Dinghy Mount

[PaulB]

My use of term tilt up was poor choice of words. The davit model is St Croix 820 see link below. very similar to the nautley XL. I should have said pull up (i.e. its not a roll on with a winch from the side but a pull on from the stern). once it is pulled up and seated in davits it is riding flat on the swim platform. so engine is tilted same way as if it was in the water with engine tilted up. A correction on my dinghy size, it is 9'2" (not 9' 9", it is an achillies 280LX). I would note I wouldnt want to go any longer personally, with engine tiled up it is still within beam of boat, but if I have full fuel tanks on main boat and it is choppy the prop of the dinghy can get hit with wake periodically, this can loosen the tie down straps and generally isnt preferable. with less full tanks and less than 3' close seas it doesn happen. I have only had it for one season so not sure if I play with trim if i can alleviate that on my own. If the boat was longer this would be a bigger deal and at any rate would produce more drag as it would potentially be wider than the beam at the stern with engine tilted up. You should also look at the mechanics of mounting it to your swim platform. My swim platform's bottom is fiberglass at a 45 degree or so angle back to the transom of the boat. so its not a straigtforward bolt thru the swim platform situation. We wound up using stainless screws and 3M marine adhesive instead of through bolting as there was nothing solid to bolt through with the fiberglass on the bottom. Pleased to note it is working well. Have had boat out in 3-5' and been on several week long trips with no issues. I would advise deciding which davits and which dinghy you plan on using with it before buying or mounting any davits. The nitty gritty of dinghy beam, length, davit postion etc will dicate what you can effectively do. My swim platform is also 30".

http://www.davit.com/roll-on840-50-70_oview.html