davit replacement

[duetto]

hi all,

one of our davits broke in very choppy conditions this spring. we started considering replacement options. direct replacement was not an option since our 9.5' ab w/15 hp yamaha was borderline weight-wise for the original davit design. at the same time i came to a "no new holes" philosophy. one option considered was having a local shop make a custom set. we tabled this because it was spring and they were overbooked. next we turned to st croix davits. i had spoken to them several times at boatshows. we originally were looking at a mv/32 w/o davits. st croix said they had actually built a set for an mv/34, which it turns out we were familiar with. i then presented my "no new holes" requirement. bill at st croix rightfully had major concerns with meeting this requirement. after much give and take, we arrived at a solution. we would provide him with an exact tracing of all holes from the back of the boat. three weeks later, we had a new set of davits mounted on the boat using existing attachment points!

so far we haven't been out in conditions approaching those that caused the failure of the originals, but i believe that the st croix davits would make it thru intact. i would suggest that anyone who has the misfortune to need to replace their davits, give st croix a call.