Dinghy davits on MK I?

[Steve Weiss]

My '86 Mk I has the narrow transom, has anyone installed davits on one of these? If so, what brand of davits and what size dinghy will work? I have seen at least one picture of a Mk I with Kato davits installed (on Kato's website) so I assume it should work. I'm thinking that I will need this kind of system to make getting my 80 lb dog in and out of the boat less of a potential MOB situation.

[Les Luzar]

Steve,
On my gangway there is a C-34 Mk 1 (1990) with dinghy davits mounted on the stern toe-rail and the upper stern rail. There is also an 89-90 C-36 with the davits mounted on the transom and the top stern rail. I don't think that the brand matters, as long as you are happy with the davit design, you can fit dinghy davits if you like. It will work. I have been thinking of doing this myself so I have been paying attention recently. But I am not ready to pull the trigger. I have other projects for my boat bucks first!

[Les Luzar]

Here is a photo for you....

[Steve Weiss]

Steve,
On my gangway there is a C-34 Mk 1 (1990) with dinghy davits mounted on the stern toe-rail and the upper stern rail. There is also an 89-90 C-36 with the davits mounted on the transom and the top stern rail. I don't think that the brand matters, as long as you are happy with the davit design, you can fit dinghy davits if you like. It will work. I have been thinking of doing this myself so I have been paying attention recently. But I am not ready to pull the trigger. I have other projects for my boat bucks first!

Thanks Les. What about the dinghy length issue, do you know anything about that? I would think that the dinghy couldn't be too long without possibly dipping into the water when the boat heels.

[Les Luzar]

Steve,
I have sailed on a few boats that had dinghy's hanging from their davits. First of all, you want to get the dinghy as high as possible, and then secure it so that it does not swing around. This way, if you are heeled over, the dinghy will stay put and centered on your stern. I don't have any experience having a dinghy hit the water on the davits, maybe someone else can answer that for you, but the key is getting the dinghy up high and securing it. Of course if you are carrying your dinghy, you should make sure that you are not overpowering your boat so that you are not heeled over so far that this is a problem. Set your sails appropriately and reduce sail appropriately and you should be fine. Also, on beam reaches or broad reaches, you will sail more upright anyway. Keep in mind also that you will not always have your dinghy on your davits... Also I don't know what size is too big, perhaps 10 ft is pushing the limint, but between 8 to 9 ft should be fine.

[Steve Weiss]

Thanks. I was figuring between 8 and 9 ft, I'll probably go with 8.5 or less to be on the safer side.

[Stu Jackson]

Steve, before you do that and buy too small a dinghy, stop and think about it some more.

In most cases, when it comes to dinghies, bigger IS better.  Unless you only intend to row to shore from anchorages, if you're planning to use a motor on it, you'll find it a lot more fun and useful if you get the biggest one you can get, which usually for our boats is the 10'-2" model.

OTOH, you might well be happy with a 3 hp engine on an 8'-6" dinghy, but the tubes will be smaller and the load carrying will be a lot less.

You could also continue to solicit input here to see if anyone has a 10'-2" dinghy on davits.  If the davits are high enough, the length shouldn't be an issue.

Just don't want you to end up with too small a dinghy.

We have a 10'-2" Zodiac high pressure air floor after having an 8'-4" WM with a 1.2 hp.  Night and day.  No davits, fits on the foredeck, but that's not my point...

[Brad Young]

We have a Compact Rib 310 10'2" (west marine). It was on the forward deck for a few cruises, however I felt that it was always in the way. It made anchoring difficult at best. It covered the windless, so I had to  untie it and move it to one side,  a major pain.

I have installed Garhauer Davits ( 36in ) on my MkI. I bought them used from the "for sale" page on this web site. Got a great deal.  They came with one cross bar, I added another.  I placed them on the stern as high as possible and attached to the pushpit rail. I also placed eye bolts in the floor and the stern of the dinghy. This brings the dinghy even higher. I  cross tie the dinghy to the boat  and put another line in the middle. It does not move much. I have been in pretty steep 6ft waves @ 3 sec intervals with 30+ knots. Not once did I feel it was a danger.

[Ken Juul]

Garhauer is definitely the way to go.  Mark or Guido know Catalina.  They will ensure you get all the bits and pieces you need.  If you can wait for a Boat Show that they have a booth in you can save a bunch.  I got my 1.5" davits for about 1/2 the price of the 1" set at the Annapolis Boat Show a couple years ago.

[Stephen Butler]

Would second Stu's comments on dinghy size...bigger is better.  We have a 11'2" Avon that is too big, but was practically a gift and while it is large, it is great to have the capacity and size.  We push it with a 3hp ob.  As for storing it, we keep thinking about pulling it on deck or getting davits, but for now and the last 7 years, we simply tow it, snugged up close to the stern.  No difficulties as yet, even in a fairly stepp seaway, with the ob off.  Just a thought.

[Steve Weiss]

This is great information guys, thanks. I guess I'll re-think things, seems safe to go with a bigger dinghy. I have a Torqueedo electric outboard which I used with my old dinghy (9 ft), hopefully it will work for something up to around 10 ft. I'll call Garhauer to see what they can recommend for davits.

[Brad Young]

Here is a pic of my Davits.

[Steve Weiss]

Here is a pic of my Davits.

That's a nice looking setup. Do the Garhauer davits fold inward? I'm also wondering whether or not the extra length will affect the slip fee.

[Brad Young]

Extra length: In Mexico it did not, However in San Diego it will.

My davits do not fold in. I am thinking on how to make it foldable.
Have not come up with a way yet. Any Ideas?

Brad

[Ralph Masters]

Brad,
Good looking rig.
I have considered adding davits for the sole reason to have a place to install solar panels, of course the secondary would be to carry a dink.

Ralph
Ciao Bella