Dinghy, motor, davit arrangement for R 31 CB

[Tim8806]

My wife and I just took delivery of a 2013 31 CB. We're in Maine, planning on cruising the East Coast and ICW to the west coast of Florida. I've been looking into dinghies, outboard motors and what kind of davit arrangement we should use to transport the dinghy on the boat. We'll need a sturdy dinghy for the two of us and a small dog. I've seen a couple of videos for a 2.5 hp Suzuki outboard, which seems adequate for a dinghy, but some people seem to go larger--not sure why. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Brian B]

There are many choices of dinghys on the market. I have an achilles 8' 8" and use a 2 HP Honda. The 2 HP pushes the dinghy with 4 adults in it just fine for us. Think about the motor weight and how you will get it from the boat onto the dinghy and back again. We have the weaver davit system. If you have rails on the swim platform that will be another obstacle to deal with.

 

[captstu]

The weaver Davit system fits the Ranger boats. We have an R25 with a walker bay 8 since that is the longest dingy that fits our boats beam without hitting poles when we dock.

I think your boat would take a Walker Bay 10 - easily large enough for your needs. I have a Nissan 5 that zooms that Boat. A 2.5 should be enough. I also carry a sail and oars. She rows easily and sails fun. With the Weaver tubes installed, the dinghy is unsinkable.

I prefer a rigid to an inflatable so I looked at the heavier and more sturdy Portland Pudgy, but it was hard to lift into the Davits.


Stuart Bell
Ranger 25: Shearwater
(561) 352-1796

 

[Scotty Mac]

If you are in Maine stop over to Portland and take a look at the Portland Pudgy. We just bought one from our R31CB. We got the Weaver Davits that are specifically made for Ranger Tugs and Portland Pudgy combination. There are many on this site that have Pudgys so a lot of good info if you search on the name. We went with the Torqueedo 1003c long shaft as I didn’t want to deal with carrying gas.

 

[Irish Mist]

The motor size depends on how you are using the dingy.. If you just need to get to shore and back or short trips small is fine. If you are going a long distance it is nice to have enough power to get up on plane... The issue is the bigger engine is heavy.. I have a 6hp-4 stroke and can get up on plane with 1 person and I can lift it.. A 9.9hp- 2 stroke is similar in weight but will get two people up on plane. Nice for exploring around and getting back faster or going a distance for supplies.

 

[Cfnico]

We have a Portland pudgy rigged with weaver Davis on an our R31CB a honda2.3 outboard and the standard oats as well as the sailing rig We use the equivalent of life sling block and tackle to swing the pudgy up on her side on the swing platform and hold her in place with the rigid stand off rods The system works great and the pudgy is rated for 4 passengers but only less than 8 feet long so she is not in harms way when you turn away from a pier or enter a Lock Check out the Portland pudgy website local to Maine Good luck

 

[rackline]

If you decide you want a faster dinghy which will require a larger and heavier outboard, take a look at Hurley Davits. I don't have them and don't know if they will definitely work on a 31. But they look like the best solution to not have to remove and hoist a large outboard. Search this site. I recall someone recommending them here.

 

[rackline]

If you decide you want a faster dinghy which will require a larger and heavier outboard, take a look at Hurley Davits. I don't have them and don't know if they will definitely work on a 31. But they look like the best solution to not have to remove and hoist a large outboard. Search this site. I recall someone recommending them here.

 

[Tug Travelers]

We have an R31 with the Ranger Tugs dinghy. There are two different strategies for dinghy motor. Do you want to go fast or slow with the dinghy. If it is just to shore and not a long distance a little two or three horse is a great outboard for the dinghy. They are lightweight and easy to put on the dinghy.

If you want to go farther and faster then you need the biggest motor you can get on the dinghy. I have a yamaha 9.9. I would be very interested in the suzuki 20 because it weighs about the same as the yamaha 9.9.

I use a garhauer crane on the swimstep to hoist the motor up to the transom railing. I also use a block and tackle to flip the dinghy up by myself. While i may be able to put the 9.9 on the dinghy i worry too much about injuring my back or dropping the motor. The crane as they say is worth it's weight in gold.

If you have any more questions please let me know. I have pictures somewhere of the crane set up.

I hope that helps a little bit.

John
Tug Travelers
Guided Flotilla Cruises

 

[BB marine]

I use a garhauer crane on the swimstep to hoist the motor up to the transom railing. I also use a block and tackle to flip the dinghy up by myself. While i may be able to put the 9.9 on the dinghy i worry too much about injuring my back or dropping the motor. The crane as they say is worth it's weight in gold.

If you can find the pictures could you post them here. I am planing on making a small crane to lift the motor off the dingy. We have a 7.5 hp ,2 stroke that weighs 55 lbs. It is manageable to take off the dingy in a calm harbor but not always in anchorages because of wakes and waves. Its tough on my back and I'm always concerned of it going overboard. If a manufactured davit is available and works that is easier then fabricating one.Thank you.

