Pudgy Dinghy

[ss playdough]

I purchased a 2013 Ranger 31CB. It came equipped with a Portland Pudgy Dinghy with Weaver Davits. The dinghy was installed on the boat when we picked it up from the dealer. A couple of weeks later we went for a cruise and decided to put the dinghy in the water and take a walk on the beach. When we got back to the boat we were unable to load it back on the davits and raise it for the cruise back home. It was towed behind us and has never been back on the boat. I am unable to find any videos or information on how to load it back on the boat. My wife and myself are close to seventy years old. Has anyone else had this problem? Please send some photos of how you hoist the Portland Pudgy on your Boat. Thank you, Garry

 

[glider4]

The Portland Pudgy’s use a very unique Weaver Davit System. The swim platform davit is 2” up and 4” out. Properly installed, I’m not sure why you would have a problem getting the dinghy side of the davit locked into the swim platform side. The heights of each side of the davit system should make everything line right up.
https://www.weaverindustries.com/index. ... &fileID=54

We looked at the Portland Pudgy and liked many of its features and its durability. Ultimately decided the Pudgy’s length was too short (7’8”) for the 128 pound weight. Went with a Zodiac Cadet 270 Aluminum hull RIB. It’s 9' length and is 82 pounds. The Zodiac is easy for me (age 70) to lift to vertical even without a winch.
Our C-28 Weaver davits on the swim platform side are 4” up and 4” out. Sometimes hard to get the davit hoops to latch into the swim platform side, especially in heavy seas and/or high winds. Our method is to just latch the bow davit, hold the dinghy tight against the swim platform, climb out and then latch the aft davit.

 

[ss playdough]

I am able to hook the dinghy to the davits. My problem is raising the dinghy out of the water. Does anyone have any suggestions? I have seen that Weaver makes a hydraulic hoist. Does anyone have any experience with these?

 

[CaspersCruiser]

An R25 owner used a block and tackle system to raise the Portland Pudgy on his boat. Here’s a photo of it:

gallery2.php?g2_itemId=34040

 

[scross]

Weaver makes a winch system that will work on your R-31CB. That said, it’s slow. Some don’t like it for various other reasons. I rarely use mine but know it’s available for the Admirals use if necessary.
It has a shallow mounting plate that bolts through the “porch roof” above the door between cockpit and cabin. Then the main part of the winch slides into the mount for use. The winch was an FM factory offered option on some of the older big RTs.
https://www.weaverindustries.com/Weaver ... VER-WINCH/

 

[Red Raven]

A winch like the one above came with our R27 Classic setup. We never use it as it is too slow to use and cumbersome to store. Instead, I also use a block and tackle setup. I mounted a pulley to a D ring on the upper side the dinghy when upright on the davits. Another pulley on the transom or transom rail (I just loop around the rail itself but not sure of the config on the R31. Tie the distal end of the line near the dinghy pulley (I just use a really long dinghy painter looped through the D ring hold the pulley. Then run the line from the dinghy to the transom pulley/rail, back through the dinghy pulley and bring the free end to the cockpit. From there a single person should be able to get enough leverage to pull the dinghy up relatively easily.

We have the standard RIB but the same solution should work with the pudgy. Worst case you would have to use a set of double pulley’s to increase the leverage and a longer line.

Curt