Dinghy Lift – The details….

Several of you have contacted me asking about the dinghy lift, so here are some more details.

(all pictures are clickable and will show you more detail when expanded)

Dinghy weight 55kgs, Outboard weight 50kgs total 110kgs inc fuel can.

The main construction is two 2″ (50mm) stainless poles at 100″ (254cm) bent at approx 45 degrees at 65″(165cm) with a cross-sectional bar at 51″ (129cm

The two poles bolt onto two 3″(76mm) x 2″(50mm) aluminium hinges which are bolted thru the transom approx 2″(50mm) from the sides of the bathing platform entrance.

The Two hinges bolt-thru using CSK 10mm x 60mm Allen bolts with very large penny washers

 

This then has a 12mm x 120mm bolt with nylon spacers each end finished with a dome nut

As I already had an arch in place, rigging the pully system was reasonably straight forward

I used a 1:1 ratio on the front of the dinghy, as there is little weight to lift and a 3:1 ration at the engine end as this is where the majority of the weight is, the pulleys are Selden 60mm PBB60 rigged with 8mm Dyneema onto a cheapie 3500lb (1590kg) Badland truck winch  ($120) which is the smallest they had, when it breaks I have a spare vac-packed in the bilge.

The 2 sets of blocks from the ends of the lift points to the dinghy are just to allow you to pull the dinghy closer to the boat when it’s in the water, I’ve used 3 way as its what I had spare, but singles will do, I use braid on braid for the block lines but Dynemma or the strops in the boat.

All this is controlled by a remote control bought on amazon (Remote control link) 

It takes approx 1.5 minutes to lower and obviously the same to retract, which is definitely quick enough, I strop the dinghy to the poles with some stainless steel truck strops so it doest swing sideways unnecessarily on longer journeys, but all in all its very strong and sound and the occasional pop round to the next bay is more than secure. I’ve also fashioned a hard stop so the crane doesn’t overrun when it’s vertical.

Happy to ask any questions. email me using the contact page.

Many thanks to John Swartz of Marine Lift Technologies, for all the weight distribution, radius’s calculations and getting the right guys to get it built in Fort Lauderdale.