Kato Island Dinghy Davits

[dvolkman]

Hi everyone. I'm planning on buying a set of Kato davits for our 350. We installed the Kato engine hoist last year and it sure made things a alot easier. Kato was easy to deal with as well...so we figured we would use their davits. I've seen a picture on their website of a 350 with them installed. I'm curious if anyone has installed them and what tips they may have. Also, how easy is it to store the outboard with the dinghy on davits taking up space.

Thanks,
David V.
hull#262
Electric Ladyland

[Richard Ad]

Have you purchased and installed your davits yet? I recently purchased Garhauer davits and had a chance to use them last weekend. They work really well and were easy to install. The most difficult parts for me were, planning where I really wanted them, and drilling holes in a perfectly good boat. TIP: once the davits are on the boat make very careful measurements of the cross bars (two bars) so the bolt holes line up correctly. If you mess up on this you can easily correct it using the same hardware, but measure correctly the first time. I decided to purchase Garhauer davits for two reasons; 1.) The folks at Garhauer sent me two genny cars, no questions asked when one had a problem. They provide great customer service. 2.) Their davits were half the price of Kato. I made a commitment to support Garhauer because they replaced my genny cars and becasue they've continued to exceed my expectations on service. Garhauer's quality is very good too; most of your hardware on your C-350 is from Garhauer. We sail mainly in the Chesapeake so I can carry my dinghy everywhere. If we were to go in the ocean I'd store the dinghy on the deck regardless of Garhauer or Kato davits. One other reason I went with Garhauer is Kato insisted that I mount the support bars to my swim platform which would block easy access to my swim platform lockers and make it so I couldn't use them as seats. I've since helped another C-350 move his Kato support bars from the swim platform by incorporating Garhauer hardware.

Regarding Kato, their workmanship and quality is extraordinary. I've heard great things about their service too.

C-350 #329