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Has anyone fitted dinghy snap davits? Is there any advice on sourcing and fitting them. Is there a viable alternative?
Hi Fred
Filibuster came with a dinghy that fits on snap davits at the back of the boat. They are brilliant – very easy to haul the dinghy out of the water and drop it back in situ. Great for loading and unloading, especially getting the engine on when the dinghy is still attached to Filibuster.
Importantly, because the davits act like a hinge, the dinghy can be used as a soft, low freeboard, MOB recovery platform.
Highly recommended. The model used looks like from Force 4 “Tender Snap Davit Kit”.
Another advantage of this type is that the snap release can be operated by foot whilst you are pulling the dinghy up off the davit hook. Makes launch a 1 man operation.
I’ll mail you a couple of pics showing how they fit on the boat – basically 4 bolts through the transom for each davit.
All the Best
Martin
Hi Fred,
We fitted Snap Davits to our B39 Lazy Pelican – as Martin said they’re brilliant. If you use your dingy a lot or it’s heavy they’re the only practicle way to store it. One bonus is that because the dingy is firmly attached to the transom you have a very stable platform to work from for mounting the engine and loading – no more dingy bobing around while you’re trying to mount the outboard!
The only down side we’ve found is the the lower tube drags in wave tops when we’re healed over on starboard tack. For that reason for longer trips we deflate the dingy, but in practice we’ve only done that on Channel Crossing’s.
We had 2 St/St ‘L’ brackets made up by Dave Goodwin in Fareham, which we bolted thro the transom below the bathing platform – the snap davits bolt to these brackets. I’ve possibly got some photo’s if you’re interested.
We bought ours from Force 4- they actually went rusty quite quicky. I took them back and the distibuter cleaned them – i’ll see how they go next season. To be fair F4 said they’d never seen them rust before.
Ron Hale marine in Portsmouth also sell them – i think US made so might be better quality.
When glueing the patch fittings onto you dingy make sure you follow the instructions ( particularly curing time) to the letter and they’ll never come off!John
Martin
I’d be very interested in seeing the photos as your boat is very similar to ours. We currently keep the dinghy deflated in a large bag on the foredeck. It’s a 2.8m Zodiac, big and stable but it is a pain to inflate, launch and recover – so we don’t use it much. Snap davits could be the answer.
BTW – what size is your dinghy and does it touch the water when heeled?
Roger
Hi Roger
The dinghy is a 2.3m Suzumar – fine for 2 of us, fun with 4!
When well heeled to port the dinghy can catch wave crests and even do a bit of ploughing – but that’s usually a sign to take some power off 😮
Attached are 4 clips showing the rear end of Filibuster.
A key installation consideration should be that the dinghy lies flat in the water (ie self supporting) when lowered but still on the davits – this allows easy stepping in/out without straining davits or dinghy.
Cheers
Martin
[attachment=3:2eu9jf92]fb davits 1.jpg[/attachment:2eu9jf92][attachment=2:2eu9jf92]fb davits 2.jpg[/attachment:2eu9jf92][attachment=1:2eu9jf92]fb davits 3.jpg[/attachment:2eu9jf92][attachment=0:2eu9jf92]fb davits 4.jpg[/attachment:2eu9jf92]
Thanks for all the advice and particularly Martin’s help in fittin Snap-Davits.
I eventually purchased Weaver Snap-Davits from Polymarine and chose the variety that fit flat on the swimming platform. I chose the 4″ extension so that the dinghy is clear of the backstay. It is easy and convenient to use but the dinghy does mask the stern navigation light and so I have modified it to be mounted on a pole raised 12″ above the push pit.
This is not strictly a davit reply, but given that others have mentioned the difficulties of recovering a heavy dinghy i thought i would share this!
We have a B32 and have an Avon Aero 310 as our dinghy – we attach a long piece of rope (think sheet sized) to the towing eye on the dinghy (dingy in the water on the port side), then take the rope across the coachroof under the boom and across to (we have fitted) a synchro block on the starboard side and back to a winch, 3 turns round the winch and across the cockpit to the other winch to route the rope back to where one of us is standing to help the dinghy over the rail, pull the rope with one hand and with the other guide the dinghy up and over the lifelines. all the weight is taken easily by the winch and if you have two of you this is even easier.
60 secs to route the rope, and another 30 to haul the dinghy out with no strained muscles etc
Davits are better, and we may well go that way eventually, but this is a lot simpler as most/all of the kit required is already on board!!
It works a treat for us with our not exactly light dinghy!
Regards
Simon
Inti – based in PooleHi Simon,
You may be interested in our dinghy sling which we have been using on our B34 saloma for many years now. PBO featured our idea in an article titled, ‘Sling your tender’ in August 2010 page74. The sling has similar benefits to the fittings featured in previous posts but has the advantage that it does not require the drilling of any holes through the transom. The dinghy can be hauled high enough to be clear of the water regardless of the weather conditions and you can have one made for less than £100. It works a treat and we would not be without it. I have attached some photo’s and you can go on line to see the article at PBO if you would like to make one as the article describes how.[attachment=0:osctq97d]P5170252.JPG[/attachment:osctq97d][attachment=1:osctq97d]P5190254.JPG[/attachment:osctq97d][attachment=2:osctq97d]P5170251.JPG[/attachment:osctq97d][attachment=3:osctq97d]P5170249.JPG[/attachment:osctq97d][attachment=4:osctq97d]P5170247.JPG[/attachment:osctq97d]
Thanks for the reply
I’ll certainly take a look.
Simon
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