Outboard lift davit for dinghy motor on 27' cal

[lans0012]

Gang,

I recently picked up a 6hp tohatsu and I want to use it on an inflatable dinghy for my cal 27. This thing weighs about 55 pounds and I was wondering if someone has a practical DIY lifting davit, hoist or crane. I,ve seen some pre made stuff online for about $500 and didn't want to spend near that. I've got lots of spare tackle to make an easy 3/1 purchase for lifting the motor onto the stern rail mount and lowering to the water, but don't want to reinvent the wheel if someone has come up with something easy.

Any suggestions are welcome. Also I'll trade this thing for the nissan 3.5 two-stroke I used to have!!!

Thanks!

[sailingfool]

Buy a lifting strap and hoist (and lower) the motor using the main halyard. About $50.

[lans0012]

Good suggestion, I have the harness but was thinking of something that would hold it further away from the boat. Was thinking about bending some pipe and attaching to the stern pulpit with an eye to attach a pulley to.

[svHyLyte]

We have a Forespar Nova Lift that can be quickly rigged and de-rigged on our boat and have found it to be very effective and easy to use.

[l_lym]

My wife and I use a 3-1 (old dinghy vang setup) from the end of the boom. Still have to lift the engine off the stern rail and move it a few feet forward but it makes the rest of the operation fairly painless.

[Siamese]

Why the 6 horse? 55lbs. is a lot of weight to mess around with, hanging over a transom, etc. I went with a 2.5 horse because it's 27lbs. No davits or other assistance needed to install on our 8 foot inflatable.

[lans0012]

Good point Siamese, I wont argue with you on that one. Although the 6hp is just what I ended up with. I had this ranger 22 with a 3.5 hp nissan that weighed 25lbs or so, I traded that boat and motor for a motorcycle, that I then sold and used the money to buy this Cal 27. Later I bought a paddleboard and kept it on the bow, but decided I didn't like it, traded it for another paddleboard that I liked, then got bored with it, and traded it for this tohatsu 6 horse.

I've thought about selling it, and then buying a smaller outboard, but then I was thinking that 6hp would be more fun than a 2.5 or 3.5, and I should just try and find a way to deal with the extra weight. Besides, I was kind of hoping a bigger outboard on the dinghy would mean I would get a bigger dinghy, which would then convince me to buy a bigger boat to fit the dinghy.

I went to home depot tonight and found I can make exactly what I need out of galvanized pipe for about $25 including the white rustoleum. When I got home I found a couple of websites where I think I can buy the pipe that I need in stainless steel for less than $100.

A previous poster recommended the Nova Lift and I'm pretty sure that is the ticket...but I just can't pay $600 for a bent peice of stainless and a peice of tackle that I already have, just out of principle alone.

I'm still open to suggestions

[Siamese]

Yup, I had a 6 horse too, and it was kind of fun to plane with one person in the boat. Wouldn't plane with two, though.

I realize your original question wasn't about the motor, but how to handle it, but I figured I'd challenge the premise.

If you've done as many projects as I have, you know the system you're constructing might work, or it might not, or it might work but not as well as you'd like.

A 27 pound outboard definitely works. Very easy to move around with no assist.
Power is adequate on our dinghy, and we enjoy taking dinghy cruises. We've found that additional power on a small dinghy does little or nothing to enhance performance with two people on board.

[lans0012]

Ah the voice of reason. The boat is on the hard right now getting a bottom job so maybe I can sleep on it a little regarding the motor size.

Next question for you Siamese, was your inflatable a hard bottom, high pressure floor, slats...? I don't have the dinghy yet.

(Long Story)I used to have a Walker bay 8 but I sold it on craigslist because I didn't think it was big enough for two people, unless they were kids, I was swamped by a boat wake and it was an experience I wouldn't like to repeat.

Any recommendations? Keep in mind my boat is only 27'. Are they really that bad to tow? I like the idea of the small plastic hulled inflatables, but I do think that that would be to heavy for my boat. If I can't plane with 2 people with the 6 hp, then that changes things. I know for sure I'm not carrying a 15 hp around with me.