Scantlings

Well I am recovering from my seniors moment. I did a dead lift of a 60 lb outboard from my dingy to aboard my sailboat. Mistake. Bent over and lifting that weight at my age pinched something in my lower spine and I was laid up for 5 days . A hospital visit, with pain killer and muscle relax drug to just get me on the table for an X-ray. The question posed to this knowledgeable base of individuals is. What devise are you using or contemplating to assist lifting heavy objects aboard your boat. Vessels in the 45' and under would be nearer to my size and restricted room aft . Thx in advance and be careful when lifting big ass objects. Including 60 lb dogs ( Tegwen's look of concern). As Beau mentioned about his new Paw Pal weighing in at 100 and change.

Jeezus, Ed! How awful and lucky it wasn't worse. I made a chump move at the gym and squished out a piece of disk, back in early 2013, and you can still see the muscle loss in my left thigh. I don't lift anything onto the boat that I can't jump with from the dock, so I can't help you.

Orestes Munn wrote:Jeezus, Ed! How awful and lucky it wasn't worse. I made a chump move at the gym and squished out a piece of disk, back in early 2013, and you can still see the muscle loss in my left thigh. I don't lift anything onto the boat that I can't jump with from the dock, so I can't help you.

Orestes misery loves company. Welcome. It was a big wake up call. I have since walked the docks looking for lifting rigs and only found one boat with a pole with an arm attached that swings about 90 degrees. Some boats leave there motor attached to the dingy while in the davits. Not something that appeals to me. So the quest begins to save my back from further damage. If you show at Larry's place we'll exchange war stories. Ed

I'm sorry to hear that. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

only found one boat with a pole with an arm attached that swings about 90 degrees.

I have something similar. I have a double purchase I lead off of an arm on my stern arch. It's not too hard (just a pull) to get it from fully raised to a motor bracket on the rail. I've seen a lot of people have a specialised bridle for their engine. That said I haven't needed a big outboard recently so I row or keep the outboard limited to a 2hp.

Jamie wrote:I'm sorry to hear that. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

only found one boat with a pole with an arm attached that swings about 90 degrees.

I have something similar. I have a double purchase I lead off of an arm on my stern arch. It's not too hard (just a pull) to get it from fully raised to a motor bracket on the rail. I've seen a lot of people have a specialised bridle for their engine. That said I haven't needed a big outboard recently so I row or keep the outboard limited to a 2hp.

Jamie I purchased one of those bridles to have a a rope secured to the motor and tied off. Motor is 6HP short shaft 4 stroke. I also have a Torqeedo electric that weighs about 30lbs. Using that for passages under 2 hours at slow speed. Is your arch SS or Fiberglas ? (PS I am back at work and the worst is over.)

Rowing is good core stability exercise, paddling is even better.

Just a thought .....

Olaf Hart wrote:Rowing is good core stability exercise, paddling is even better.

Just a thought .....

Thx Olaf.I didn't know that. My dingy is a Takacat and rows very easily because of its catamaran design. I also brought my canoe and kayak along to paddle around the harbour. I need the exercise .

cap10ed wrote:

Jamie wrote:I'm sorry to hear that. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

only found one boat with a pole with an arm attached that swings about 90 degrees.

I have something similar. I have a double purchase I lead off of an arm on my stern arch. It's not too hard (just a pull) to get it from fully raised to a motor bracket on the rail. I've seen a lot of people have a specialised bridle for their engine. That said I haven't needed a big outboard recently so I row or keep the outboard limited to a 2hp.

Jamie I purchased one of those bridles to have a a rope secured to the motor and tied off. Motor is 6HP short shaft 4 stroke. I also have a Torqeedo electric that weighs about 30lbs. Using that for passages under 2 hours at slow speed. Is your arch SS or Fiberglas ? (PS I am back at work and the worst is over.)

Glad to hear the worst is over.

It's SS. It's affectionately know as our, "redneck roll-bar".

Here's a pic of the arm: It works well for heavy things too.


The Takacat is really interesting dinghy.....solves a lot of cruising problems, really..

