What is best size inflatable dinghy for 4 persons for a 320?

Attached is a picture of our DA320 with the Dinghy attached using the Nautley Dinghy boat lift kit I installed. We are doing about 20 knots here, and as you can see there are no problems with the Dinghy being mounted and tied down with this system. Our Dinghy is 9 foot with a 5HP 2 stroke outboard.

http://gunpowdercove.webs.com/apps/photos/photo.jsp?photoID=21225939&prev=1

With the motor attached you are going to use a little effort in pulling it up, and a word of caution here, be careful if you are in bare feet. It is very easy to slip of the platform is it is wet. Rather embarrassing as well, not to mention the sore butt you will have afterwards.:wow:
 
Most of the pull-up types of davits are going to be pretty much the same, effort-wise, for a regular inflatable dinghy (not a RIB). If you can pull your dinghy up on to your platform now, the tilting-type davits aren't going to change things much. They do raise the height (typically about 4") and that will shift the pivot point somewhat. The dinghy will get tilted up a bit more than it would just being pulled up onto the platform. Some folks have complained about the hassle of getting a tilted dinghy safely on and off from that raised height. That and it IS a real stretch of your back to lean over to heave the weight of the dinghy around. But if you can safely man-handle it now, onto the existing platform then it shouldn't be too much of a change using the davits. The davits may improve the effort somewhat in that they help guide the load better.

But be sure to consider how much room it'll take on the platform. And how it will affect your visibility, docking and mooring. A dinghy on the platform may interfere with crossed stern lines, or cause a stern-to docked boat to stick further out of it's slip. Both of which are problems for us. That and getting on and off the boat from the platform may be more of a problem.
 
I was toying with this question and davits. It would seem to me that a light weigh leverage system could be incorporated into a davit system. Perhaps two short telescoping stainless steel poles and a couple of locking pins, these could be mounted to the sides of the davit and rotated.

Try to envision this:

Davits.png


You pull the dingy up parallel with the end of the swim platform; tilt the davits with poles downward (The poles have perhaps a 15” L-bracket on the end) the poles and the brackets slide under the dingy. Now rotate the poles so that the brackets are perpendicular to the dinghy side 90 degrees. By rotating the poles, it now allows you to engage the locking handle. Lock the handles and then pull the handle towards you while pushing downward. The handle only needs to just extend a couple of inches past the transom side of the dingy when it is in the stowed position. Look at the leverage one could obtain.

Once the dingy is stowed remove pin telescope poles into each other and then lock back together with pins
 
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Quick, patent the idea so someone else doesn't steal it and sell it for an ever-increasing outrageous price...
 

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