7.5' inflatable

[joegag]

Getting ready for a w/end getaway, and was wondering the best place to secure it. I've now got it blown up and secured to the rails on the fore deck...will that be okay? Still not sure how to stow the motor for the trip yet either...first time out with it...any gelp would be appreciated!

 

[Air O'Nautical]

No replies?
I fought with lashing down a Mercury 270 airdeck on the bow of my last boat (27'express).
I really like the glue on or arc type of Weaver davits. They made life much simpler. Storing the motor was under the aft seat in the cockpit.
Good Luck.

 

[JohnEGraham]

I tried to put mine ( 8 ft Zodic) on the bow. Ended up with scratches on my Hatch window from the rear transom and Back pains.
The Weaver system is nice but cost as much as my Zodic and there is a lot of items that you have to mount on the swim platform and the dingy.
So I have gone with a cheap and simple system from Plastic innovations. http://www.plasticinnovations.com/
As far a the motor ( 4hp four stroke) I have a small barbecue mount that was already installed in the cockpit that I have adapted some 1/2 Black piping so I can clamp the moter in the cock-pit area.
If you do a search on this site there are pleanty of Posts regarding the dingy / motor install problems. Good Luck, John G.

 

[joegag]

Thanks...I was talking to a few "sailboaters" who have purchased a braket they bolted on to the rails aft, so I'll be checking that out first...It might be easier simply to defllate it and then secure it...

 

[wakeup 19]

I have basically the same boat and I used the plastic inov. the first year it actually works well. cheaper than davits and you don't have 2 big metal pieces on your platform. I tucked engine on the portside stern on the cockpit deck and pushed the cooler next to it so nobody would step on it by accident. It seemed to work well. Then I bought an extended platform and I pull the whole setup horizontally on the platform with the engine up(as you see from my signature). If you plan on keeping the boat i can't say enough about the platform. Safe without the drives and you can put 2 chairs out there. Installs in 2-3 hours. Good Luck

 

[joegag]

Appreciate, hard to see the stern, if you have any other pictures, please send them this way...another question...do you have an electric head or is a manual "pump" style. I think my boat orginially came with an electric head, and somewhere down the road it was changed over. The distribution panel has a guage on it and a switch to pump it out, but neither is working?

 

[wakeup 19]

I started with a manual head and swithed to electric, much better. I don't have any gauges since it was probably ordered with manual. If you go to www.swimplatforms.com you can see what your boat would look like with the platform, if I remember I will take a picture this weekend with it on the stern. But all I do is pull it up parallel to the platform, put a wet rug that I use inside inflatible so it won't slip as much and pull it up. It basically sits on the extended and then I tie it up to the rail. The engine is already up at this point and take off. I just like the safety when in shallow water of not worrying about kids hitting the drives when they are up. I will try to send you the picture right to your email. I am not the best computer guy.

 

[Alex F]

When I had my 240DA I would store my 6.5 on the sundeck. I wouldn't flip it over instead just lay it on it's aired floor to rpevent D-rings scratching anything. The main thing is securing it well with lines. The only disadvantage I see is somewhat block of visibility. However, most of the time I had it on the side without any special setup. I've used couple of lines to make sure it's set tight. I would also hang two fenders off the stern locker to provide some leveling and keeping it from hitting the camper (I had full camper on all the time).