New davit for the bow

The long range plan for Kamahele is to build and install a forward mast, which would also include a lifting boom to handle loads on and off the fore deck. This major project is on the back burner as we get the boat ready for cruising this summer. There is only so much you can do working evenings and weekends...

So the quick fix for now is to install a poratble davit that can take care of launching and retrieving the kayaks from their storage cradles, and also work as an anchor handling davit at the bow. With the size of anchoring gear needed for this boat, some kind of lifting advantage is a necessity for switching anchors, re-rigging, etc.

The design I came up with is a simple aluminum pipe davit that rides in upper and lower sleeves that clamp to the rail. The sleeves have an inner UHMW bearing that the davit tube rides in, and there is also a UHMW disc where the davit flange rides on the top of the upper sleeve. I made 3 sets of sleeves for the davit and they are installed on the port and stbd rails, and at the bow. The davit can be easily moved around to any of these locations to handle whatever needs hoisting. The sleeves might make a nice cupholder for a beer bottle too, but I haven't tried that yet.

 

The winch I ended up using is a brake winch, which locks automatically when you stop cranking. This makes single handed lifting a little easier since there is no lever to flip when switching direction (like on a standard trailer winch).