Hang Em' High

Drew over at Sail Delmarva has some dinghy hanging tips for us:

I always liked Clint....

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How high does a tender need to be above the water?  Surely this depends on the waters sailed, how far it extends behind the boat, and the motion of the boat.  It depends on how well secured the tender is to the davits, in case it does take some minor hits.

Often, I see towering, high davits, with tenders swinging far below them. Sometimes it's coastal convenience; they hoist her up when off-shore. Too often, the tackle or attachment bridle were poorly conceived, pointlessly consuming critical space between the tender and the davits. Hoisting bridles are, well... dumb.

In my case, the tender is nestled between the hulls, only extending a bit beyond the sterns. This is typical on cats and makes carrying a tender safely easier. I've also taken steps to shorten the lifting tackle and adding a a bow spreader bar, such that the tackle is contained almost entirely within the tender, consuming no lift space.

An so I can hang her high without towering davits. Triced up, with cris-crossing lines underneath, she snugs up tight in the gap between transoms with no need to remove the engine or hoist her up into the wind. The aft edge is about 4 feet off the water, and top edge just above the deck, convenient for loading.

Very simple.

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(The pictures are in the camera at the bottom of the Chesapeake. Squint like Clint and imaging a tender hanging 4 feet above the water. Imagine a spreader bar made from 1-inch x 1/8-inch aluminum square tube that clips the tender floor and D-rings on both tubes, and is clipped to the lifting tackle only 8 inches above the tender floor; you can't just clip the floor of a sport boat, because if the tubes go flat the floor comes out. And tricing lines, of course.)