Safe max weight of a tender stored on the bridge.

[No control]

Hello. I've spent about the past year reading about Hatterases, educating myself on their nuances and minutiae, and drooling over classified ads. I still have a lot to learn and have several years before I'll be in a position to buy one but in the mean time, I do have a few questions that I feel kind of stupid asking, so don't beat me up too bad here.

In regards to the 67 CPMY or 70 CPMY, how heavy of a tender would you feel safe putting up on the bridge? I know most davits on these things are rated to 1000-1500 lbs. and that most tenders people use are RIBs under 15' and 1000 lbs. I also understand that the structure of the bridge and the (forgive the lack of proper term) support tube for the davit play a major factor in the weight limit and that that the higher up you place a given weight or the more weight you place at a given distance from the axis of rotation, the more of a rolling moment it will impart.

Would a bigger tender in the 1750- 2000 lb. range be within the stability design limits of the mothership, or is that obscenely beyond what's reasonable? If that much weight wouldn't adversely affect the safety of the Hatteras, would the superstructure require considerable reinforcement to safely support that weight?

For the sake of the question, the usage scenario would involve Atlantic coastal cruising and winters in the Bahamas. There would be no time constraints, so waiting for nice weather windows would always take priority over succumbing to pushing my luck in bad conditions; I'm a retired pilot and as the rhyme goes, I didn't get old by being bold. I've no intentions of changing that approach here.

Thanks for your patience, thanks for having me here, and I look forward to reading your answers.

 

[Sadey]

I don't have an answer for you but would like to welcome you aboard. I'm guessing maybe an Eastie? There are a few heavy equipment operators here, I'm a current native. God luck in your search. You have come to the right place for all things Hatteras.

 

[No control]

Hey, thanks for the welcome. We don't currently live near navigable water beyond puddles to do circles in all day, but I grew up on the water in Bradenton, FL. When we're ready to make the move, we'll be looking at property along coastal North Carolina.

When I was a kid, my parents and their boating friends made a big deal about Hatteras so I grew up worshiping the brand and knew who Jack Hargrave was before I hit my teens. When we began boat window shopping this past year, my first thought was Hatteras and after window shopping several other brands and doing a lot of reading here and on other forums/FB groups, there's no doubt in my mind that we will own a Hatteras, no questions. Needless to say, I was thrilled to discover this forum and the immense wealth of knowledge and experience it contains. I was a little worried about buying something from the 90's, but a combination of Sam's and what I've read about the factory support and documentation still offered by Hatteras quickly calmed any trepidation I had.

 

[Pascal]

It s not unusual for a 70 footer to carry a 14/15’ RIB plus a jet ski up top. I wouldn’t be too concerned about the structure of the FB especially on a Hatt.

Will it be rolly without stabs? Yes but not to the point of being dangerously rolly.

 

[oscarvan]

Welcome. We shopped for almost 5 years. (Waited for retirement, also as an airline pilot) Then we bought a (late) 70's boat, so far so good. And yes, this forum has been most informative.

As to the support tube, as a sailor I would call it a compression post. My wife hits me when I call it a stripper pole. a ton of dinghy is a lot. I would take a hard look at that.

 

[No control]

Pascal- I was hoping you'd chime in. Your name has popped up more than anyone else as I've googled stuff over the past year and your posts have answered a lot of questions. I feel like I owe you a round. We hope to find something with stabs already installed.

Oscarvan- No doubt that a ton is a lot and I somewhat fret I may be reinventing the wheel here, but I suppose a more in-depth discussion regarding the tender is in order. My thoughts are as such,

In our idyllic scenario, we'd find some quiet spot far off the beaten path and other than having to move due to weather, the boat would remain in one place for 3-5 weeks. In that time, we'd like to do some exploring with the tender and would like something with more interior volume and gunwale than a RIB. Trips to dispose of garbage and to restock the fridge would be far quicker if done in a tender at 20- 30 knots instead of the Hatteras at 10 knots. What I had in mind when originally posting was a CC in the 15' to 18' range. I want to avoid towing a tender for many reasons and would rather compromise on the tender in the interest of safety at sea than the comfort of zipping around while the mothership is on the hook.

*edit- Oh, and stripper pole it is. We aren't above having a laugh about things; my wife recently commented that she was glad that Katie Sowers was coaching the 49'ers because women are good at pointing out what men do wrong.

 

[Pascal]

Thanks

We ve been spending 2 to 3 months a year in the Exumas for the last 14 or 15 years, most of it on charter.

Honestly moving the boat from one spot to the other is no big deal and I m not sure the hassle of towing a big tender is worth it vs moving the “big” boat. Yes it opens new possibilities especially if you have a big group otherwise a good 14/15’ rib works well and should be no issue on a 70 footer.

We have a Walker Bay generation 450 on the 84 footer we run. With a 75 Honda it s a very capable and practical tender. The damn thing will plane with 10 people on board ... (couples, not all 259 lbs guys ... and has a ton of storage. It is so good that we ditched early plans to get a towed center console.

