Claude

Unfortunately I don't always have that luxury. Yes, I completely believe you when you say that on your boat you can leave the tiller. However, I'm not sure what that's got to do with my boat and why you won't believe me when I say that my boat behaves differently? (No two boats behave the same you know.) I can't leave the tiller for very long on my boat as I already explained. I know lots of narrowboat owners who can leave the tiller for much longer than me and I've also done it on friend's boats. But It doesn't work on mine - I've tried it many times. If you refuse to believe me then I'm afraid there's not really much point continuing this conversation. I can certainly handle the tender on my own, but I can't lift it out of the water on my own. I'm not sure exactly how much it weighs but I don't think it's more than 125kg which is the spec of those davits. I'd actually decided not to by the davits for now and just tow the dinghy, but if I do ever buy davits in future I'll have to somehow estimate the weight of the dinghy first.

I do have a fair amount of boating experience despite being new to this forum. You're never really "stopped" on a river in my experience (I'm on rivers rather than canals). On your boat I fully accept what you say that it's not an issue for you, so you'll really have to take it from me that on my boat letting go of the tiller for more than about 15 seconds is an issue even if you're "stopped" in neutral. The tiller soon swings one way of the other and the wind or current turns the boat out of line. I'm afraid it's just a characteristic of my boat. I've had the boat for over a decade and have done a fair amount of cruising so I do know what I'm talking about here. I sometimes leave the tiller to do something (jump up onto the roof to get a centre rope that I'd forgotten to bring back to the helm for example), but you have to be quick. Likewise, I know my own dinghy. It's very heavy and there's no way that you, me or any other person (besides world's strongest man competitors) could drag it up onto the roof of a boat on their own. I know because I've dragged it up the bank with another person several times before and we barely manage. I know that you're just trying to help and I do appreciate that, but you must also accept that I know my own equipment and it's not the same as yours.

You have a wheel. Letting go of my tiller means the boat goes out of control after a very short time, so it probably would be an issue for me. Perhaps tiller strings is the answer? Without davits my dinghy would take at least 3 people to lift out of the water and put it on the roof.

Er davits are meant to be bent! (just kidding). But seriously, I would have thought that the weakest part of those davits would be the pulley blocks, not the poles. So if a dinghy can be hauled up and is within the loading specs the poles wouldn't bend - but I might be wrong. My outboard would be taken off the dinghy first and stored inside. I certainly wouldn't add to the load by trying to haul it up with the dinghy. A 20hp outboard might weight something like 50kg. Mine is only 5hp but I still wouldn't want it hanging there. Ok, thanks. Yes, I thought about that too - but I guess if the cross ropes are kept very short then rigid poles wouldn't really offer any advantages?

I had thought of that but it's not so easy for me as I'm on my own. If I want to move the tender in order to reverse I've got to leave the tiller. I suppose I could just have loops over the cleats on my deck to make untying faster and then just bring the dinghy alongside and tie it on as quickly as possible?

Ah, that's the other disadvantage!

Right - thanks for that. Probably no need for the davits then. Do any of you find that having the tender behind you poses any problems in locks or when trying to manoeuvre in tight spaces? I guess you've just got to allow for it and remember that you have to go forward into marina moorings! I guess once you get used to it, the only real drawback of towing with crossed ropes is that it effectively makes the boat longer and so restricts turning.

Thanks. So how do you stop the tow ropes being sucked into the prop when you reverse? Are they really that short that it's not possible? The bow of the dinghy must only be a foot or two from your stern? The fittings and backing plates come with the davits. Bolts go through the deck, backing plate underneath and then the nuts. If they aren't suitable for a steel deck one wonders what sort of deck material they would be suitable for? Also "flimsy" is a relative term. If they can lift 125kg between them as stated in the specs, then that should be fine for the job that I need them to do. But thanks for the towing advice - that's very useful.

Hi, I have a new (second-hand) fibreglass tender which I'd like to be able to bring with me when I move my boat (widebeam). However, I don't have much knowledge of how to do it. For the inexperienced I imagine towing could present all sorts of problems... For example, apart from using a floating tow rope how does one prevent the rope being sucked into the prop every time you go into reverse? When you just want to concentrate on safe boat handling, towing something must make it a lot more difficult. The dinghy came with a trailer so that's another option, but I'd need to have a towing hitch put onto my car as it doesn't have one, and then there's the hassle of getting it out and back into the water - assuming there is a convenient slipway. The ultimate solution I think has to be a pair of these davits. http://www.force4.co.uk/force-4-stainless-steel-davits.html?gclid=CMedoYXu5csCFRATGwodTT4OkQ#.VvpwFdIrKt8 The davits are removable which is good, but would the pulleys be adequate to lift a dinghy out of the water without winches? The dinghy is about 9ft x 4ft Dory style and I think it probably weighs about 80-100kg with the internal deckboards. The dinghy's gunwales are pretty solid as they have long wooden blocks underneath, so I'd fit a couple of lifting eyes into the gunwale on one side and the dinghy would be held vertically on its side. Is that the best way to do it? Hopefully the gunwale wouldn't break under the weight! Claude