Wednesday, July 31, 2024

Hang Em' High

7-16-2012, rev. 7-31-2024

I always liked Clint....

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Nothing secures a dinghy, specifically a non-RIB inflatable, like lines cris-crossed underneath. No more sway. No more worries about loosing air pressure and strain on the attachment points.

How high does a tender need to be above the water? Surely this depends on the waters sailed, how far it extends behind the boat, and the motion of the boat. It depends on how well secured the tender is to the davits, in case it does take some minor hits.


Often, I see towering, high davits, with tenders swinging far below them. Sometimes it's coastal convenience; they hoist her up when off-shore. Too often, the tackle or attachment bridle were poorly conceived, pointlessly consuming critical space between the tender and the davits. Hoisting bridles waste space and are thus, well... dumb.

In my case, the tender is nestled between the hulls, only extending a bit beyond the sterns. This is typical on cats and makes carrying a tender safely easier. I've also taken steps to shorten the lifting tackle and added a bow spreader bar, such that the tackle is contained almost entirely within the tender, thus consuming no lift space.

An so I can hang her high without towering davits. Triced up, with cris-crossing lines underneath, she snugs up tight in the gap between transoms with no need to remove the engine or hoist her up into the wind. The aft edge is about 4 feet off the water, and top edge just above the deck, convenient for loading.

Very simple.

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The spreader bar is made from 1-inch x 1/8-inch aluminum square tube that clips the tender floor and D-rings on both tubes, and is clipped to a lifting tackle only 8 inches above the tender floor; you can't just clip the floor of a sport boat, because if the tubes go flat the floor comes out. And tricing lines, of course.

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