A davit is a crane-like device mounted on a boat or ship, used to raise and lower smaller vessels, equipment, or supplies over the side. If you’ve ever seen a lifeboat hanging from the side of a cruise ship or a dinghy suspended off the back of a sailboat, those are held in place by davits. They range from simple manual arms on recreational boats to massive gravity-fed systems on commercial vessels, but the core idea is always the same: a pivoting or fixed arm with a line and winch that lifts something heavy on or off the water.
How a Davit Works
At its most basic, a davit consists of three parts: an arm (sometimes called a boom or crane arm), a line or cable (called a “fall” in nautical terminology), and a winch to control the lifting. The arm extends outward over the water, the cable runs from the winch through the arm to whatever is being lifted, and the winch provides the mechanical advantage to raise or lower the load.
On commercial ships, regulations require that launching systems work by gravity or stored mechanical power alone, independent of the ship’s main electrical systems. This ensures lifeboats can still be deployed during a power failure. The cable used in these systems must have a breaking strength at least six times the weight of a fully loaded lifeboat, and the structural attachment point where the davit connects to the hull must be engineered to handle 4.5 times the maximum load.
Recreational davits are simpler. A typical setup on a sailboat or cruiser uses a pair of arms mounted at the stern, with lines running to a manual crank or small electric motor. You hook the dinghy’s lifting points to the cables, crank it up, and it sits suspended above the waterline while you’re underway or anchored.
Types of Davit Systems
Davits come in several configurations, and the right choice depends on the size of your vessel and what you’re lifting.
- Manual davits use a hand crank to raise and lower the load. They weigh around 65 pounds, need no batteries or wiring, and are rated for loads up to roughly 450 pounds. They’re the most affordable option and popular on smaller sailboats and cruisers where a lightweight dinghy is the only thing being lifted.
- Electric davits replace the hand crank with a motor, letting you launch or retrieve a tender at the push of a button. They weigh about 115 pounds and handle heavier loads. If you boat solo, an electric system eliminates the physical effort of cranking, which matters more than you’d think when you’re hauling a loaded dinghy out of choppy water.
- Hydraulic davits are common on larger yachts and commercial vessels. They use hydraulic cylinders for smooth, powerful lifting and are the standard choice when the load gets heavy enough that electric motors become impractical.
- Gravity davits are designed primarily for lifeboats on commercial ships. The boat is stored in a cradle that swings outward on curved tracks, and the weight of the boat itself provides the force to lower it to the water. This design allows a fully loaded lifeboat with its entire complement of passengers to reach the sea under gravity alone.
Where Davits Are Mounted
On recreational boats, the most common mounting location is the transom, the flat vertical surface at the very back of the hull. Davit arms are bolted to the transom using adapter plates or mounting brackets, and the dinghy hangs just behind and above the stern. The second option is mounting directly to the aft deck, either on the existing deck surface or on shaped pads that match the deck’s curvature.
The mounting point matters more than most people realize. The structure beneath the davit has to support not just the static weight of the dinghy, but the dynamic forces of waves rocking the boat while a loaded tender hangs from the arms. Many production sailboats and cruisers are pre-engineered with reinforcing pads or structural knees behind the transom, even if no davits were installed at the factory. Before installing davits, it’s worth checking inside the lazarette or deck lockers for these reinforcements. Skipping structural reinforcement can lead to serious damage to both the yacht and the tender.
On commercial ships, davits are positioned along the sides of the upper decks where lifeboats are stored, or at the stern for rescue boats and work boats.
Lifting Capacity
Davit capacity varies enormously depending on the application. A single dock-mounted davit can handle anywhere from 600 to 10,000 pounds, and a pair of davits working together can support up to 14,000 pounds. Recreational boat davits designed for dinghies and small tenders typically top out between 450 and 1,500 pounds, while commercial ship davits built for lifeboats handle several tons.
When choosing a davit, you need to account for more than just the dry weight of whatever you’re lifting. A dinghy filled with rainwater, an outboard motor, fuel, and gear can weigh significantly more than the hull alone. Most manufacturers recommend selecting a system rated for at least 1.5 times your expected maximum load.
Materials and Corrosion
Saltwater is brutal on metal, so material choice is critical. Stainless steel is the most common material for recreational davits because it resists rust and corrosion without requiring frequent repainting or special coatings. It holds up well against UV exposure and rough weather, and it stays visually clean over time, which matters on a boat where everything is on display.
Aluminum alloy is another option, particularly powder-coated aluminum, which saves weight while still offering corrosion protection. On larger commercial vessels, painted carbon steel is sometimes used where raw strength matters more than weight savings, though it requires more maintenance to prevent rust.
Inspection and Maintenance
On commercial vessels, federal regulations set strict maintenance schedules. Davits, winches, falls, and all other launching equipment must be thoroughly inspected and repaired as needed at least once a year. Monthly inspections using standardized checklists are also required, with results recorded in the ship’s official logbook.
Recreational boat davits don’t face the same regulatory requirements, but the same principles apply. Cables fray, winch gears wear, and pivot points corrode. Inspecting your cables for broken strands, lubricating moving parts, and checking mounting hardware for looseness or corrosion at the start and end of each boating season will prevent the kind of failure that drops your dinghy into the water unexpectedly, or worse, damages your hull.
A Long Nautical History
Davits have been part of seafaring for centuries. Stern-mounted davits appeared on Greenland whaling ships as early as the 1600s, used to launch and recover the small boats that pursued whales. The Royal Navy adopted quarter davits in the 1790s and transom davits by 1800. By the Napoleonic Wars, stern davits were a standard feature on warships, visible in paintings, sketches, and ship models from the period. The basic concept, an arm that swings a boat over the side, has remained remarkably unchanged even as the mechanisms powering them evolved from pure muscle to hydraulics and electric motors.