 

[Cutwater28GG]

my use case is only for short trips to marinas or docks and not distance cruising so the 2.5Hp suzuki was the perfect fit. I can pick this engine up with one hand and place it on the stern rail. - its 29lbs.

if youre buying the 4hp get the 6hp as its the same engine with a different jet and the same weight. there are a few clever davits out there that will swing the engine out as the dinghy is raised. but they are expensive and heavy.

when it comes to dinhy's there are also a lot of options. I went with a super light dinghy because it was more important for me to make it easy to lower and remove as much weight on the stern of the boat than to have a more capable long distance tender. I chose a takacat. they have various sizes. it will plane easily with a 4-6Hp but moves very well with the 2.5 (non planing)

i literally can pull up my dinghy with one hand into the vertical position.

I'd love a sailable dinghy on the stern but the weight was too much.

 

[bevis]

We have a R31 with a sea wise davit we love it there is a video on YouTube

 

[Craig]

Olson davit system out of Seattle! We have a 9.9 Yamaha on our ranger dingy and it will move along very nicely. It will plane with three on board. The dingy and motor stay together and you can still see out the back of the boat. Excellent system.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Kenaithab]

We currently use Weaver davits for our 9.5 ft Highfield RIB on out R-29 and a crane to move the 6 or 9.9 hp outboards. It is functional but time-consuming and inconvenient. If we ever get to a place that has experience mounting Weaver hardware, we are probably going to try the Weaver hoist/Leaver combination we saw at the Seattle Boat Show last year. It's not the cheapest but appears to be quite easy to use and the outboard does not require the use of a crane or muscles that I no longer have.

 

[Tim8806]

Following up, I followed the advice of Scotty Mac (see above) and did go to the Portland Pudgy facility in Portland, Maine. We purchased a Pudgy and consulted our boat yard about transporting with a Weaver system. for which we already had some parts. The bad part is that the boat yard felt it had to haul the boat to install the davit, so, I'm dreading the bill for that. At least we'll have a good, seaworthy dinghy firmly attached to the boat. As for a motor, we went with a Suzuki 2.5 horse.

Tim

 

[Red Fury]

Following up, I followed the advice of Scotty Mac (see above) and did go to the Portland Pudgy facility in Portland, Maine. We purchased a Pudgy and consulted our boat yard about transporting with a Weaver system. for which we already had some parts. The bad part is that the boat yard felt it had to haul the boat to install the davit, so, I'm dreading the bill for that. At least we'll have a good, seaworthy dinghy firmly attached to the boat. As for a motor, we went with a Suzuki 2.5 horse.

Tim

What color Pudgy did you go with? We just ordered one for our R27. I have been struggling with which color to get. The white looks nice and complements our tug nicely. The yellow sticks out like a sore thumb but, it is highly visible and can always be seen or located easily. So it’s down to “looks good” or “I can pick my pudgy out of a crowd at 2 miles away”. I ordered the white then called back and switched to yellow. Not sure yet if I want to switch again back to white....

 

[baz]

The Sunset Yellow was my choice for my previous R-25 Classic. I chose it for being seen on the waters that can appear gray/white. I was told it can be seen over a distance of 2 nautical miles quite easily. My R-25 had a blue hull so the yellow complimented that for me IMO.

I used a 4:1 block and tackle to lift/lower the Pudgy which required no more than 20 lbs of effort for me... using a 1/4" line. It's important for this arrangement to get a click/snap/hold on the block so that it's easy to arrest the lowering or lifting at some point. This was new necessary when fueling as the Pudgy had to be lowered from leaning on the rails to a vertical position and held there while fueling.

 

[YukonRon]

I used a 4:1 block and tackle to lift/lower the Pudgy which required no more than 20 lbs of effort for me... using a 1/4" line.

We have a Portland Pudgy that stands on edge with davits on the swimstep of our R25sc. The only thing we don't like is the weight when lifting it up to its resting position on edge. Just tonight at dinner my wife and I were discussing this, and decided a block and tackle would solve the problem. We guess-timated a 4:1 ratio would probably suffice.
Thanks Baz for the timely input to confirm this!
Gotta love the Tugnuts forum!

 

[Tug Travelers]

BB Marine had requested pictures of our davit on our 31.

Here are a couple of shots. I apologize for the delay. Let's just say I had some technical difficulties.

When I use the davit I use a dowel and a ratchet strap to reinforce the railing on the swimstep.






I linked these to photos in our album. Let me know if there are any questions.

John
Tug Travelers
Guided Flotilla Cruises

 

[BB marine]

Thanks for the Pics. Looks good.I don't have a rail on my platform. I like the design.