Garhauer Outboard Lift Davit Installation

Stewartn · April 04, 2011, 07:05:27 AM

Any experience installing a Garhauer motor lift on a 34 Mk II? See 2 arm lengths, 26" & 34", which one? Also height, 64" is OK? Any help appreciated. Thx.

Ken Juul · April 04, 2011, 10:18:59 AM

Without seeing a picture of your stern it's hard to give advice. Looking at a generic MKII stern on yachtworld, I would think it needs to be mounted about where the blue dot is, tied into the stern pulpit seat back for the upper support. I have also seen pictures of one going through the outboard edge of the stern seat, mounted on the coaming. When doing custom installs I find it helpful to make a template out of cheap or on hand materials. PVC pipe, 2x2s, etc. Hold or clamp in various positions until you find the one that is best. For the arm length need to consider the length needed to install/remove the motor from the dingy and swing to the rail motor mount.

Jim Hardesty · April 04, 2011, 11:33:18 AM

The PO installed one. He said the concept came from here. I don't have a picture so here is the explanation. A 2 inch (approx) was drilled trough the starboard side stern seat then directly under the mounting ball from Garhauer. Not sure about the arm length but think that the longer would be best.
It works great. The PO installed a engine mounting pad on the starboard stern and it's an easy pick up from the dinghy to the mounting pad and back.
Jim

Ken Juul · April 04, 2011, 12:49:46 PM

I believe the discription for the thru the seat installation is in the wiki. If the boat has a bimini, that may make the thru the seat install a bit harder to accomplish.

Stewartn · April 05, 2011, 08:17:42 AM

Thx to all. W/A as soon as I get the cover off and start measuring.

Ron Hill · April 05, 2011, 02:51:11 PM

Stewart : I recall a nice article in the Mainsheet tech notes on installing the Garhauer lift on a MKII.

Stu Jackson · April 05, 2011, 04:09:28 PM

Try this. It's for a Forspare lift, same geometry.

http://www.c34.org/mainsheet/pdf/Mainsheet_Nov_2002.pdf

I searched the Knowledgebase for lift, you could do other searches, too.

Ron Hill · April 05, 2011, 05:23:41 PM

Stewart : If you can't locate the Mainsheet article I mentioned, you might call Garhauer as they've had to adapt to many differant boat sterns. A thought

ellispe · April 06, 2011, 08:05:28 PM

Your Search is over !!!! How would you like to install your Davit in 5 Min witout drilling 1 hole in your boat. Mark from Garhauer made me a special pair of alluminum clamps that bolt to the stern rail with two allen Bolts. Just bolt them on and leave them on. When you want to use your Davit just slip it in. There is no better way to go. I can send you pictures if you would like, or you can call me 310-739-3456.
Peter

lazybone · April 06, 2011, 08:42:18 PM

Peter, Post the pics here. I'm sure everybody is interested.

Joe Kern · April 07, 2011, 05:42:15 AM

Yes, pictures and the contact info for Mark and cost.

Ted Pounds · April 07, 2011, 08:46:37 AM

I think those guys at Garhauer provide even better customer service than Catalina.

DarthOccam · March 07, 2012, 03:46:00 PM

I recently installed a Garhauer motor lift on a C34 mkII. See picture below. The motor lift is removable and spends most of the time in the port locker.

It attaches at the top with a retaining ring (Garhauer USR-1) bolted to the pushpit rail supporting the observation seat back rail. The lower lift tube easily slides through the retaining ring. (In fact, you have to be careful when removing the lift not to drop the lower tube when it separates from the upper lift tube.) The bottom of the lift is supported by a ball mount (Garhauer LBM-1) sealed and through-bolted with the included backing plate. I made a wedge out of starboard to make the ball mount more level and better match the curve of the hull. The ball mount is located about 1/8" above the vent cover.

The location was, of course, a compromise. I considered various spots, including the starboard side of the pushpit, next to the swim ladder, through the observation seat, or on the side of the pushpit. In the end, this location was a good balance between locating the lift head over the outboard when it's on the motor plate and swinging to put the lift head over the dinghy transom when lowering.

I would have preferred to have the lift more vertical so that the load is transmitted more directly to the hull and supported less by the rail, but it swings over the dinghy better in this orientation. The outboard only weighs 65 lbs and the rail doesn't seem to move as I put the load on the lift.

And although it doesn't show in this picture, I also did the modifications documented in the February 2009 Tech Note (thanks, Ron!):

Moved the cam cleat from the top of the lift to the middle of the upper lift tube. It was too awkward to release the cleat when it was at the top, especially if you are standing on the swim platform.
Where the cleat used to be, I put a homemade fairlead so the line would run down to the new cleat location
Replaced the nut on the bottom of the lift brace yoke with a wingnut to make it easier to unfold/fold for storage
Used some leftover Sunbrella fabric to make a storage bag for the lift

Michael

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Hawk · March 07, 2012, 09:30:06 PM

As an alternative lift check out Kato Marine's very sleek lift. I installed it a few years ago and the quality is exceptional. It also looks good. I find the Garhauer looks too industrial, like you are going to be lifting pallets of supplies onboard, but that's just my view. Here's the link:

http://www.katomarine.com/outboard-katolift.htm

Hawk

DarthOccam · March 08, 2012, 08:35:24 AM

Hawk is quite right that the Garhauer lift is very industrial looking, which depending on your taste is a plus or minus. I went with the Garhauer mainly because I found a lightly-used one for a quarter of the cost of the Kato Marine. If I was going to leave it mounted permanently on the boat I might have been tempted to spend the extra money.

Michael