What Dinghy

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Medicmatt
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What Dinghy

Post by Medicmatt »

So, we have a 8 foot west marine dinghy w/ 4hp mercury. I cant seem to make it work on the original davits. No matter how I rig it, it's too low. I tried without the motor, and still no joy. Sick of taking of the motor and putting the dinghy on deck every time. Does anyone have a dinghy solution that works well with the factory davits?
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Serenity
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Re: What Dinghy

Post by Serenity »

I think the trick is finding/creating lift points very low in the dinghy--ours are just a few inches above the dinghy floor.

We have the following system someone else created on our 10ish foot Zodiac: There are two eye bolts that go through the transom close to the floor. In the front, a 6" loop of line goes through the floor. A Y harness connects the eye bolts to a pulley system on one davit. The other davit's pulley system connects to the loop going through the floor. There are three carabiners for ease of use.

Let me know if that's not clear and i will dig up some pictures.

-Dennis
Serenity 1998 PDQ32 #34
Portsmouth, RI
http://www.sailingserenitysquared.com
Medicmatt
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Re: What Dinghy

Post by Medicmatt »

Pictures would be great. Our dinghy has a soft floor. So I have to use strapping around it to lift....
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thinwater
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Re: What Dinghy

Post by thinwater »

A short strap on the transom and a spreader bar up front. I could get the dingy tight against the bars. With a soft floor, proper inflation and tricing under the dinghy (cris-cross lines) once it is up will be vital.
(Although I now sail a Corsair F-24, I owned a PDQ 32 for many years and there is a good bit of PDQ stuff on my blog.)

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http://sail-delmarva.blogspot.com/search?q=dinghy+high

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Medicmatt
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Re: What Dinghy

Post by Medicmatt »

These photos are super helpful! I've read almost every page of your blog, and everything you say about how these boats sail is true....

Did you glue that aluminum spreader bar in yourself?
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thinwater
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Re: What Dinghy

Post by thinwater »

The PO glued the lifting eyes on (Defender Marine caries them). I added the holes in the wood floor. Also, the original spreader bar was plastic, and it failed while under spinnaker! Because I was single handing and it would have taken critical minutes to get the chute in and stop the boat, I just attached a line to the bow eye of the dinghy and release everything else, converting to a tow. I made a new spreader (the one you see) from 1"x1"x 1/8" aluminum square tube, which I highly recommend. It will outlast the boat.

I HIGHLY recommend tricing for air floor dinghies. It really helps. Actually, all dinghies. The tackle can always fail or something come loose on a long passage. I've experienced several variations of that. Tricing also reduces motion and wear.
Writing full time since 2014.
"Rigging Modern Anchors,"Seaworthy Press, https://www.amazon.com/Rigging-Modern-A ... 1948494078
Book Store. http://sail-delmarva.blogspot.com/2017/ ... store.html
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