Where to buy strap to hoist new dingy?-gctid817788

[knuckledragger]

Just bought a 10' 6" Achilles dingy and now need to hoist it up onto upper deck via the davit. Checked Amazon but nothing showed up. Any advise on where to buy greatly appreciated.

[egbauman]

I bought mine at West Marine. They sell a harness that works for both 3 and 4 point attachments.

[knuckledragger]

Strange that I never thought of checking there. Instead went to Amazon and Google. Thanks!

[Norton_Rider]

Check a local sailboat rigger. I had my dinghy lifting harness custom made by one.

[Destiny_4588]

Custom made is the best option as you can control the center of gravity which is key when lifting anything. You want that dingy level. you do not want it coming up at angle as that puts strain on the harness and davit.

Two Option on the custom made version...stainless steel rope or Amstel. Have had both. cons to stainless is they rust over time and have to be redone every 3-5 years con to amsteel is that it does not like being in the sun and it will get weakend and also have to be replaced if left out in UV sun light. both need maint. they are not set it and forget items.

The premadd straps system are very hard to adjust and create a very long harness in main cases which makes the swing in hard in my opinon.and they fall out of adjustment when they get wet vs super dry in the sun and can slip. not a fan at all.

[cosmo777]

+1 on Amsteel

I had vinyl covered cable and while it worked good, the vinyl eventually broke down and got sticky/tacky.

Besides that, it was a pain to stow and the cable didn't could very well.

Changed to Amsteel and it works great, and stows very easy.

I also changed the davit cable to Amsteel which minimized the noise of the cable clunking as it was paying out.

[Norton_Rider]

You can use cam-lock motorcycle tie down straps to develop the harness you need: correct lengths, center of gravity location, etc. Once you have it developed you can provide the rigger the dimensions for the custom harness.

[Simonsen]

Does anyone know a business in Lake Washington area that will make a custom lifting harness? I'd like to get a new one made for mine.

Do you have to bring the boat there, or tender there or just tell them what you have (number of lifting points, RIB model, engine)?

Thanks!

Derek

[Norton_Rider]

"Simonsen" post=818063 wrote:
Does anyone know a business in Lake Washington area that will make a custom lifting harness? I'd like to get a new one made for mine.

Do you have to bring the boat there, or tender there or just tell them what you have (number of lifting points, RIB model, engine)?

Thanks!

Derek

Hi Derek,

I don't specifically know of any riggers in your area. Search for "boat rigging," sailboat rigging," "marine rigging," Etc.

Some will come to your boat. You can also save time and money by developing the harness dimensions yourself and providing a sketch to a rigger. I've done this in the past using adjustable motorcycle tie-down straps like these: http://static.chaparral-racing.com/p...0/310-0885.jpg.

This is what I normally do: Buy any shackles, snap hooks, lifting rings, etc, that are needed. Attach them to the dinghy and davit, as required. Use the tie down straps to connect them all together. Do a few trial lifts and adjust the length of the straps until the attitude, balance, clearances, etc. are correct. Once this is done I sketch each harness including the fittings and the lengths and provide the sketches to a rigger. It is important to show clearly where the lengths are taken from.

Whether you develop the lifting harness dimensions or the rigger does it, it is important to ensure that load-rated hardware is used. All the shackles, snap hooks, and rings should be certified with a Working Load Limit (WLL). Usually name-brand sailboat hardware will have the WLL stamped on.

Years ago a friend had a harness for a heavy tender made by a rigger. The rigger used a welded stainless ring that was not load rated. The third or fourth time my friend lifted the dinghy, the ring broke and the tender fell to the water. Fortunately no one was hurt and the only damage was a slightly bent rail on the mother ship. Incidentally, this happened within full view of an outdoor pub/patio at a marina. A few seconds after the tender hit the water my buddy got a standing ovation from the pub's patrons; so he took a bow

[Destiny_4588]

+1 on the each component have WLL and I will add to stay way under that. So if your tender weights 500lbs each of your snap hooks, rings, ect should be in my opinion rated well over that 1000-2500. The price difference to get ones stronger is very small vs. the damage to property and life when they fail from being over loaded.

[bal734]

nwinflatables.com sells a bunch of RIBs and they make slings for them. Give them your davit type and dinghy brand and they can make one for you. They are located in Portland and Gig Harbor.

[LeePTI]

My Zodiac dealer had an Amstel sling custom made for my 380. I was nervous at first but it was the perfect angle. So +1 on asking a dealer who knows your brand.

[LeePTI]

"cosmo777" post=817825 wrote:
+1 on Amsteel

I also changed the davit cable to Amsteel which minimized the noise of the cable clunking as it was paying out.

Would you provide more info on converting the steel cable to Amsteel? DIY? Had a shop convert? I would love to convert mine for our Catalina trip in 3 weeks but don't know where to start. Thanks.

[cosmo777]

Being in Seattle I just took it to Fisheries Supply and said "make one of these with Amsteel". They reused all my fittings so I only had to pay for the line and labor.