J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum Cruising Discussions Dinghy?

Has anyone installed davits on their J/30? Is this sacrilegious to even consider?

I'm basically thinking of how I might accommodate a small tender (thinking maybe 8' or so), in such a way that I don't sacrifice a whole berth under normal use for storage.

Does anyone else have a tender they use regularly? What size/model? How do you store it? What engine?

I have an 8 foot inflatable with a slat floor so it can roll up. When cruising, if I am sailing anywhere longer than an hour I deflate and carry it aboard. I use tie down straps to put it on the cabin top below the boom using the handrails as anchor points. It works extremely well

engine? What happened to good old fashioned oars? What happened to towing the thing along behind you too? We keep it true to the simple stupid principle, 8' wooden nymph and a couple oars tied with a painter. bulletproof.

We used a 10.5 foot Chineese copy of a Zodiac sport boat with an air floor and a 10 horse, 2 cycle outboard. We would carry it on the cabin top until we could foresee a need, then we would inflate it and tow it. It can also be towed with the bow lifted on the stern and just the tail in the water. This worked well for 3 week vacations in Canadian San Juans and Desolation Sound.Th e crew counted 3 including my special needs sister-in-law who could get in and out of the skiff without drama. If you use a four cycle outboard, you can buy a harness and use the boom as a hoist, or buy a truss for your new hernia.

I've recently been considering the davit option (more as a convenient place to mount solar panels than dingy storage), primary issue being alteration to the center of gravity. A wooden boat builder friend of mind suggested lashing the dingy above the stern rails and seeing how it affected the boats feel to approximate what davits might do to the handling.

josh