I made a removable motor crane that works just fine for our 40-lb Mercury 4-stroke. I'll post some pix when I get back home. It fits into the "cheap and cheerful" category.
We're in lovely Vernon, BC for a wedding. It's a little more country-style than we're used to. Yesterday we went to the gravel pit with some of the local boys and blew the hell out of the place with 12-GA shotguns, shooting at clay pigeons, many of which survived until impact with the ground.

A Takacat is a great dink for cruising, we used to call 'em the F-150 of cruising dinks.

We have a single davit on MAYAN for getting the anchor up on deck and I use it for all manner of heavy lifting. It's heavy as sin and made from stainless pipe. It fits into two bronze bits, a socket on the covering board (the plank of the deck that runs along just inside the bulwark.) and a ring snapped fitting that is thru-bolted to the bulwark (which is around 12" above the covering board. A stout stern pulpit could hold such a davit. It's really quite easy to use and store. In our case, its job on anchor duty requires it life 150 lbs so I'm sure it's overkill fro your purposes.

For higher volume cargo loading, we free the main sheet from the deck, top the boom up about 8', then use the main sheet to lift things and swing them into the cockpit. It takes two people, but we've unloaded entire 15' RIB cargos with that sort of rig. More trouble to set up and you need to insure that the boom topping lift is actually strong enough for that service, but it's really easy on mosts boats.

cap10ed wrote: My dingy is a Takacat and rows very easily because of its catamaran design. I also brought my canoe and kayak along to paddle around the harbour. I need the exercise .

Ed, Which model Takacat do you have? I am very curious to hear about your experience with that dink - especially the ability to plane with more than one person aboard.

Thanks, Steve

Panope wrote:

cap10ed wrote: My dingy is a Takacat and rows very easily because of its catamaran design. I also brought my canoe and kayak along to paddle around the harbour. I need the exercise .

Ed, Which model Takacat do you have? I am very curious to hear about your experience with that dink - especially the ability to plane with more than one person aboard.

Thanks, Steve

Steve I have the Takacat light. The small version. it planes with 1 person and a 6HP. Two people its a reasonable pace. A 9.9 would get 3 people up and away. My boat neighbour took my dingy out for a row and was pleased with the articulation of the oar locks and the ease of boarding over the bow. His wife loved the stability because she has some arthritis and gets off balance. That being said Jason decide to get the next size up to accommodate 4 people. He runs a 9.9 and says the thing is a Ferrari with two on board. He has yet to load it up. The sponsons have heavy rubber scuff guards for beaching. Good for the extra hard sand area's of the west coast. The floor is easy to remove and use as an air mattress. I will post some video of a 1.5 HP Torqueedo motor on it.

BeauV wrote:A Takacat is a great dink for cruising, we used to call 'em the F-150 of cruising dinks.

We have a single davit on MAYAN for getting the anchor up on deck and I use it for all manner of heavy lifting. It's heavy as sin and made from stainless pipe. It fits into two bronze bits, a socket on the covering board (the plank of the deck that runs along just inside the bulwark.) and a ring snapped fitting that is thru-bolted to the bulwark (which is around 12" above the covering board. A stout stern pulpit could hold such a davit. It's really quite easy to use and store. In our case, its job on anchor duty requires it life 150 lbs so I'm sure it's overkill fro your purposes.

For higher volume cargo loading, we free the main sheet from the deck, top the boom up about 8', then use the main sheet to lift things and swing them into the cockpit. It takes two people, but we've unloaded entire 15' RIB cargos with that sort of rig. More trouble to set up and you need to insure that the boom topping lift is actually strong enough for that service, but it's really easy on mosts boats.

Beau I remember you talking about that davit earlier. You mentioned you would bring the ground tackle aboard and tie it off. Did you also mention moving an anchor amidship ??? If so how is that accomplished ? There are some serious weights being delt with aboard Mayan. They take some careful planing and execution to handle safely. Ed

cap10ed wrote:

BeauV wrote:A Takacat is a great dink for cruising, we used to call 'em the F-150 of cruising dinks.

