Where to store dinghy

With the Hoyt boom on the foredeck, what are offshore cruisers doing for dinghy storage? We have a davit where we store the dinghy but I'm concerned that it is not a good location if we get into very rough weather. With the Hoyt boom, it doesn't seem possible to put the dinghy on the foredeck which is where more other cruisers put theirs on long passages.

If anyone can speak to this from experience, I'd appreciate it.

Blair,
First, congratulations on your Ip445! What a beautiful boat!
All the info I can give you is this. I searched the web and could only find examples of davit hung dingies on your boat. But there are a lot of options including fully inflatables that can be stored below or on the deck. There are also nesting dingies that come in two halves. The main thing is to research it, ask fellow owners, the factory, and take your time in deciding.
Best wishes,
keith

We had the same concerns about keeping a dinghy on davits and decided to store it deflated on deck just behind the mast. For our trip to Bermuda we simply lashed it to the deck on a couple of 4x4's and tied it down to the cabin top railings. This worked well but for us was only a temporary solution. We built a crane to launch it using an old spinnaker pole and made a cradle to secure it up off the deck. For more info on this try this link (ip42035.blogspot.com/2013/11/derrick-and-dominoes.html). In actual use it's not a bad setup and the most time consuming part is blowing up the dinghy.

Tom and Cheri Ward
IP420-35
La Vida Dulce

Thanks Tom. I like your website. I have centre cockpit which doesn't give me as much room behind the mast. I'm going to have to do a bit more thinking about this one.....

We have a much smaller boat (350) and this is a concern for us as we are going to BVI with ARC 1500. With the engine off the dinghy, I'm pretty sure the davits will handle the 100 pound weight if properly secured. Pretty sure is not where I'd like to be at this point, but have discussed this with some very experienced WCC people and they have raised my confidence level. Have you talked to the davit supplier?

Lou

Lou - I believe that if you're going to be off shore for any extended period of time, more than 24 hours, you should not carry your dinghy on the davits. In the five days it took us to return from Bermuda we had one full day of bad weather with 15' to 20' seas. Had several instances of waves breaking over the bimini. A dinghy on the davits would have been a disaster but with ours secured deflated on deck we came through with no damage. Once you're in the BVI you would be safe to carry it on the davits for short runs between islands.

Tom
IP 420-35
La Vida Dulce

Hi Blair,

We are relatively new owners of IP445-01. Have you come up with a good answer to your question about where to store the dinghy when off-shore?

Mike

Hi Mike

Congratulations on your new boat! You will love her! Where are you based?

We're still using the davits with our 11' RIB. Our thought is to buy a Hypalon inflatable floor model that we can deflate and put under the Hoyt boom for offshore. We have friends who have an Achilles LSI-330E which they highly recommend. They've done over 50,000 offshore miles with that model on board and are very happy. We like the idea of being able to take the dinghy off for winter as well. We're in the PNW so we don't get really bad winters but we'd still like to be able to put the dink below for extended periods when we aren't using it.

Hope that helps.

Cheers
Blair

My suggestion - Why not put it on davits and hang it upside down, It won't fill with water. At your destination you can turn it over use the davits as intended. I have done this a few times on our 350 and more recently on our IP 40. And I also keep a knife handy to cut it loose. If nothing else it seems to ensure that we have great weather. I wonder if Tom on La Vida Dulce would comment. Would this have worked in the rough wx passage you had coming from Bermuda? Hypolon inflatable dinks have so many issues it would be a shame to give up on your RIB.

Pinging this thread to see if there are any new thoughts. Really looking for passage making stowage. I need to buy a dinghy next month.

In my 485 and other non IPs I have sailed 1,000 of miles with the tender on davits. The davits should be adequate to take the weight of the tender and water, and adding to this by leaving the engine on is not a good idea. Relying just on the davit strops is also not a good idea - I take strops under the tender as well. Otherewise I dont think it is an issue even in really bad weather, other than possibly in small er yachts where I might resort to deck stowage.

ip485 wrote: In my 485 and other non IPs I have sailed 1,000 of miles with the tender on davits. The davits should be adequate to take the weight of the tender and water, and adding to this by leaving the engine on is not a good idea. Relying just on the davit strops is also not a good idea - I take strops under the tender as well. Otherewise I dont think it is an issue even in really bad weather, other than possibly in small er yachts where I might resort to deck stowage.

I was thinking that myself. I even thought about storing it wrapped, deflated and lashed to the davit bars. However, my wife insists on wind vane steering for cruising kit. That will kill my dream of easy davit stowage on passages

My 2cents , I’m currently looking at 320 or 350 sold my Kp 44 couple of years ago and have sailed offshore lots with lots of boats. Sooooo , only 100 percent safe is inflatable , that being said I have had nothing but ribs for the last 12 years. Weather routing nowadays is very good so no reason to get into waves over 10 ft. Depending on the height of your davits and the strength it’s doable. Tie it down!! Straps straps! Have you seen the foldable rib? I never have but maybe an idea?
It’s always an issue for everyone . But height of davits is the big key. If the bottom of the dink is above aft rail you should be golden. I’ve had to do some strange rigging to get it that high but usually it’s workable. How often do you take water over the aft rail? I try not to do that.

Our IP40 has dinghy davits which work great for out 8' inflatable. Have been looking at ideas to replace the inflatable with a Trinka or Fatty Knees dinghy. and would like to be able to store it on deck. Searching, I have not seen an IP with a hard dinghy stored on deck. Is it a realistic option? Would love to have a sailing dinghy.

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

Fair Winds

Randy

Randy,
We have an IP40 also, and we too would love to have a sailing dink. I can think of nothing nicer than fooling around with a sailing dink in an anchorage. But we are not willing to give up the stay sail for fore deck dink storage. So here are some ideas that have thought about and actually designed.
One idea.
When doing an ocean passage you might put the inflatable inside in the aft cabin if it is a roll up. Then put the sailing dink inverted between the traveler and the mast. Get rid of the vang. You need to build a platform to raise the dink above the running rigging on the deck. This might be something as simple as a lattice of 1” PVC with the lines running thru them. Then strap the dink to the hand holds. We don’t use our vang much because we have permanent preventers at the mid shipwhich we use to hold down the boom when it is out.
Idea Two.
Put the sailing dink on the davits but hang it upside down. It can’t fill with water this way. If you get in real trouble, cut it lose. We have hung our RIB this way for passages. It isn’t too hard to flip over if you run a strap under the hull.
Idea Three
We had some friends with an IP 420 that put the inflatable on top of the davits and the sailing dink below. Worked for them but seemed like a lot of trouble to me.
Actually what you need is a 485??? Lot of room on the aft deck!!
George
S/V Delicia

On our recent Gulf of Mexico passage, we stowed our 10 foot rib across the deck between the main sheet and vang. It did well. However, I forgot to put in the PVC pipe i planned to protect it from the running rigging and the staysail sheet rubbed a hole in it. Lesson learned See attached pic.

George,

Thanks for the ideas. After reading your suggestions as well as others, I am considering he possibility of storing a Dink on top of the davits. Our 8' inflatable has a rigid/removable floor that is really a pain to remove. Our 2.5 hp outboard is not enough to get it to plane, nice enough for the harbor but thats about it. As you mentioned, sailing about at anchorage with be the icing on the cake.

Randy

Beautiful Yacht! Thanks for the suggestions. The PVC idea seems to be workable, and is something I may not have thought of.

Randy