Dinghy Davits – Dom’s Ramps and Alex’s Mounts

I personally would only use starboard. The 1" thick feel very solid. In my design for the mounts I wanted to make sure that the thickness of the board will provide additional holding power for the pivit point where the ramp connects to the mounts. Anything thinner adds more risk of more flexing and/or breaking.

I like the starboard b/c it's pretty much maintenance free and lasts for very long. I looked in to PVC boards in HD and Lowes and they felt much weaker.

The beauty of DIY approach for the davits is that you get to cut the ramps to perfectly fit under your dinghy. In fact, when I used Dominic's original dimentions I had to change them to fit perfectly to my dink. I had inflated my dink in the basement, flipped it over and made necessary adjustments when cutting the ramps. It worked very nicelly. Remember to use carboard or some other material to build your template first. When you see that the template fits perfectly, now it's time to cut the starboard ramps as your final production.
 
Very nice setup indeed Alex F. Now all that is needed is a short U-Tube video demonstrating loading and unloading.

Thanks electricaldoctor.

The key of the design and installation is have the weight of the dink be distribute properly in such way that it doesn't plunge in to the water as soon as you loose the straps or holding lines. My dinghy would almost stay put without flipping itself in the water. I no longer own the 320, so I can't record the video of the loading/unloading procedure. However, it's exactly the same as you have with any other davits on the market:

Unloading
1. I would loosen the "safety" line (it's the most top one, which doesn't do much to tie the dink when on the ramps other than provide an extra safety line). This would to ensure that the dink doesn't float away when it's in the water.

2. I unfasten the holding lines and leave one bow line that pulls the dink in toward the Mather-ship. That line has a clipper, so it’s very easy to release it.

3. Finally I undo the last line and use one hand to make sure the dinghy still remains in the same position until I get in to the middle and ready to drop her. Then, I hold the dink by the grab lines and slowly lower her in to the water by keeping her parallel to the swim platform.


Loading on to the platform
1. I strongly suggest wearing some footwear to avoid slipping. It happened to me ones and it was funny as hell, but I'm pretty sure that people can get injured from landing hard on their butts.

2. I make sure that safety line is attached to the mother-ship. Again, this is just to make sure that if anything the dink doesn’t float away from you in case if you fail to pull the dink up.

3. I align the dinghy evenly parallel to the swim platform. Then I just pull the dink up by the grab lines.

4. I clip on the bow line that pulls the dink in toward the Mather-ship, then I tie the rest of the lines. Finally I tighten the safety line. That is all to it.

It’s not easy to see in my pictures, but I have bow lines with clippers, so when loading the dink I need to properly estimate that she going to end up on the ramps the same way it came off. Otherwise, the lines might be either too loose or too tight. This is very easy and just takes couple of loading attempts.

Hope this helps.

Alex,
Is the Starboard easy to sand? What I was thinking was rounding the edges??

Yes Bill, it's pretty easy. All I used just filing set. I first used the rougher grade to cut the most and then finer one to have smooth finish. I tried the sander, but using file with hands worked even better.
 
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Thanks electricaldoctor.



Loading on to the platform
1. I strongly suggest wearing some footwear to avoid slipping. It happened to me ones and it was funny as hell, but I'm pretty sure that people can get injured from landing hard on their butts.

Yea, I did it once before the Nu-Teak was installed on my platform. In bare feet, slipped and landed on my butt first than right off the platform into the water under the dinky….. what a sight! Trust me, it does hurt, and not just your pride either :grin:
 
Yeap, this is pretty much like working with wood. Whatever electrical tools you have will do the trick. Otherwise, filing will do it as well. I have Dewalt sander I use for other projects, including bottom sanding, so different grades of sand paper will do the trick. It's not a big deal at all and you've got plenty of options on what tool to use.
 
Alex, I did start over, the weaver quik mounts cleaned up beautifully, the s.s plate i had under them was actually rusting and not the weaver mounts , so i decided to move them to the edge of the platform and not use the plates. I purchased 1" starboard from a local marine plastics fabricator and made new "arms" using a 1/4 round bit on my router to round the edges they came out much better than the polypro i used before. So far its getting better I think i might have the S.S. brackets dipped and clear coated instead of white like you suggested or maybe they can chrome plate them I'm not sure. I'm adding a second set of rollers to aid in loading and unloading i think it really helped us last season. Thanks for your suggestions.
 
Joe, that's great news. Post some pictures when you get a chance.
 
Alex,
Can I get/buy a copy of your templates? I have tried to find a template on this site in the past and have been unsuccessful.
Thanks
 
Alex,
Can I get/buy a copy of your templates? I have tried to find a template on this site in the past and have been unsuccessful.
Thanks

Let me look in to the easy way to replicate and mail them to you, but I'm sure I'll be able to help you with this.
 
Let me look in to the easy way to replicate and mail them to you, but I'm sure I'll be able to help you with this.


That would be great. Thank you.
 
Digging this up from 2011. Alex or Joe, would you be able to get a set of templates or measurements if you have them still?
 
The " Dom" davits that I made are out of 1" starboard, I made a template of the bottom of my dinghy then transferred to the starboard. The bow and stern are different shapes obviously and so are dinghy manufactures so I believe the best approach is to copy the contour of your dinghy bottom. Also you need to figure out the height of your platform from the water (how long the arms will need to be) and how far back from the transom you can comfortably mount the dinghy, which direction you need to face it also? Will the motor be blocking the transon door? Will it block the boarding ladder? Etc,, so I think you need to take some hard measurements of your set up.first. Most questions here can be answered so just ask
 
Follow up, this is more of a shout out to Dale, Aka Masterfab than new davits. But my original set that I made started to show rust almost immediately. So I had them powder coated that was not the answer either, as the powder coating peeled off. I had just kinda gave up since we changed boats and this boat didnt have much of a platform to pull the dinghy up onto anyway.
We where pulling it up on the bow and had resorted to losing our bow or launch the dinghy . I spoke to Dale about fabricating a crane to raise the dinghy from the water up onto the bow but it never got past that discussion. After adding the extended swimplatform this spring I was back to the idea of mounting the dinghy on the platform again. So I called Dale and asked him why my brackets where rusting? Turns out the SS I used was probably 316 and Dale recommended using 316L for marine applications.
So he fabricated new beprackets for me and then suggested I have them electropolished to ensure even better protection
I fabricated new "arms" out of 1" starboard again and mounted Dales new brackets to my starboard to create my new "DOM's Davits" the craftsmanship of Dales welding and fabricating is outstanding and his customer service is just the same. I think they turned out great and without his help I'd be back to the crappy first attempt . If your in need of custom fabricating I wouldn't go to anyone else. Thanks Dale!!!!
 
I would love to put a set on my boat but I'm not sure I have enough room back there.
 

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