28 TE Lifting Davits

[grege]

Has as anyone installed lifting davits, non weaver, on their28 TE? Very interested in brand and how carrying the additional weight on the stern affected performance. Thinking of lifting da bnb its from Kato. Thanks in advance.

[Tom Cunningham]

I used the St. Croix transom mount on my '05 28te. Access was fine and turned out very solid. Mounted a inside the cockpit outboard motor bracket if I chose to carry the outboard inside the boat for a longer trip. The outboard bracket used a removable mounting "shoe" similar to the St. Croix mounting shoe.....so it could go away when not needed... nothing was negative with performance. Tom.

[grege]

Tom, thank you for your response. I have a bad back so was looking for a solution that didn't involve removing the outboard. On your longer trips did you remove the outboard for performance reasons? I'm thinking the inflatable and outboard weigh a combined 150# max. A lot of our trips are on the intracoastal with the only open water passages to the abacos. Sounds like you didn't have any issues and that's what I'll do. Did you use the removable St Croix? Thanks for your response.

[Norseman]

Tom: Do you have any pictures of the St. Croix davits on the Albin 28?

[Tom Cunningham]

Sorry no pics... since a nice guy named Dave came to visit and brought his checkbook. Now have a Compton 33 (Albin cousin) I used the removable St. Croix Davits where only the low profile mounting shoes stay attached....rated for 350 lbs. On the port side I had access through the cockpit shower for backing plates and for the starboard there is plenty of room under the transom hatch lid for the backing plates. Grege. your dingy and motor weight sound very moderate...no worries. I did modify the attachment points on my dingy as low as I could so I could then raise the dingy a bit higher. Tom.

[grege]

Decided to install Kato davits on our 28TE. Very pleased with Kato support, quality of the davits and ease of installation. The additional weight of the RIB, outboard and davits is somewhat noticeable at cruising speeds. Perhaps a knot at 3200 rpm. Will keep RIB at dock and only carry on boat when needed for trips. Davits can be removed fairly easily. Crossbar makes excellent handhold when getting in and out of inflatable as well as when using swim ladder.