I have an 11 ½ ft inflatable with a wood floor so it is inconvenient to deflate it. For short 2-3 hr trips I tow it, for longer trips I will put it on the foredeck using the spinnaker halyard to lift it.
I have four folding pad-eyes mounted on the dinghy's wood floor and a lifting bridle that I made which I attach to the halyard.

I have heard of folks pulling the bow onto the swim platform so just the stern is still in the water. I have been told this reduces the (considerable) drag vs. towing I have not, however, tried this myself or collected any comparison data.

I have a 12ft Porta-Bote. It folds up to 4" thick and we just lay it along the lifelines. The 6hp engine attaches to the stern rails. Not the best option out there but it gets the job done.

I don't carry mine. I tow it. It has a cover so it stays dry. The outboard hangs on my C36 sternrail. I've towed the dinghy in winds over 35 knots and waves of over 10 feet. No problems.

If you carry your dinghy on your foredeck in a fashion that blocks your access to your furling gear, anchor, etc., you're creating a dangerous condition.

Fred J.
Amante #2209

Fred, I tow my inflatable dink only when the sea conditions and winds assure me that it won't go airborne. I had this happen once, on a training cruise...the winds flipped the dinghy, then the "vacuum" created by the sea undulations plastered the upside down dink firmly to the water, the tow rings and handles ripped from the dink, and then we had to chase it down and retrieve it.

But I agree with you, I don't like it on the foredeck. If I must carry it there, I tie it securely, bow forward and bottom up. On the foredeck it smells up the V-berth, makes the V-berth very dark, obstructs the forward hatch as an emergency exit, gets entangled in the jib sheets, and impedes access on the foredeck. Fortunately, conditions that force me to carry the dink there are relatively rare in the Pacific Northwest.

In a few weeks I will be taking High Flight north again for the summer, from Portland to Puget Sound, and as is my offshore policy, the dink will NOT be onboard. I'll drive it up later.

When I tow the dink, I have the painter tied fairly short...the dinghy bow riding no more than 2 to 3 feet aft of the stern. This "short scope" has a number of benefits: it controls the dink better, preventing premature flips, I believe it to be more economical, and importantly, it makes it less of a nuisance when backing out of a slip in confined quarters. (Pssst, don't tell anyone, but I have actually climbed into and from the dink underway, because at C36 cruise speed and with the bow-high angle of the dink, opening the drain plug will empty the dink in short order. Significantly, I had competent crew aboard the mother ship while I was doing this.)

See photo taken underway, showing the distance aft at which we tow the dink. What you see in the dink is a large piece of styrofoam that we came across in south Puget Sound. It's our policy underway to occasionally "help the environment" by retrieving significant flotsam, and then getting rid of it in the next marina's dumpster. It's kind of a practice crew overboard...circle back, extend the boat hook and "stab" the "victim"...hey, just like the real thing.

For what its worth I have Weaver Davits to carry a 12 ft inflateable with the motor on the stern rail. They are very compact and a fantastic arrangement for the MK11 stern. I only have the dinghy on board when I expect to use it and with this system it only takes a couple of seconds to drop the dinghy down to allow access to the swim step. Well worth considering in my opinion as the dinghy is firmly anchored to the stern, they are hardly noticable without the dinghy attached, leaves the foredeck clear and no lifting.

Peter, I wasn't aware of Weaver Davits, but looking at them on the Weaver website they look promising. Any chance of your posting a couple photos of your installation on the Mk II? It would be very helpful.

Will do Larry - just as soon as I can get down to the boat.

Larry,
As requested, attached are the photos of the Weaver Snap Davits on my boat.
They are simply bolted to the transom as you can see. It is necessary to glue two yokes onto the dinghy sides, the glue is permanent. I changed dinghys and was able to by spare pads only, keeping all the other fittings.
I don't have a photo of the dinghy lifted into position but there are plenty in the Weaver Catalog. I can't imagine a more simpler or convenient method of stowing the dinghy.
Hope this is of interest.

Peter, that setup is sweet. Presumably you tie a line to the stbdside of the dink and just tilt it up into the stowed position??? The installation doesn't look difficult, either on the swim platform or on the inflatable dink. This arrangement would solve so many problems, and at a reasonable cost.

Thanks for sharing on the forum.

A homemade solution, try this: [url]http://www.c34.org/projects/kindred-spirit/davits.html[/url]

It appears the stern of our Mark I boats would be too narrow for the Weaver System, because only a short portion of the dinghy would be supported, compared to the posted photos of the Weaver system above.

Thanks for posting that, Stu. There is no doubt that many sailors get quite clever in finding affordable ways to achieve a result.

Currently I tow my dingy behind on a leash and it seems to work well on my 30" Catalina I used a dingy tow which was reasonably easy to install and worked well, as long as you did not mind the many comments about which way are you going?
[url]www.dinghy-tow.com[/url]

Hi there,

I made a similar Weaver Davit installation on our 36 MkII but quickly found that even with only a few degrees of heel (like while motor sailing), the stern of the dinghy was dragging in the water to the extent that the whole dinghy was bouncing around to an alarming degree.

It is now back on the fordeck!

