We own a '85 Catalina 36. I has a relatively narrow transom without a walk through. Our solutions is

[*]We have an 8ft inflatable sport dinghy, one with hard boards for a floor and an inflatable vee keel stowed on the foredeck
[*]We use the capstan on the anchor windlass to raise and lower the dink. A snatch block hoisted on a spare halyard is used to raise the dink with a line lead back to block on the deck.
[*]We have a 5 HP 4 stroke engine, 60 lbs. We use a davit on the transom with a 6 part tackle to raise and lower the motor. I'm in the dinghy and my wife lowers motor to me. We're 58 and 62 respectively so we're not talk brute force to get this done.

It works well and weight is more evenly distributed. The dink is small enough to be manageable and doesn't interfer with jib and we can open the vent hatches and crack the forward hatch. We can't exit from that hatch unless the dinghy is in the water. I didn't use davits as I thought the weight aft would be too much especially when we motor. The boat squats as it is under power.

This summer, we took a 900 nm 5 week trip anchoring often.

Regards,

Lou Bruska
Lake Macatawa (Holland), Michigan on Lake Michigan.

After a good deal of study I went with a Walker Bay dingy and installed Kato davits to hold it. I run a 3 hp Mercury engine on it that weighs about 30 pounds and I leave it on the dink. Get the heavy duty davits and the 6 to 1 pulley ratio. Launching it and retrieving is a cinch. The Walker Bay RIB has a deep v keel and floorboards to keep you dry, as well as storage lockers for the anchor, flares, and air pump plus some left over room. Kato will work with you on the installation and has pictures of the installation on boats similar to yours. The Walker Bay hull is not fibreglass so it will not blister. The Kato instructions are easy, and they will help with any questions you might have. I took the boat from Lake Erie and down the east coast. No problem with the dink, and you would not even know it is there as it does not affect boat trim.

I like the davit idea the best. If you get into big following seas, a towed boat can become a missile pretty quick.:eek:

We have discovered like many cruisers that a 10 ft RIB with a 10HP motor is what we need in order to do what we want to do. [We currently have the above rig with a soft floor and are not happy with it.]

To accomodate the dink, I installed 1.25" dia heavy duty tubing davits from Garhauer. I believe that bracing of the stern railing is appropriate to carry the weight of the dink and handle the dynamic loads that apply in a seaway.

The foredeck is the place for the dink when crossing oceans, but I feel that my davits are fine for anything I will be tackling. We have already been in some nasty stuff with no issues.

I have towed the dink a few times in questionable conditions and was grateful not to lose it permanently. I hope I never make that mistake again.

I, too, have seen and heard stories of folks getting away with all kinds of things, but I think it is only a matter of time before they don't get away with it and they are very sorry.

Good luck with your decision.

I have a big family, and since we almost always stay at moorings and the harbor launch will rarely take us to the beach, our dinghy goes with us everywhere.

We have a 11 1/2 ft inflatable with a plywood floor and 3.5 hp motor.

I typically tow it with a three point towing bridle and shock cord arrangement that spreads the towing loads out. I added the shock cords after a nasty cross wave snapped the dinghy sideways and almost pulled out one of the side towing mounts.

I remove the motor and store it on the transom.

Despite towing the dinghy 90% of the time, I don't like it.

At 5+ Knots, there is probably 50 lbs or more of towing force slowing me down.

Someday I will finally pull out one of the towing mounts.

For long trips, we use the spinnaker halyard and a lifting bridle to store the dinghy on the fore deck. However, if your dinghy spends any time in the water, this is a slimy job, and it requires a minimum of two people to accomplish.

Davits are definitely the way to go if you can afford it. They are also nice if you need to leave your dinghy at the mooring during the week. It really reduces the slime factor, and with a nice cover, it protects the dinghy from UV light too.