP motorsailer.

With the new season just around the corner, I'm wondering whether I should tow my rigid dinghy behind as I explore the East coast (UK) ...or look at other alternatives such as fitting davits at the stern.

I realise that there's a real issue with the boat being at an angle when sailing. Can't say I've seen many yachts / motorsailers with davits (they tend to be bigger than 32ft I guess)...so is this a really stupid idea?

AND ...if it is a stupid idea (okay I admit that it probably is), then are there any alternatives worth considering?

Thanks for any feedback.

D
 
Davits are wonderful things in that they make it very quick and easy to launch and retrieve your dinghy.... but....

They would IMHO be very marginal on a 32'er... its likely that the tender will be as wide as the boat, so would both look a bit odd, and also be a liability in a marina....

Also remember that they may well add to your berthing costs.

Final thing.... maneouvering a boat as a newbie can be challenging enough as it is, without two 'spears' sticking out the back of the boat.... worth a thought!
 
I'm also having to make the same decision on my 33' - had the davits for a year now and still hav'nt made my mind up yet. On balance I probably won't use them - on short trips I tow my rigid dinghy and on longer trips I have an inflateable which stows in a locker - oh and the grandchildren love mucking around in the inflateable!
 
Morgana & PetiteFleur: Thank you both for your answers.

I'm thinking that towing is the best option for my first season ...and then if there's a better solution, I might tackle that over the winter.

Thanks again... D
 
yodave said:
Hi,

AND ...if it is a stupid idea (okay I admit that it probably is), then are there any alternatives worth considering?
Thanks for any feedback.
D
Click to expand...

You do not say what make your motorsailer is, but Unless you want to be talked about Davits on a Motor sailer is a definite No No.

What do you really want the dingy for, really how often will you use it?, sell the dingy and get a liferaft if your worried about sinking! or an inflatable if you desperate to keep one, or leave the dingy on your mooring if you have a buoy mooring.
 
Hi Caer Urfa,

Thanks for your reply. I have a liferaft, so the dinghy is for getting to & from my mooring, or anchorage etc.

If it's a day trip then the dinghy will be left on the mooring ...it's more for when I head off for a few days, and might need to get ashore from a visitor mooring/anchorage.

Thanks again... D
 
Caer Urfa said:
You do not say what make your motorsailer is, but Unless you want to be talked about Davits on a Motor sailer is a definite No No.

What do you really want the dingy for, really how often will you use it?, sell the dingy and get a liferaft if your worried about sinking! or an inflatable if you desperate to keep one, or leave the dingy on your mooring if you have a buoy mooring.
Click to expand...

I'm tempted to make an enemy for life here, and say "what a load of bollox"!
OK - that's it then.
If you get out and about, you need a means of getting ashore from the anchorage, and if you've bought a motorsailer, it's possible (though not mandatory) that you have finished with sleek hulls and giant genny's and are settling down to more sedate cruising.
That includes dropping the rib off the back and stepping down into a stable craft to get safely ashore before the guy next door has lugged and pumped. So, davits are de-rigeur.
Also, anyone who tows a dinghy that is too heavy to bring aboard is paying by the gallon nowadays.

Having said that, the OP is not talking about this scenario - just somewhere to dump a punt for the trip to the mooring, so do just that - leave it on the mooring.

It was the inference from 'C U' jimmy that davits are a no-no that incensed me.
 
Billjratt: thanks for your comment.

Interesting & controversial... and here was me thinking that it was really a stupid question, that I shouldn't have posed on the forum.

Thanks again... D
 
I can't think why you wouldn't want davits, why would you want the hassle of towing a dinghy - especially in a marina? Just because you have a motor sailer why would you want to go even slower by towing? We had davits on our 27ft cat which was 11ft at the stern so not much wider than say a Colvic Watson 32's overall 9+ft beam. It made using the tender so much easier and how much are you going to heel in a motor sailer? I wouldn't want to hit anything going astern but an inflatable is a soft bumper! Saves the hassle of inflating and deflating a muddy tender as well.
 
Get a decent inflatable

Let's avoid davits as a matter of personal taste, though Morgana's comments about manouvering and berthing costs are good.

Towing a dinghy is THE no-no, not just because of the surprising amount of drag, but more the point that if the wind and seas build up at all it will be a really serious liability.

If it gets swamped the drag will suddenly become huge, almost certainly stopping your motor-sailer dead in the water, not good in big waves.

If the painter ( or attachment, or whole bow ) doesn't break, which is very likely, you would be left with this waterlogged millstone around your neck !

There's a strong possibility the dinghy will capsize, and then you have a fine pickle on your hands; it may well be a case of having to cast it free and leave it to its' fate, in which case inform the coastguard so that a search isn't started when an empty boat comes ashore.

If it breaks free, you may find yourself getting into all sorts of scrapes trying to 'rescue' it, remember the dinghy will be far too heavy to lift a side and try to drain ( and there's the distinct risk of you or crew going over the side in trying ) and it won't be stable enough for anyone to get in and bail, even if waves aren't going over it all the time.

The answer ? This is why inflatable dinghies were invented ! With a bit of organisation it need not be a chore inflating or deflating, especially with an LVM Hi-Speed inflator. if using one of these make sure you connect it to the ships ( or a small, dedicated ) battery, NEVER through the boats' wiring or cigarette lighter socket, the current draw is high enough to melt wires or even start a fire.

If shopping for an inflatable, remember you will be stuck with it for years, and if you choose well it will become a trusted friend.

The larger tube sizes like Zodiac and some others are far preferable, but relatively expensive.

Budget dinghies are just that in equipment & handling, you get what you pay for.