 

[Photolomy]

If you want size and power and stow it on the FB, I would definitely go with a RIB. Even for a large RIB, in the size you suggest, you are talking only 600 LB. You will like that when it comes to deploying and retrieving it.

 

[motoryacht lover]

I am big dinghy user. I have a 13’ AB with a 60hp OB and we can plane 6 adults. There is not a lot of room in the boat with that many people and beach stuff but inflatables are tough to beat for planning a load. Also when loading and unloading you are vulnerable to wakes rocking the boat while being lifted by the davit. I wouldn’t want a rigid hull colliding with the mothership. Give a RIB another thought.

 

[doc g]

We put over a 1000 miles a year on our rib. I have more fun on that boat !! It’s a Nautica 15 with a 60 Yamaha . It holds 30 plus gallons and we use the hell out of it . It weighs about about 1200 loaded and we see no issues and go anywhere .. Pat

 

[No control]

Pascal- I was thinking more along the lines of saving time than being a hassle. I've never been down there, but there's some nice spots I've seen on google earth that look to be around 40 miles away from the nearest grocery store. If we're not ready to head to another spot, I'd much rather zip out and back in a tender than plodding along at ten knots. Really, it's a pretty small detail to work out at this stage of the game, but I figured I'd see what the consensus was about the weight. Truthfully, I doubt we'll make any major changes to whatever we end up with until we put at least a year on it. We have ideas, but no experience of what works and what doesn't and I know there's a reason so many go for RIBs. Doubling the difficulty of research is that we live in an area where a 25' boat is big because lakes are all we have- we went to a boat show last winter and did one lap around all the wake boats and pontoons and walked out. The upside is that everyone knows how to back a trailer so the ramps are pretty drama free.

To everyone that suggested rethinking a RIB, I'm hearing you and will be doing more reading. My gripe with RIBs is the interior space you give up for the tubes. The point made about banging against the boat when launching or retrieving is a very, very good point I hadn't considered. As an aside, I did see that Caribe makes a 17' RIB that'll take up to a 150 HP tiller outboard... I bet that thing rips and I could probably overlook the space tradeoff.

Anyway, I really appreciate the replies, guys. I'm sure I'll have more dumb questions as we move forward.

 

[Pascal]

Fruits and veggies are the problem in the Bahamas. Meat, seafood etc we all freeze in Miami. When we leave Miami, we typically have every freezer full to capacity. Fridges too. Like 25 dz eggs... 20 bars of (good butter)... 20 to 30 packs of Black Forest bacon etc etc etc. even lobster tails. I ve had issue with finding lobster in the Exumas... or getting not so fresh tails. Damn power outages off lobster season

So.. yes because of fruits and veggies it s hard to stay more than a week away from a grocery store..: usually Gtown. Over the last few years we ve had good luck ordering from the grocery store on Staniel a few days before the mail boats come.

But again, moving the boat close to Staniel or Gtown every week is no big deal. If the sound is rough we can run on the bank side to Barraterre (north end of great exuma) and take a cab to town. It’s just 40nm forum
Staniel .

15/20 nm with out 15’ rib is fine on the bank

 

[MarioG]

I highly recommend that whatever tender you choose, invest in a hydraulic davit that hydraulically lifts the boom as well as rotates in and out. The manual/fixed boom davit like a pipe welders is dangerous. Either you run the risk of injuring yourself or falling over trying to swing out or retrieving in the tender or the davit snaps in half causing big damage to structures. Trust me, I have experienced both...

 

[No control]

Pascal- Provisioning is something we've given some thought to and my wife fully intends on freeze drying as much fruit as possible and we don't mind simple cooking with frozen veggies. That's a great idea about ordering ahead, too. When you say "we," I'm assuming you're referring to the yacht you captain, not your 53MY? How many people are usually aboard and can you give a rough idea of how many cubic feet of frozen and dry storage is used?

Mario- That's some sage advice right there that will be taken to heart. Most of the stuff we've window shopped have hydraulic davits, some have two. I'm lazy, so manual davits weren't even a consideration to begin with. Why hydro over electric, though? Or are they all hydraulic other than the winch motor?

 

[Pascal]

Hydraulic Davits usually offer full control incl boom up / down, cable in / out and rotation which is indeed a must with a larger tender. Some also have boom in/out. Electric davits typically only have the winch being powered, rotation is manual

On the 84 footer I run we have a full size side by side freezer/fridge and a set of subzero drawer freezer in the galley along with a set of fridge drawer upstairs in the skylounge. I also added a full size French door fridge freezer downstairs, plus two small 1 cu ft fridge/freezer... I m guessing we have about 50 cu ft altogether.

And when we head out to the Exumas it s all full!!! But we sometimes stay 4 or 5 weeks with up to 12 total on board.