Question about hauling small boat out of the water

bpatters69 · Oct 31, 2012

Hello All,

I have a small Avon which weighs about 100 pounds which is powered by a 15hp Mercury motor which is about 100 pounds. I use a Davit to raise and lower the boat out of the water. If I raise\lower the boat out of the water without the engine, there are no problems. However, if I try to raise\lower the boat and the motor, the motor is so heavy in relation to the weight of the boat that the boat tries to go vertical.

Not a good angle to lower the boat intot the water!:facepalm:

So here are my thoughts.... try not to laugh... I am still new at this.

Option 1: buy\build a harness to raise and lower the motor seperately and raise\lower the boat without the motor. This would be kind of a pain as I would have to remove the engine from the boat, lower the boat into the water and then lower the motor to the boat and attach it. The motor attaches easily. It is just a matter of tightening down on some knobs.

Option 2: Reconifgure the attachments somehow. Right now there are 3 connection points. All 3 connections are situated towards the back half of the boat or to the engine side. I think that is the best configuration anyway as the motor as the weight vs the rest rest of the boat.

Option 3: Buy some type of harness that would be placed under the boat to spread out the weight.

Any other ideas or thoughts?

Thanks, Bill

oldjeep · Oct 31, 2012

Re: Question about hauling small boat out of the water

How about taking the hood off the motor and attaching the lifting eye to it - use that as the rear lift point.

bpatters69 · Oct 31, 2012

Re: Question about hauling small boat out of the water

oldjeep said:
How about taking the hood off the motor and attaching the lifting eye to it - use that as the rear lift point.

So that would counter-balance the weight of the motor more vs the weight of the boat?

oldjeep · Oct 31, 2012

Re: Question about hauling small boat out of the water

bpatters69 said:
So that would counter-balance the weight of the motor more vs the weight of the boat?

Sure, as long as you are not lifting your boat with a single rope that slides in the middle. If you attached your rear lift to the motor eye and your front lift to 2 points on the boat then it should balance fine since the rear lift would be picking right in the middle of all the weight.

oldjeep · Oct 31, 2012

Re: Question about hauling small boat out of the water

You are using a load leveler or at least a balance bar right? A picture of how you have it rigged would be helpful.

oldjeep · Oct 31, 2012

Re: Question about hauling small boat out of the water

Crude drawing of lift setup. Adjustable balance bar would be best, then you can fine tune the balance

bpatters69 · Oct 31, 2012

Re: Question about hauling small boat out of the water

Thanks. I am not using any kind of balance bar. I am just using the three connection points which are located within the boat on the floor. The floor of the boat is fiberglass and the sides are inflatable.

Here are some pictures:

It is hard to see but there is one connection point that is located towards the middle of the boat and the other connectin points are towards the back and there are two of those.

On the first picture, there is a connector which is on the bottom of the bow. Perhaps I could run a wire or even a rope from that point to the hook on the davit?

Is this the type of bar you are describing?

http://www.storesnshops.com/S10004/Detail.asp?P=Masb03bs

oldjeep · Oct 31, 2012

Re: Question about hauling small boat out of the water

bpatters69 said:
Is this the type of bar you are describing?

3' Balance Bar with Stainless Steel Cables - Davit Master - StoresNShops.com Merchant

Yes - that will allow you to shift the weight so that your lift cable is towards the back of the boat. Whether it will allow enough of an offset is hard to say.

bpatters69 · Oct 31, 2012

Re: Question about hauling small boat out of the water

Perhaps I could try a 2 x 4 to see how long of spreader that I would need? That would at least give me an idea.

acarter92 · Oct 31, 2012

Re: Question about hauling small boat out of the water

bpatters69 said:
Thanks. I am not using any kind of balance bar. I am just using the three connection points which are located within the boat on the floor. The floor of the boat is fiberglass and the sides are inflatable.

Here are some pictures:

View attachment 173800 View attachment 173801 View attachment 173802

It is hard to see but there is one connection point that is located towards the middle of the boat and the other connectin points are towards the back and there are two of those.