We have a single davit on MAYAN for getting the anchor up on deck and I use it for all manner of heavy lifting. It's heavy as sin and made from stainless pipe. It fits into two bronze bits, a socket on the covering board (the plank of the deck that runs along just inside the bulwark.) and a ring snapped fitting that is thru-bolted to the bulwark (which is around 12" above the covering board. A stout stern pulpit could hold such a davit. It's really quite easy to use and store. In our case, its job on anchor duty requires it life 150 lbs so I'm sure it's overkill fro your purposes.

For higher volume cargo loading, we free the main sheet from the deck, top the boom up about 8', then use the main sheet to lift things and swing them into the cockpit. It takes two people, but we've unloaded entire 15' RIB cargos with that sort of rig. More trouble to set up and you need to insure that the boom topping lift is actually strong enough for that service, but it's really easy on mosts boats.

Beau I remember you talking about that davit earlier. You mentioned you would bring the ground tackle aboard and tie it off. Did you also mention moving an anchor amidship ??? If so how is that accomplished ? There are some serious weights being delt with aboard Mayan. They take some careful planing and execution to handle safely. Ed

Ed,

With the chain we pull it up from the forepeak with a string and lead it out over the chain gypsy on the windless, through the lock and out the hospipe. Then I almost always try to bring it aft without going outboard of the whisker stay (the stay that holds he bowsprit sideways) By the time I get the tail of the 1/2" chain back on the foredeck I have shifted about 20' of chain, which is rather heavy but we don't anchor that often. (1/2" chain weighs about 2.7 lbs per foot, so 54 lbs of chain.)

We stored two of the three anchors on shore. We kept the large Danforth a model 60H (60lbs high tensile) in a chock that is right inboard of the foremast shrouds. The stock of the anchor is tied to the aft lower shroud of the foremast and the anchor stands upright, which turns out to be a great way of keeping a wave from moving it around. To use the anchor when I have a lot of crew we have one person on the head of the anchor and one at the end of the stock. We carry the anchor the 15' or so up to the foredeck were we join it to the chain. I have carried the 60H around myself easily, but I have to walk carefully and it's a bit more difficult in a seaway.

How heavy is your bronze fisherman??

kimbottles wrote:How heavy is your bronze fisherman??

I want to say 90 lbs but it might be more. To do its job properly, it should be 150 lbs for MAYAN.

Here's my solution for a motor crane. I designed it so one person can use it from the dinghy when needed.



The top line is a piece of spectra spliced to length, so the aluminum strut is in pure compression with no bending loads. Now I have some stainless tubing left over from my radar pole project so I may replace that aluminum tube with stainless, purely for looks. A Harken ratchet block allows fingertip control, and the line is knotted so the motor can only go so far down. I still have to make a couple of adjustments so the crane is vertical, no big deal. The top block is lashed to the strut with 1/16" spectra.



I used standard rail fittings for most of the connectors, but I couldn't find any fittings to hold the pole tight to the top rail, so I used interlocking hose clamps. The section clamped to the stern rail stays in place full time, the rest of the crane usually lives in the cockpit locker. I used a foot of 7/8" stainless tube as a connector piece, the cleat screws go through inside and outside upper tube to hold it in place, but is friction fit to the bottom tube which allows it to pivot. You can see the join just above the stern rail.
I used to have a commercial motor strap but it was always in the way or trying to invert the motor, so I put stainless eyes right through the lower motor housing and made up a lifting bridle out of Spectra that snaps on and off easily.

Be aware that when tubing fails it kinks and then bends quite quickly. As a result, if you build something from tubing be sure it's quite overbuilt to avoid having a motor go swimming by accident.

Also, Part of my positive feeling about our davit that can lift 300 lbs++ is that we can use it to get a POB (person over board back in the boat. I have found, through hard personal experience, that while I can get the boat alongside the POB and the life-sling around them, it is much more difficult to get them up over the rail and even worse with lifelines. As a result, I'd strongly recommend a davit that can lift at least 300 lbs. if for no other reason than pulling soggy sailors from the sea.