Round Tail rather than solid transom dinghies roll up MUCH smaller, and still come with ( or have available ) brackets for small outboards.

Lots of thin floor slats allows rolling up smaller than a few big ones.

Once you have a decent inflatable, you don't need davits, but you could hang an inflatable from those if you wish, plenty of people do and it's a free country !
 
The weight of a hard dingy on davits will put a lot of strain on the deck fittings, so some extra bracing will be needed which will take up a fair amount of space on a 32 footer.
Davits on your size of boat would be more suitable for an inflatable (without an engine attached)!
Other options for an inflatable, apart from rolling it up, are to store it on the fore deck (partially or fully inflated), or hoisted vertically up the back stay and supported by the transom, but this is dependent on the boat design.
 
How big / heavy is your 'hard' dinghy?
If it is something like an 8' Walker Bay, then it will be relatively small and light.
And what sort of Motorsailer have you got?
Would there be room to stow a hard dinghy on deck up forward, upside down for longer passages?
OK, I realise that this is a lot more hassle than simply hoisting a dinghy up on davits, but maybe this could be one possible alternative if you decide to not have davits.
 
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I would look at storing either a hard dinghy or an inflatable vertically across the transom if possible - have just done this with my 34 ft yacht as I didn't want the extra weight and mounting hardware in davits. Of course it has to be shorter than the heeled waterline beam to avoid inadvertant immersion. Strongly recommend against towing in the open sea.
 
I am amazed at the depth of feelings expressed by one or two on this seemingly innocuous subject.

Rather than get into a slanging match, I can relate our experience.

We have a 39 foot boat and we used to keep the inflatable dinghy on the aft deck. It worked ok - but we still had the hassle of getting the outboat motor on and off it whenever we wanted to go ashore from an anchorage or a mooring. A few years ago I fitted some davits and i can honestly say that they are one of the best things we ever fitted tio the boat. I managed to pick up some Simpson davits at a clearance sale and they are substantial and seriously heavy duty - but they mean that the Avon (air deck) inflatable is lifted up comfortably and easily with the engine still attached. Its is the work of a few seconds to lower the dinghy to go ashore, and with the engine already on and ready to go, we find ourselves anchoring more and more.

Its not just the ease of use - but the extra room we have on board. We don't need to stow the dinghy, and we don't need to worry about stowing the outboard.

I just don't understand the negative comments that some people make. Of course you have to be careful when manoevering, but so what. Furthermore I don't recall too many harbours wanting extra money. Size of boat and whether they will look ok is an issue - but I don't think a motor sailor will look out of place with a dinghy on davits, and modern inflatables stow very well on them.

Just my two pence worth.
 
I have a 31' motor-sailor and always take my inflatable, a small Zodiac, on cruises. Until the first port of call it is below in a locker, un-inflated. It is an essential item in most of my anchorages to get ashore.

CC08G-10c.jpg

I would favour davits but my yacht (HR94) has a canoe stern and I already have a wind generator mounted on the port quarter - there is just no room for them.

I never tow the dinghy after experiencing one of the notorious and instant Adriatic bora gales when the dinghy was airbourne on its painter most of the time - ending up inverted and with a parted painter (luckily it was doubled up by lines through the metal underwater rings).

Now I use a halyard to hoist onto the foredeck where it is lashed down inverted, a simple task even single-handed; the outboard having been hoisted onto a pushpit bracket by a block fitted to the wind generator mast.
 
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I put one on ours but hardly use it.If dinghy is up right it fills up it fills with water, on its side you can't see behind and in a following sea its a pain.
 
I share one or two people's surprise at the 'anti-davits' comments..... while I expressed a view that on a 32'er they are marginal, i'd just like to add for the record, that I have davits on my 40'er and absolutely love them... they make launching and retrieving the dinghy an absolute doddle....
 
Weaver Davits

On our Sadler 290 we have Weaver davits (actually pattern made Italian copies sold by IBS inflatables) which we find a real boon. Although she's only a 29footer, she has a broad transom & a stern cockpit door so adapts very well to this arrangement. Our inflatable (2.3m Wetline roundtail) is pretty well permanently inflated. We use it to get out to our swinging mooring, clip on , safely transfer stores & passengers, then haul it up on the davit "hinges" & secure to pushpit. I reckon it takes probably less than 1 min to launch the dinghy! TBF this arrangement would not lend itself to a narrow transom.

On previous boats I have used the LVM to inflate/deflate conveniently powering it from one of those car portable starter batteries (17AH & recently replaced in Maplins sale for £20) which I always carry on board though never intended for main engine starting.

Have just purchased a Loadstar 2.6m inflatable for our cruise this year which will keep us much drier & be more suitable when we have to anchor off some distance. I doubt that it will have such a neat appearance on the davits as the Wetline.
 
Seajet said:
Towing a dinghy is THE no-no, not just because of the surprising amount of drag, but more the point that if the wind and seas build up at all it will be a really serious liability.
Click to expand...

I've been towing rigid dinghies for years and have only once had a problem - when nasty seas round the Oa fell into the dinghy and swamped it. Even that was relatively easily solved by towing alongside for the nasty bit.

Dunno about those rubber things, but apart from the drag, towing a well designed rigid dink isn't nearly as bad as people seem to fear.
 
'Fear' doesn't really come into it, I was basing my assertions on personal experience and that of people I know; common sense is a factor too for an experienced sailor, I expect you take more precautions in every way than you realise, Uber.

Try reading the late great Adlard Coles' experience of towing a dinghy across Lyme Bay in early editions of 'Heavy Weather Sailing' - his problems started long before the heavy weather.
 
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