Dinghy Time

     When we purchased Pau Hana (formerly The Spirit of Whitby) it came with a 3.5 HP Tohatsu 4 stroke and a Porta Bote folding boat.  
1st "Splash" Placida, FL

    I had no interest in the folding boat as it was a pain to set up, so we sold it and saved the money toward a RIB.  The only issue with the Tohatsu was, the carburetor was off & in pieces and there were a few parts missing. With some research I learned that these motors are notorious for carburetor issues so no surprise that the previous owner had issues with it as well. 


    In looking through the motor, I had a cracked fuel tank as well.  I was able to locate a new carburetor kit as well as the tank and some new "ethanol" tolerant hoses. There is a carburetor kit that brings the HP of the Tohatsu up to 5 HP & it comes with an aluminum prop. I figured what the heck & ordered it.  I saw some discussions on line that suggested upgrading to the higher HP shortens the life of the motor. I'm not sure about but to me it was worth a try. Also while I was at it I got a new water pump kit.  After rebuilding everything, she fired up like a champ!  The outboard is in my tackle room with some Non-Ethanol gas & some STA-BIL in it.  Now on to finding a RIB (rigid inflatable boat).

   We searched to find a used RIB but most everything we found was either too big or too ragged.  Finally I decided to buy new.  PVC or HYPALON?  PVC is cheaper, usually about $1,000.00 but doesn't last as long, especially in Florida where it will be out in the sun so much of the time. We "bit the bullet" and purchased a Hypalon. We went a little on the small size but it was mostly based on weight & the size of the motor we already had.  We purchased a Zodiac 240 Cadet hard bottom from Defender.  Even with shipping it was less expensive than what I could buy nearby.

A little on the small side

    When we purchased the Zodiac RIB we also bought a set of swim platform davits.

     Mounting this 8' dinghy on the swim platform proved to be more of a challenge than I thought.  Because it was so short, it made getting a good separation of the davits thought provoking to say the least.  I decided to spread them out as much as I could. 

Head Scratching Time

One davit fell right on the Zodiac label, I felt it would be best to remove the label and ensure the bracket was securely on the tube.

    With a pair of vise grips & some Acetone i was able to soften up the glue & pull off the logo. It was a good choice as I really don't think it was fixed on all that well.

    Next up was mounting the handles/brackets.  I spread them out as much as I could, marked them with a Sharpie, taped them off & lightly sanded the fabric.

Rough up the Hypalon Fabric

    The 2 part glue is universal for PVC or Hypalon, the only difference is, there is no need to sand or rough up the PVC.

Ready to Glue

2 Part Universal Adhesive

  I placed some wood blocks under the areas so I could have a flat surface to mount the brackets to.  Once in place the RIB needs to sit for a minimum of 48 hours before it can be inflated.  After applying a liberal amount to both surfaces, waiting for them to "tack" then reapplying I set them in place.  It is difficult to get them flat so I used a combination of wood blocks, clamps & weights to make sure they sat flat.

Now a 48 Hour Wait

   After a couple days, I inflated the RIB and placed it in the water on the swim platform to mark out where to place the Clips. 


    FORESPAR has an option to modify your davit head clips to fit the dinghy height, curvature of the swim platform and offset from the platform if needed.  After dry setting the davit heads it was apparent I was going to need the front one modified.  The rear davit head was perfect but the front needed to be extended out 1" and raised 3".  The max they can adjust them is 4" out & 4" up.

Almost there!

    I filled out the form provided & mailed it to Forespar along with the davit head.  Now wait...and wait...and wait...wait, WTF? I called Forespar to see what the hold up was. They informed me that they don't modify many of the davits anymore. "Why in the world do you include the form & information about it then?" After a lot of back & forth and 3 weeks later I asked them to just mail the darn thing back to me & I will modify it myself.  Two days later I got a call from Forespar saying, they could do it & that the modified head would be shipped back to me.

    The head finally showed up - In fact they sent me 2!

Modified Davit Bracket

    I made a Starboard backer for a tad more height & stability, mounted it with the supplied 1/4" stainless steel bolts & sealed the holes with 5200.



**UPDATE** This set up just did not work well so we redid the dinghy davits - See "Damn Dinghy"


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Bottom Line

Image
    H ere in the Crystal River area where we keep our boat, underwater fouling is minimal. This is due to the amount of fresh water we have. Our canal is "brackish" with not alot of salinity and the closer you are to King's Bay and the springs the salinity goes way down. Out to the Gulf and further south, hull bottom fouling becomes worse. Go to the Keys and the Bahamas and it is very aggressive.  Wintertime when the water is cold, the growth is minimal, but when the water warms it is alive with billions of tiny organisms ready to cling to something and start reproducing. Now that our boat is in Tampa Bay and the water temperature is moving into the 70's the growth is accelerating.  How do we combat this? The list of ways is endless but the basic method is to apply Anti-Fouling coatings. Bottom paint. There is a whole science and tons of info about anti-fouling coatings so I won't go into all of it but basically there are 2 types of paint. Hard & Ablative. Bot...
Read more

Pre Loop Madness and Monotony

Image
   The build up was huge, the anticipation was killing us. Now we're here, living on the boat in Bradenton, FL for the next 14 days before we "shove off". With everything we think we will need for the trip in the back of our car, we load it onto the boat. Where in the heck are we going to put all of this stuff? Organizing and storing in every nook & cranny, sorting and reprioritizing. Re-looking at something and saying, "Do we really need 3 of these?" "Put it back in the car." After two full days, Beth managed to get it all labeled and packed away, somewhere. This little boat has a lot more storage space than we thought. Now, to be able to find it when we want it. I looked for my work gloves for 20 minutes!  "Where is all this stuff going to fit?"     Meanwhile I'm doing the same for all of my tools and gear, gallons of oil, fluids and filters, spare parts and odd things that we just might need to get us out of a pinch.  A few last mi...
Read more

The "REAL" Journey Begins

Image
TRAVEL DAY 1 - Palmetto to Sarasota February 14, 2023 4.2 Hours/31.6 Miles     Today is "really" the day we start of the Great Loop, as opposed to the "Unofficial Start of the Great Loop" . We felt pretty confident that all the preparation and work would pay off . Well, feelings are one thing, realty is another.     We pulled out of our slip and headed for the fuel dock to top off the tanks with a few gallons of diesel and pump out the holding tank. Of course the predicted wind was not what we got, neither was the air temperature, still it was a decent day for a cruise. We're still in our home waters so we basically knew the way. Our destination was Sarasota and a free anchorage. We had planned to pick up an anchor ball at Marina Jack's but it was full. Free anchorages mean more money for food, snacks and drinks! Out of the Manatee River and around Ana Marie Island     Beth had planned some routes on her Navionics and Aqua Maps apps and was ready to assume ...
Read more