Davits... do you have them?l

[britinusa]

Before I plunge for a pair of davits, I'm curious how many c34 have them.

Also, if you have them, about how high from the water is the dinghy when fully raised?

Thanks

Paul

[Jim Hardesty]

I don't have davits.  My tender is a Zodiac with high pressure floor, my outboard is Honda 2(?) hp.  Sometimes tow sometimes deflate and store forward of the mast rarely store on bow inflated.  The outboard is easy for me to put on and take off in the water.  It is small and slow but mostly works very well for me.  If I bought a bigger/faster tender davits would probably be part of the upgrade.
Jim

[Dave Spencer]

I have a 9 1/2 ft aluminum RIB with a 4 hp 4 stroke Yamaha.  I pull the engine off and stow it on the rail every time we move the boat. I usually tow the dinghy but for longish passages, I haul it on deck and stow it fully inflated upside-down forward of the mast.  I also stow it on deck on the rare occasion when we are tied up at our marina since our slip is tight and leaving it floating off the stern intrudes in the fairway.

Check with your marina but by adding davits, you may be unwittingly adding 4 ft or so to the LOA of your boat that you'll have to pay for.

[Bill Shreeves]

I have an 8' Fiberglass RIB with a 6 HP 4-stroke Yamaha OB.  Long-story short, I'm tired of dealing with growth on the bottom and after a full season of keeping it on the foredeck during the week and putting it in the water during the weekend, I'm looking for an alternative.   I'm not really keen on davits on the back.   I think the boats a little small to hang an 8' dinghy on the back with davits and it will really get in the way of my great view of Worton Creek and watching the Bald Eagles, Osprey & Blue Herons etc..  So, I'm seriously considering a Dinghy-Tow system.  dinghy-tow dot com.   I exchanged a couple of emails with someone else on this forum that had one for years on his 34 and he loved it.  It was on the boat when he bought it.  If you haven't heard of it, take a look  I got a price from the mfg a couple of years ago and it was about $1,400 then.

[Jim Hardesty]

So, I'm seriously considering a Dinghy-Tow system.

Bill,   
When I was boat shopping looked at a Tartan 37 that had the Dinghy-Tow system.  The owner, a Canadian, sailed the boat to Cuba a number of times.  He sailed with a large dog that wanted a couple of trips to shore daily.  He had nothing but good to say about the Dinghy-Tow, said he felt very comfortable with the motor left on the tender.  He claimed it was very easy to use. I did look into installing one on Shamrock, just didn't think it would work out that well with the open transom and what I'm doing now, towing/on deck, works for me now.
Jim

[Jon W]

My boat came with Forespar brand davits that attach pretty high on the transom. I haven't used it much so don't remember how high above the water the dinghy sits. The dinghy's bridle height the davit blocks attach to affects that distance. I'll see if I can get a photo of the davits without the dinghy tomorrow and post.

The davits rotate inboard so they won't add to the boats length.

[Ken Juul]

10.5' rib.  Garhaurer davits.  Love em. stored in front of the mast for years.  Now in the water in 2 minutes.  Raised, the tender is above the deck.  Does limit the view astern.  Dont know how I did with out.

[lazybone]

10.5' rib.  Garhaurer davits.  Love em. stored in front of the mast for years.  Now in the water in 2 minutes.  Raised, the tender is above the deck.  Does limit the view astern.  Dont know how I did with out.

Ken,  could you post a few pictures of your installation?

[Jon W]

Here's a couple of photos of my Forespar davits.

[Mick Laver]

Hi folks
Well this post is timely. I've been considering dink davits (see post on on-deck gas storage) but I've always considered a 34 too small. I expected a lot more responses since dinghy stowage and deployment is an issue we all deal with at one point or another. It would be great to hear everyone's opinion and/or experience. But then there's this:

Mick Laver, Noah, Phil Spicer and 17 Guests are viewing this board.

C'mon guys! 35 bucks a year is a small price for such an invaluable resource as the C34 list.

[scgunner]

To davit or not to davit, that is the question. We all have different dinghies and different uses for said dinghies so ultimately you'll have to decide what works best for you.

Over 30+ years I've had three different dinghies and tried just about everyway I could think of for storing and deploying the dinghy. While I haven't tried davits(yet)I have hung the dinghy on the transom using dinghy hooks, the problem I encountered was the crosswise dinghy snagging something when maneuvering in tight quarters, I would think the up high farther back could exacerbate that problem. Also, as Dave mentioned you will significantly increase the length of your boat which may lead to increased slip fees and could even result in having to move to a bigger slip. All that said I've seen a few 34s with davits, they look nice and the owners seem to be happy with them.

As for me what I've finally settled on is storing upside down on the foredeck with a cover specially made for that purpose. It's mostly out of the way and I can deploy it in about 2min and get it back on deck using the main halyard in 5 or 6min.

[Jon W]

What brand and size dinghy do you store on the foredeck. How do you tie it down while underway?

[dfloeter]

We went around on this question last year.   I almost ordered the Garhauer davits and decided the weight both physically and visually would be too much and went back to hoisting on the foredeck with the spin halyard.  We have a full enclosure that would be difficult to rework around all that extra hardware.  Now after 7 months on this cruise we have been hoisting and retrieving every few days I am wishing we had davits.   The time we spend launching the dinghy and lowering the engine to the transom seems excessive when I watch somebody else lower the fully laden dinghy on the davits and motor away. 
Just another opinion.

[Roc]

I don't have davits, but do see boats of our size with them.  So far, I've taken the simple route of towing the dinghy.  I bought a Garhauer cleat and bolted it to the stern rail.  To minimize drag, I play with the tow length by getting the dinghy to ride the crest of the wake.  I watch my SOG increase a couple tenths of a knot and find the sweet spot.  Suspending it on davits gives you no drag, but so far towing has seemed to work fine.  Some marinas will charge you the "total" length of your boat, which includes davits.  So that's something to consider. 

My marina has a dinghy rack.  So when not in use, I store it there covered up with a silver tarp to shield it from the sun.  I pull it out and launch it when I'm planning a cruise.  Otherwise for day sailing, I don't need it and it stays put away in the rack.

[mainesail]

Our boat is not a C-34 but rather a CS-36T so has a similar hull shape to the MKI 34 or 36 MKI. The CS-36T weighs as much as a Cape Dory 36 so hanging a RIB back there does not impact how she sits in the water.

We do have davits and use them mostly as the "garage" for when the boat is on the mooring. It prevents growth and allows the dinghy to self drain when it rains. We also use the davits in calm sailing weather but the dinghy gets towed or goes on the foredeck in rougher weather. Davits are brutal on the push-pit, and the hull, and we have seen many of them fracture due to folks trying to use them in rough weather. The rear push-pit on our 36T is very robust, and was built of heavy wall .065 316 SS. Despite the heavy construction we have added support struts and anti-swing bars to the davit system to stiffen it up.

Another benefit of davits is the real estate for solar panels.

Our RIB is an AB Ventus 8VL. We typically run our Yamaha 2.5HP but we also use the Tohatsu 9.8 two-stoke as well. Most of the time the motor goes on the Edson outboard motor bracket.