So I am working through the davit project and hoping to complete the job in the next two weeks but I have come to a point where I need to pull some sections of headliner down to mount the tender chocks. On the Post, there is a border section that goes around each area of headliner with stitching. I am hoping to pull the sections down that I need and have the local yacht interior company re-install for me if everything will stretch back into place or replace the sections if they don’t. So what is the best way to pull this down without doing damage? Do you pull the stitching out of the border pieces and then the headliner will come down with it?
yeah that is how it was done in a Luhrs I owned a long time ago. I was talking with S&S fabrics and they seemed to indicate the headliners in a Post were a little different as they were refitting one at the time and I had to remove some stitching. If they are just clipped in that would be great. Can Anyone who has pulled the headliner in a Post confirm how the headliner is affixed?
I can't recall seeing anyone get into their headliner for dinghy chock installations on the fore deck of any 45'-50' sportfishers. They are almost always added after the boat was built and screwed down with a good marine sealant to keep them in place and protect the deck core without tearing up the interior. They tend to be through bolted on larger boats.
That is what I did at first, could not see much. I will give it another try and see if I have better luck.
That is good to hear. I was going off Marquipt’s recommendation to through bolt the removable plates that the chocks bolt into. However screwing down and using a good marine adhesive sealant makes sense as the stress from the tender will typically be perpendicular to the load unless you see really big seas and the boat is pounding but at that point, you should slow down anyways. Would you think the same approach is also good for the pad eyes to tie the tender down with?
No! The loads caused by inertia can be much greater than the weight of the dingy alone. Not only should the anchorage points be through-bolted,; the area should be reinforced (from underneath) and if the deck is cored, the core must be strengthened. I once repaired an upper deck on an 80' Sunseeker that had the the chocks and anchorages ripped out of teak deck that had only self-tapping screws holding everything down. The dingy and chocks and all fastenings went over the side in rough weather. If you're thinking about having someone restore the headlining after securing the hardware, I would suggest that the same someone removes it.
I have confirmed, on the Posts, the headliner is stapled to wood framing underneath and then covered with decorative material to frame it.
That makes sense and is what I was originally thinking. My plan was to through bolt everything since I was going to have to pull the headliner down for the pad eyes and tie downs and they would see more of a dynamic shock load. Now it is time to figure what must come down to fasten everything.
As I said on larger boats with a larger skiff it becomes more critical. And higher up on the boat deck of a motor yacht the rocking and rolling increases exponentially. I also prefer fore to aft rail chocks which aren't going to collapse under stress like cross ways solid chocks can. Bolted is always better, my point was I just don't see it on 50' fore deck installations. Most of those are 600lb systems. A few 800lbs. What size skiff are you talking about anyway? RIB? How much does it weigh? You need to go whichever route you are comfortable with.
I can absolutely see that especially as the mass moves away from the center of rotation and the stress increases with the roll. The previous owner of my boat had a small inflatable (~250lbs) that simply sat on the foredeck and had some tie down points screwed into the deck. I am installing a Marquipt 1500lb davit this week as I am tired of wrestling the 100lb outboard onto the swim platform and onto the inflatable every trip. I am putting a ~800lb solid tender (Whaler) on the foredeck now so I want to make sure it stays in place. In this case, I want to do it once even if it is a little overbuilt. Since the headliner is coming down for the attachment points, it makes sense to through bolt the chocks too as it is no extra work at this time. That way I don't have to worry going forward and I can simply enjoy my Dark & Stormy's at anchor.
Well you are definitely at the high end of the weight scale so that's the way to go. Some sportfishers ride better with the weight up there. Hope your Post does. My Pacifica did - it trimmed out better and with less tabs. But I had only a 600 lb davit with an 11' 6"Novurania RIB and a 20hp Yamaha.
On the 50' Post, It doesn't. It makes the boat wetter and it doesn't ride as good. Rides acceptable, but not as good. Need to dump the fwd fuel tank first, it helps a little. The one I managed, the owner eventually got rid of the 14' Novarania and davit and chaulks, and went to towing a 25' Stoner. It rode better and was faster and dryer without it.
I expect it will run a little slower and probably wetter with the weight up front. I will try to place the load as far back as possible but it is still a heavy tender. There is certainly a trade-off here with this tender but for everything we want to do with our daughter cruising and gunkholing, it will be worth all the fun we have with the girls. The RIB’s just didn’t make sense for our needs. On my old Post 42 we would run a 200 gallon bladder on the foredeck when we were fishing way out East. It definitely didn’t help performance but it ran surprisingly decent once on plane and trimmed apart from being a bit wetter.
Good choice, nothing more aggravating than reinflating and patching air leaks. Plus you can fish without worry of a hook dangling from the tubes. Inflatables are more popular but have to be more careful using with a limited life.