Previous blog posts have mentioned the infamous dinghy davit project that spanned two years. This blog covers the intricate details of the massive project. As with all blog posts, Hilary is the author and will preface this post by saying how excited she is to document this project which showcases just a few of Bert's many talents. Bert is truly amazing and Hilary is excited to document and share his project journey. Each of our boats had a dinghy. Rain or shine, we very much enjoy relaxing dinghy days and many "Sunday-Funday's" have been spent in the dinghy. Thus, equipping MMS with a davit system for our dinghy was a necessity.
 |
| A rainy dinghy day a few years ago. |
 |
| Chilling in the dinghy, visiting with friends. |
When we purchased Make Me Smile (MMS) in March 2023, her original 2006 fiberglass swim platform was cracked and rotten. Additionally, she had never been equipped with davits for a dinghy (aka tender) nor a dinghy launch/retrieval system.
 |
Original fiberglass swim platform on MMS.
The platform was both cracked and rotten,
necessitating replacement. |
After purchasing MMS, we put her on the hard in mid-March 2023 to address a series of maintenance items, including replacement of the swim platform. Bert located a local fabricator in Cape Canaveral to custom fabricate a new swim platform and swim ladder for MMS. Bert also located a custom builder of davits on-line. Measurements were taken for both, designs were created and approved and orders were placed.
Upon delivery, the custom swim platform exceeded all our expectations!!! The fabricator even included installation. Having the final installation included was a big relief to Hilary as it was a bit intimidating to her to potentially be involved in securing the new swim platform to the transom, especially considering the new swim platform also needed to support the dinghy.
 |
| Swim platform fabrication in process |
 |
Bottom view of new swim platform and ladder
prior to installation. |
 |
Top view of swim platform and ladder
prior to installation. |
 |
Bottom view of of new platform installed on the transom of MMS.
Note the extra support bars required for the dinghy. |
 |
Top view of the new platform installed on the transom of MMS.
Note the posts that the dinghy davits will be secured to. |
When the crate containing the dinghy davits was delivered to the yard, we were disappointed the stainless steel was not polished as depicted in the images on-line. Sigh....... yet another challenge to navigate as neither of us would be satisfied with davits that were not polished. Polishing stainless steel was a job Hilary could handle, allowing Bert to stay focused on more serious mechanical maintenance items. Bert ordered a tube sander for Hilary and many, many weekend hours were spent polishing the davit tubes. Three passes were made with increasingly fine sandpaper before applying the polish. The sander looks a bit intimidating, but it was definitely the right tool for the job.
 |
Unpolished davits with tube polisher.
This was the set up in the yard, using MMS as shade
for Hilary to polish the davits. |
 |
Close up of the tube polisher.
The three point wheel system allows it to wrap around the tube. |
 |
| Bert doing a test with the new tube polisher |
 |
The test was a success!!! Nice and shiny.
Time for Hilary to get to work. |
 |
| Fully polished davits ready for installation on MMS. |
 |
New davits installed on the newly fabricated swim platform.
This was the day we put MMS in her slip after four months on the hard.
We are ready to hang the dinghy!!!! |
After four months on the hard, we launched MMS back in the water in July 2023 and brought her home to our slip in Harbortown. We were able to park our former boat, Simplified, in the slip next door to facilitate our move from Simplified to MMS.
The winch system to mechanically lower and lift the dinghy had not been installed yet. Even so, the transfer of the dinghy from Simplified to MMS was expected to take less than an hour. However, it became evident very quickly that lifting the dinghy manually was going to require some serious rigging. We are very fortunate to have a dear friend, a retired fireman, professionally trained in rigging. It took a full day to get the dingy rigging (version 1.0) configured to lift the dingy out of the water and two men using a lot of muscle to get it lifted. The rigging anchor point was the base of the radar mast up on the bridge. This created a trip hazard on the bridge and also prevented pivoting the mast down for low bridge clearances. Not a big deal in 2023 but a very big deal in 2025 for navigation of the Erie Canal. We need to be shorter than 15' to traverse the western section of the Erie Canal which means lowering the radar mast.
 |
August 2023 - Beginning of the day: Bert deep in thought on
how to install rigging to manually lift the dinghy into place.
The winch to mechanically lift the dinghy had not been installed yet. |
 |
End of the day: Temporary rigging version 1.0.
Several ratchet straps were used for the first lift
of the dinghy onto the new davit system. |
 |
Side view of 1st temporary rigging system using ratchet straps.
Simplified is in the background with empty dinghy davits.
Simplified's back end came up at least 3" when the dinghy was transferred.
Corresponding 3" drop of MMS when dinghy was lifted into place. |
Temporary rigging version 2.0 quickly replaced the ratchet straps with sturdier, stronger lines to hold the dinghy in place until the cabling system and mechanical winch could be installed. The original design of the davit system had the winch attached to the dinghy davits. However, once we started using the dinghy, the tension on the winch was unacceptable. Bert got to work creating a new design to change the pivot points of the cables to reduce stress, spread out the weight load for lifting/lowering, and also to move the winch up to the hard top on the bridge. Suffice to say Bert spent many, many hours, days, weeks using complex math that is far beyond Hilary's capabilities.
 |
| Rigging version 2.0 replaced the rachet straps with stronger lines. |
 |
Temporary rigging 2.0 and winch instillation version 1.0.
