Carver Owners Forum

We purchased a 2004 Carver 444 last year. Looking to add a dinghy lift on the swimboard. There are already some cleats on there, but not sure if they were for a dinghy lift? Please see photos. If anyone can tell me what they think these are for, I'd appreciate it. (We bought it from the second owner and he couldn't tell us what they were used for. We did figure out the St.Croix, but they no longer make the parts) I'm guessing we will not be able to use the existing hardware, so I'd appreciate any other dinghy lift recommendations. We have a 10 ft dinghy with 8 hp motor. We'd like to leave the motor on the dinghy for transport. We want to have room to enter or exit the boat while the dinghy is lifted, so need to leave room for that. And once dingy is in water we would not want it to block swimboard. Not sure if it makes a difference, but we use in salt water. Some that I found were by Dinghy Caddy and Roskelly Olsson ST 275. If anyone has an experience with these I'd appreciate feedback. Price is a big factor and would love to find a less expensive option versus the Dinghy Caddy and Olssen. Also, does anyone have any experience with dinghy slings? I realize we would have to store the engine separately but curious about others experience. Thank you!

Great question, we are also considering the Dinghy Caddy these 4-stroke motors are just too heavy to remove! Hopefully someone has experience with them?

tjh408 wrote:Source of the post Great question, we are also considering the Dinghy Caddy these 4-stroke motors are just too heavy to remove! Hopefully someone has experience with them?

I found them to be great, they get the dink up out of the water with lots of safety clearance for running. They need to be installed properly and there is consideration as to which winch pulley will work for you....the more wheels the more mechanical advantage.The bars can also be used as a ladder and like I said the chains have to be installed to get the best advantage of the winch......good luck with your choices.

In my opinion there are no cheap choices for doing this job at the stern so you have easy access and the dink is safe in bad weather unless you install a crane and put the dink on the front deck or top.

What boat do you have it mounted on and what is the dinghy and motor you are lifting?

tjh408 wrote:Source of the post What boat do you have it mounted on and what is the dinghy and motor you are lifting?

Highfield C 310 with a 9.9.....2001 350 Mariner, regular platform.

I have a 300 Gala with F20 Yamaha. Dingy Caddy gets it out of water and very secure on my 1999 350 Mariner.

I have a friends that use the Dingy Caddy and they like it. They come with a block and tackle system to lift them out of the water which is very effective. One of my buddy’s purchased a small D/C powered winch to raise his, as he has a centre console dinghy.

I have a Sea Weed now and I love it for my purpose, however you are getting into a lot of money, unless you can find one in secondary market. On my last boat I had a Hurley System that would allow me to pull the dinghy out of the water sideways and it would sit flat on the swim platform. Hurley also has one that will pull your dingy onto it with a crank or D/C winch.

I have the same boat as you. If you have the storage box on the swim platform you have to be careful. You only have 18” of swim platform to work with. I needed a system that would lift the dinghy high out of the water and extend off the back. If the keel of you dinghy is sitting at the edge of your swim platform, half the width of your dinghy would me 30” minimum and you only have 18”. You will need something that extends off the back. The Dingy Caddy comes with an extension piece to enable this. They also use the weaver mounting plates to enable the system to be removed which is a nice feature, or it just swings out of the way when your swimming.

The davit’s you have on the swim platform now are similar to the weaver davit system and are a mounting plate. When I had my Brigg 330 Dinghy and my 9.9 merc I had it flipped up on its side on the weaver davits. I was not happy with that system as I was in big water in Georgian Bay (10-12’) hitting my starboard aft and a wave hit the dingy and tore it off my boat. The rubber pad that held the yoke tore away. I prefer the dingy to sit flat, so if it gets struck my the force of the water, it has less resistance than it would being on its side.

The Dingy Caddy will fit on the back of your boat, however I don’t believe the Hurley will extend off the back of the boat enough put your dinghy there, unless you remove the storage box. Wasn’t an option for me.

I believe the Dingy Caddy is reasonable priced for what you need and they are of great quality. What ever you buy must be 316 Stainless because of your salt water application. To save money, try and find one in good condition on the secondary market. I see them all the time. They are made here in Canada, so your dollar will bring the cost down for you.

I would Google Hurley Davits, Dingy Caddy and Sea Weed Davits and see what’s out there. There is also the Freedom Lift if you have $40 to $50,000, and it is way more than what you need for your dinghy.

Good luck with your hunt.

Greg

I considered the Hurley H30 as well. It seems like a good option, however it does take up a all of the swim platform. There is another lift similar to the Caddy out there called DinghyDavit a bit more expensive and not as friendly to talk with.
https://www.dinghydavits.com/

We ended up going with the dinghy caddy and it works very well for our needs.

I would like to see some pictures after it is installed.
Thanks Sam