Dave Girling
Sanssouci #1628

So far if we use our 3.5 hp motor we store that on the rail and bring the dink up close. Usually it's nose is up on the swim platform. But I am curious if any have ever carried a bigger motor such as a 9.9 by rigging up some type of mount so the skeg of the motor rest on the swim platform on a board and the rest is mounted to the swim ladder. Our 9.9 weighs 85lbs and is to heavy I feel to mount on the rail. As I have no room either on the rail.

Randy

Looking to resurrect this issue.  I have a 1989 Catalina Mk1 and I am looking to store my 9' RIB while in my slip and possibly on short cruises.  I do not want a crane davit system.  I have been looking into the weaver davit system and a German made "TenderConnect" system.  There is also the Edson "C" hooks and I have also been thinking about making a hanging system using wide webbing.  Any thoughts, experiences or ideas would be much appreciated.

Brian, #994 1989 "Sailis Office", Long Beach, Ca

Any reviews on the flex dinghy rings?

Questions for Peter Taylor:
When you raise the dinghy with the weaver davits, is there room enough to store your outboard on the stern rail motor mount? 

I see some have raised concern about the dinghy being exposed to the water while under heel. We have a relatively short dinghy at 8 1/2 feet. It's hard to imagine a problem in the typical conditions we sail in.

Paul
I have an 8 ft Dinghy and never had problem with it dragging in the water and we sail very often in 20 to 30 knots down here. I imagine with a larger Dinghy it might be a problem. 
In any case I keep a 3.3HP motor on the stern rail motor mount at the same time. Dinghy just pulls up against it. I keep it tight to prevent rubbing with two ropes at each end tied to the stern rail. I specifically bought a small Dinghy so I could pack it and stow it below where it lives most of its life. It’s not hyperlon so not recommended to leave in very hot summer sun which we have Jan to March.  It’s a Zodiac 2.3 m air deck and only weighs about 20 kg. It’s much better than the first heavier Dinghy I had but only good for two people and a dog. 
I’m very pleased with this simple solution for my purposes. 
Hope this helps. 
 

Thanks Peter.
One more question. Our dinghy is somewhat beefy- weighs in at about 120 pounds without motor. Tows like a brick which is why we are interested in davits. (Double hulled Hypolon Caribe). I think we might need a block and tackle to hoist the side up and out of the water. How much does yours weigh? 
Thanks again!

Davits

I I ↵My boat is a fresh water boat, so the comment about the smell isn't a problem.  I store my dinghy on the foredeck. I have a deck mounted vertical windlass with a capstan.  The boat has two deck mounted u-bolts in the bow to attach my jack lines.  The dinghy has two eyes for towing and I use the towing bridle to raise and lower the dinghy.  My rig is as follows:

1. I attach two snatchblocks to the each of the deck u-bolts and one to the spinnaker halyard.  
2. I attach the towing bridle to the dinghy, then run a line (an old light air spin sheet) through the block on the halyard to one of the snatch blocks on the deck.
3. I raise the halyard with enough height to allow the dinghy with bridle to be raised totally above the height of the lifelines.  
4. I then put a few wraps on the capstan and then through the remaining snatch block.  (This is necessary to get a clean horizontal lead on and off the capstan drum.
5. Using the foot pedals for windlass I raise the dinghy above the lifelines.  It is necessary to keep some tension the line.
6. Either my wife or I move the dinghy (nearly weighless at this point) to the rail and lower into the water.
7. I (or we) tie off the dinghy with its painter and clean up the tackle.  At our leisure, we can move the dinghy to the stern and set the motor on.

Retrieving is the reverse of this.  A point was made about the problem of the dinghy blocking forward hatch.  While underway that is true unless we tow it short distances in calm conditions.  We're on the Great Lakes and anchorages in the North Channel or Georgian Bay are often close together 5 or 10 miles apart.  At anchor or on a dock, I raise the bow of the dinghy with bridle using the spinnaker halyard.  Generally there's enough room to allow the hatch to be opened to full open.  If is there is rain, I can lower the dinghy and hatch cover to allow air in the forepeak and use the dinghy as rain cover.  This is a trial and error method, it depends on the wind.

​Lou Bruska
​Sojourn C-36 Mk 1 hull # 495
 

Does anyone feel that placing a 120 lb. pound dinghy on stern mounted davits of a C-36 raise the bow ? Reason I ask is; that was a comment that came up in conversation and steered me away from buying a longer (heavier) dinghy.
Bill

Bill- 
The technically correct answer is yes, a 120 pound dinghy hanging a few feet behind the transom will raise the bow. But, not by much. I would call it insigificant.

I will be installing davits this spring and our dinghy weighs exactly that amount plus we have a small engine. More important concerns than waterline impact are; can the davits themselves handle the weight in your expected cruising conditions? Is the dinghy length going to interfere with healing or compromise your handling options in rough conditions? 

Bill-
Attached is picture of Garhauer davits (Model DD 6-2) (an engine hoist is also in the picture) mounted on a 2001 C36MKII. Fortunately, this boat was local to me and I had an opportunity to meet with the owner. His 2001 boat has a different stern rail configuration than our 2005 (in the seat areas), but I will still be able to utilize these davits. I'm not sure about the configuration of your stern, but maybe the picture is helpful.

I will document the project when the wheather warms. I do have one additional challenge; the boatyard has our boat's stern pushed very close to a bulding which gives me limited work access. 

I've managed reduce the file size and attach the davit pitcture would not attache to an earlier post

One more davit image showing support for stern rail

Thanks Paul, that helps a lot. Bill