Winch installed on the davits. |
 |
View of the the temporary rigging version 2.0
and the winch installed on the davit. |
 |
Temporary anchor point to the base of the radar mast.
|
Fast forward from the summer of 2023 to early 2025. Bert completed designing the permanent winch and cable system on paper. Time to begin manufacture of parts and prepping MMS for the permanent installation. The two permanent anchor points for the winch and cable system are on the hard top, requiring reinforcement. Prior to departure from Merritt Island, two large areas were drilled, the balsa wood was ground out and replaced with poured epoxy resin to ensure enough strength to support the entire system.
 |
Finished reinforcement of the hard top
for the anchor point of the davit winch and cable system
 | Test fit of parts Bert manufactured to secure the
winch and cable system to the hard top.
|
|
When we left Merritt Island, all the bits and pieces to complete the installation were stowed away in a storage tub. At points in the trip where we were stopped for a day or two at a time, we worked on preparing the parts. Bert did the priming and Hilary did the painting. Then Bert installed the custom designed and built anchoring system to the hard top. Bert even designed a set of eye hooks as part of the undermount. These will certainly come in handy.
 |
Makeshift paint shop to prime the parts
Bert designed and manufactured. |
 |
| Primer complete! |
 |
Hilary competed the painting of the parts.
Ready for test fit and installation. |
 |
Bert test fitting all the pieces
with the stainless steel hardware needed for installation. |
 |
Final installation of the blocks that will
be used to secure the dinghy winch and cable system. |
 |
Bonus: eye hooks on the bottom side of the anchoring plates.
Bert thinks of everything! |
With the hardtop reinforced and the anchoring system for the cables in place, Bert was ready to install the winch and cable system. After the cable system was installed the temporary rigging lines were removed. We can now lower our radar arch to move through the Erie Canal. Additionally, with the radar arch tipped down, Bert had access to replace the original, non-functioning TV antenna with a new one. Yea!!!!!
 |
Bert carefully moving into position to drill the new holes for the cables
out at the end of the dinghy davits. |
 |
Bert drilling holes for cables.
|
 |
Bert transitioning from dinghy to swim platform
after drilling the holes for the cable system. |
 |
| Cables in place, time to remove the temporary rigging. |
 |
Cable system test. Cables are holding!
Proof of concept a success! |
 |
View of cable system from above.
Note the anchoring of the cables to the mounts
Bert designed and fabricated. |
 |
| Best of all, no more trip line! |
 |
| Final installation of the cabling system. |
With the permanent cabling system in place, Bert's focus transitioned to moving the winch from the dinghy davit up to the hard top. This also required running electrical to operate the winch and installing the plug for the winch remote control. In the picture above, you can see the new winch installed on the hard top (black cover on it). The post directly beneath the new winch is where Bert needed to run the electrical wires down to the engine room. This required Bert to custom fabricate yet another tool. A 5' drill bit to drill through the hard top and transom at the top and bottom of the post. Yes, a five foot drill bit!!! Stores don't sell such a tool and necessity is the mother of invention. Bert rode the eBike to the hardware store, purchased a long piece of metal conduit tubing, brought it back to the boat and made his own 5' drill bit.
 |
Wiring for winch in process.
Still in design phase. |
 |
Wiring for winch in process.
Wiring needed to be temporarily installed
to test operation of the system.
It works! Dingy down. |
 |
Quitting time for today. Tidying up wiring.
Dingy Up! |
 |
Temporary wiring installation.
This is before the holes were drilled to run the wiring
through the post to get it from the hard top to the engine room.
|
 |
Final view of wiring running from winch into the post on the hard top.
The white mesh obstructing the winch is the banner we have on the
back of MMS so passing vessels can hail us for a slow pass.
The banner will come down once we cross our wake. |
 |
Final installation of the plug where the
remote control that runs the winch gets plugged in. |
With the dinghy davit cabling and mechanical winching system fully installed. There was still a bit of clean up required. The temporary winch that had been on the dinghy davit for the past two seasons was cheap and had rusted. Bert cut the old winch off and it went to the dumpster. Hilary then set to work with Barkeepers friend and removed the rust from the dingy.
 |
| Temporary winch requiring removal. |
 |
| Bert removing the old winch. |
 |
| Old winch removed. |
 |
No more rust. Barkeepers Friend is an amazing product.
In addition to removing the rust from the dingy,
Hilary polished the dinghy davit too. Nice and shiny once again. |
Once complete we treated ourselves to a short dinghy ride up the Hudson. In the midst of completing this massive project while we've been at Albany Yacht Club, Bert also completed the required maintenance on the dinghy outboard motor (oil change, impeller, spark plugs, etc.). She runs beautifully. We can't wait to complete our journey to MI and are looking forward to many dinghy days on Lake St. Clair this summer.
If you are wondering when we will be underway, we believe we will start moving Thursday, weather dependent. There are still two locks on the western Erie Canal that are not open, but the major repair of the earthen embankment between locks E-16 and E-17 is holding so we are confident it is time to move forward and through that section of the Erie canal.
