Dinghy Davits for a CD 30c

[Steve Laume]

Very hard. Like a solid floor.

I haul may air floor. off shore, dinghy back on board the mother ship with the spinnaker halyard and lash it just forward of the sea hood. It is still a chore but I have not come up with a better solution.

I stand in my air floor dinghy all the time, while motoring along. I like to take a wide stance with my feet out near the tubes and just behind the seat. I then hold onto the bow painter to create a nice three point stance. With the motor pivot and throttle snugged a bit I can then lean to the left or right to steer the boat. It is great fun but also increases visibility around the harbor. More importantly it enables me to see below the surface to keep and eye out for rocks or coral as the case may be. I am not so sure the most safety minded folks would approve but it doesn't feel too risky with only 2HP. I sometimes think of George Washington while cruising about.

The air floor is also very comfy to lay down in, Steve.

[jen1722terry]

We have an air floor (and air keel) for our Achilles LT4. It knocked about 12-15 lbs. off the weight (under 40 lbs) which for us was critical. The floor is pretty stable (assuming we keep it inflated properly). the pressure gauge that came with it is hard to use, so we just do the inflation by feel.

We only stand in the dinghy when dock or boat-side, with support for standing.

One thing we do note that the dingy floor is hard to bail really dry. We use a pump, then have to cram a sponge under the edge of the inflatable floor amidships to finish the job to the point of keeping one shoes dry while standing. Annoying, but the boat is much lighter for its size.

Also, every month or so we take out the inflatable floor to clean the slime and mold out. We learned that, if we neglect this chore, a small job becomes a bigger end-of-season chore.

Cheers!

Jenn and Terry

[Keith]

I agree with John. My West Marine/Zodiac air floor is solid as a rock. It is inflated at a higher pressure than the other three chambers. Some one earlier on the thread mentioned that it was spongy, it must have been under inflated.

Well there is my 2 cents worth!