Davit

[Hell-B]

Anyone make their own?

Tricks?

Size?

[INSAYN]

Originally Posted by Papermaker

Anyone make their own?

Tricks?

Size?

I plan to, once I secure a length of SS or Aluminum tube. My biggest obstacle is the mount itself, as my boat has some pretty good angled sides on it.

[tracker]

I made one that fit right on to my scotty downrigger mounts. Since I dont use the downriggers for fishing for those funny silver fish, it makes me feel good to put them to some use!

[Sourdough]

Years ago my father had one bent, made of galv pipe. For some reason, he never used it and it is still in my garage. I'd like to get rid of it. Anyone interested? PM me if so. Free is a very good price.

Sourdough

[Old Coot]

Went to a scrap yard, found a piece of 1.5", 3/16"-wall stainless pipe with a minor bend where I didn't want it and no bend where I did. Went to a friend's shop, heated the pipe with a torch and slowly put in the bend I wanted. Being an advanced metal worker, I removed the extra bend with a high-tech device that we call "The Jeep." Yup, put the pipe on the driveway and drove back and forth over it until straightened out.

Used a 3" long pipe nip ple screwed into an electrician's floor flange for a deck mount.(Miss Prudence, the iFish censor, won't let me spell it properly, sorry!) I used a galvanized downspout strap for the upper mount.

I drilled the pipe tip, threaded in a stainless eyebolt and attached a Folbe open block which came with a swivel. After the first trip, I removed the swivel because every time we flipped a rope at it, the block swiveled away.

A friend has a similar rig and motor vibration backed the nut off the eyebolt, allowing the block and eyebolt to sink to the bottom of Yaquina Bay. To avoid a similar loss, I threaded the eyebolt thru one wall of the pipe, then thru a stainless nyloc nut, and then out the other wall of the pipe. If the outer stainless nyloc nut loosens, the inner nut should save me $40.

After the third trip and after the bleeding stopped, I drilled the pipe so I can slip in a pin to keep the davit from swiveling and rapping me in the head when I'm not paying attention - which is usually.

What would I do differently? I wouldn't use stainless. During this project I learned the term "work hardening". I would have saved a lot of money over a commercial davit if I hadn't burned through about $27 worth of drill bits installing 6 holes. I think this davit would hold a submarine if it got in our trap. (The boat will flip before this davit fails, which is not a plus. Given the options of making a new davit or testing my PFD again, I'll go with the davit project.)

My primary crabbing partner, the long-suffering Carl, and I are around 60. We do not have a power puller and haul our gear by hand. The davit changes the angle of pull and our lower backs are better for it.

[ron m]

Originally Posted by Old Coot

My primary crabbing partner, the long-suffering Carl, and I are around 60. We do not have a power puller and haul our gear by hand. The davit changes the angle of pull and our lower backs are better for it.

The power puller is expensive, but I sure like it. Being over 60 and often not having some young strong backs on board, the power puller is especially helpful when the pots are in the ocean in water over 50 ft deep. But even in the bays, it's nice, very nice.
ron m

[SeaSparrow]

Originally Posted by Papermaker

Anyone make their own?
Tricks? Size?

We made our own manual davit. Works well! Here is the thread that talks about it...
http://www.ifish.net/board/showthread.php?t=157774

[Hell-B]

Good Stuff...Thanks