[C320-list] Dinghy davit shopping results so far FWIW

[John Morrison]

I have The Garhauer davits as well as the outboard motor hoist. I looked at the OM system and it was quite a bit more expensive than The Garhauer system. When I bought my system, OMS was charging for any extras like the pushpit struts. I also believe the 6:1 ratio of the Garhauer blocks is better than the OMS 5:1 hoisting ratio. My dinghy weighs 125lbs and it hoists up easily. 
Not totally related ,but I mounted a 40lb solar panel on the davits,the whole thing works great. I think Garhauer stuff is top quality. 
JEM
1999#574
Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 14, 2018, at 9:04 AM, Allan S. Field <allan.field at verizon.net> wrote:
> 
> My experience is that no one does stainless steel better than Kato. The last time I dealt with them, I had to take the boat to Annapolis for them to do the measurements and they would not install. That was about 15 years ago so things may have changed. On our C320, we went with Ocean Marine and were very happy. We have Garhauer on our C387 and while the OM was a better product all around, both do the job they were built for. Had the C387 not come with the Garhauer already installed, we would have gone with OM again.
> 
> Allan S. Field
> 
> On Tuesday, August 14, 2018 Scott Westwood <C320-List at Catalina320.com> wrote:
> We are close to purchasing new davits.  I thought I would let you all know what I learned (right or wrong) so far.
> 
> I am focusing on Martek and Kato.  I looked at Garhauer but the size they listed was shorter than I want/like.  Garhauer are about same price as Martek.  They may be able to custom make but...  Ocean Marine isn't open for business until much later in the season.  I was going to try searching for fabricators but I am just burned out on shopping and I wanted to benefit from the experience of the pros.
> Locally many people praise Kato but, as far as I can tell, Kato is about $800+ more expensive for "basically" the same end results.  Also Kato arm tubing walls are .083" and Martek are .12" thick.  However, both are rated for same overall load (Design limits- not material??)??  Martek arms are also 5" higher and only 3" shorter.  Our dinghy isn't wide enough for 3" to be a factor.  Dinghy only weighs 100lbs and has 2.5hp OB.
> It may boil down to customer service but $800 worth?  They do have Harken vs. Ronstan blocks but, again, $800 worth??
> There are, like most everything else, pros and cons for each/any maker of anything.  Each one has something they claim to do better than the other.
> I just wanted to try to provide some of what I have found so far.
> Anybody else have anything to add?  Feel free to weigh in.  Very willing to learn. 
> Thanks,
> Scott Westwood scottwestwood at bellsouth.net H (919)-362-8538    C (919)-618-7185