On the first picture, there is a connector which is on the bottom of the bow. Perhaps I could run a wire or even a rope from that point to the hook on the davit?

Is this the type of bar you are describing?

3' Balance Bar with Stainless Steel Cables - Davit Master - StoresNShops.com Merchant

Why not just add two hooks/ eye bolts to the top of the transom... Hook two lines to the back (one to each side of the motor) and the other to the middle where you are hooking them now.

Not sure of the transom material but it looks like you have a flat spot on the top that would work well. If go this route, just make sure you use stainless hardware...

Austin

glenn property of pam · Oct 31, 2012

Re: Question about hauling small boat out of the water

if you lift from the rear 2 hooks only which way does the boat tilt ?

RotaryRacer · Oct 31, 2012

Re: Question about hauling small boat out of the water

The simple solution would be to just adjust the lengths of the cables that are there. The front one should be substantially longer than the rear 2.

Basically, you will probably find the balance point is right where the rear hooks are.

acarter92 · Oct 31, 2012

Re: Question about hauling small boat out of the water

RotaryRacer said:
The simple solution would be to just adjust the lengths of the cables that are there. The front one should be substantially longer than the rear 2.

Basically, you will probably find the balance point is right where the rear hooks are.

I think the CG (center of gravity), or the "Balance Point" is right in front of the motor, unless you pile some stuff in the front....

Austin

oldjeep · Nov 1, 2012

Re: Question about hauling small boat out of the water

acarter92 said:
I think the CG (center of gravity), or the "Balance Point" is right in front of the motor, unless you pile some stuff in the front....

Austin

Probably - which is why using a motor lifting eye would be the best bet on that rig for the rear hookup.

bpatters69 · Nov 1, 2012

Re: Question about hauling small boat out of the water

Thanks again for all the help. I am not sure if the 15Hp will accept the ring that you mention but that would be simple and it would work. Just so I understand, this is what you are talking about, right?

outboard lifting procedure - YouTube

oldjeep · Nov 1, 2012

Re: Question about hauling small boat out of the water

bpatters69 said:
Thanks again for all the help. I am not sure if the 15Hp will accept the ring that you mention but that would be simple and it would work. Just so I understand, this is what you are talking about, right?

outboard lifting procedure - YouTube

Yup. There will be some sort of provision for lifting the motor with a crane. Either a place to install the ring at the flywheel or a small bracket already attached to the powerhead.

JimS123 · Nov 1, 2012

Re: Question about hauling small boat out of the water

Been there, done that. Piece-o-Cake...

The fore and aft lines need to be different lengths, i.e., shorter ones closer to the heavier end. Its simple trial and error and once you got it level just fix the length of the lines so they stay the same all the time. No need for gadgets - just some rope!

Since you're on dry land and can walk up next to the boat it shouldn't take more than a few minutes to adjust it.

oldjeep · Nov 1, 2012

Re: Question about hauling small boat out of the water

JimS123 said:
Been there, done that. Piece-o-Cake...

The fore and aft lines need to be different lengths, i.e., shorter ones closer to the heavier end. Its simple trial and error and once you got it level just fix the length of the lines so they stay the same all the time. No need for gadgets - just some rope!

Since you're on dry land and can walk up next to the boat it shouldn't take more than a few minutes to adjust it.

But if the rear lines are in front of the center of balance there is nothing you can do with length to make the boat raise level.

smclear · Nov 1, 2012

Re: Question about hauling small boat out of the water

Could you get 25 +/- feet of Nylon webbing (like used in old lawn chairs) and make a sling for the stern? along with a balance
bar maybe.

JimS123 · Nov 1, 2012

Re: Question about hauling small boat out of the water

oldjeep said:
But if the rear lines are in front of the center of balance there is nothing you can do with length to make the boat raise level.

Quite true. Since the OP hasn't answered the appropriate questions we don't know. But, its hard to believe that a manufacturer would locate the lifting rings in an inappropriate point. Or, is the motor oversized for the boat?

Question about hauling small boat out of the water

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