Over the road towing with dinghy on davits

[M/V Miss Kendy]

We have a Cutwater 28 with a Highfield hard bottomed dinghy with a Weaver davit system. The davit system connects only the aluminum hull and nothing is being supported by the tubes. My question is does anyone over the road tow with their dinghy on the davits? Pros and cons? Any bad experiences? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Red Raven]

We tow about 40 miles on a rural road to the launch and back with the dinghy on the davits and the Bimini up. We don’t go over 50 mph. Never had a problem. I would probably take it all down to go on the freeway any appreciable distance though even if just to improve the fuel economy.

 

[Dale777]

M/V Miss Kendy,

When I trailered my previous R27 with the Ranger Tugs hard bottom RIB mounted on Weaver davits, I simply leaned the dinghy forward against the R27 stern rails then lashed it down with adjustable cargo straps attached to the R27 cleats. I trailered it that way for just over 10,000 miles over a period of almost 3 years. No problems.

See this link for more info about this topic:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9261&p=64048&hilit=dinghy+dale#p64048

 

[trailertrawlerkismet]

We have an R29S with Ranger hard bottom dinghy and weaver davits. We’ve trailered our boat across country, to and from Florida from Michigan and now to Ontario with the dinghy attached to the DAVits. I zip tie the stand offs so they can not open and put a cable and lock from dinghy to swim platform and we’ve had no issues. I am going to take the weaver hardware off of the dinghy pads and install a stainless washer on each bracket end so that it has more support and would be less likely to work its way thru the pad that is attached to the dinghy.

Jim

 

[BB marine]

We have an R29S with Ranger hard bottom dinghy and weaver davits. We’ve trailered our boat across country, to and from Florida from Michigan and now to Ontario with the dinghy attached to the DAVits. I zip tie the stand offs so they can not open and put a cable and lock from dinghy to swim platform and we’ve had no issues. I am going to take the weaver hardware off of the dinghy pads and install a stainless washer on each bracket end so that it has more support and would be less likely to work its way thru the pad that is attached to the dinghy.

Jim

Jim, My wife showed me a picture of your boat in tow from Tuggets Facebook. I have been contemplating selling the RIB and buying a Achilles air floor so it is easier to transport. We like the Rib and use it all the time but towing it becomes a problem. I have towed with it mounted to the davits once and it was fine but we only traveled about 100 miles on the highway. I was worried to go over 55mph. I also had it laid down against the stern. It seemed to move around quite a bit. Best distribution would be it was bouncing.Do you use the weaver standoffs while towing ? Do you have a swim platform rail ( we do not ). I know you do a lot of over the road towing with your boat. I would feel confident with your assessment of concerns while towing. I appears you have done it without incident. The other concern I have with the RIB when boating, is the obstruction of sight to the stern. We have a Gala RIB beam is 5' 7". When on the davits it is close to 6' high leaving no sight from the Helm looking aft past stern. How do you compensate for this ? I like having the dingy available for use back there. But I really like running the boat without it too. My other reason for the air floor. Use the weavers when we plan on using the dingy, roll it up and store it when we are not. The planning air floor Achilles weighs 64 pounds, The aluminum RIB 110 lbs. I'm looking for opinions on both. Thank you M/V Miss Kendy for posting this question again.

 

[M/V Miss Kendy]

The Highfield aluminun RIB is 88#. We liked it for the locker in front for a place for the Admiral to sit plus the gas tank fits nicely and is plumbed under the floor to the engine. It is a double hull so the inside floor is flat also. We had a fiberglass West Marine and found the single hulled sloped floor to be sketchy when getting in, especially if it was wet. We had Weaver fab a davit system that has the rounded arms for both the transom and bow locker that we received yesterday and will post pictures once I get it installed. We liked the idea of nothing being supported by the tubes and only by the aluminum hull only. The reason for the post is Weaver didn't recommend towing with the dinghy on the davit but it would be a pain to remove the dinghy and transport in the truck. Probably from a liability, they have to say that. I did ask Ranger/Cutter and they see people doing it all of the time and recommended putting an extra rope on for safety.
We do a fair amount of long hauls (150+ miles) at 65 mph. I do like the idea that Jim Favors had with using zip ties to secure the clips and stand off arms.