Radar arch and dinghy on the roof

G

Gus Curtis

New member
Hi
I am new to this group, I have a 25 ft cruiser. I am looking for suggestions on installing a radar arch that I can slide a 8ft rubber dinghy under. Photos would be most helpful.
I live on the east coast now Portland Maine, use to reside in Portland OR and Vancouver BC.

Gus
 
Hi Gus, Welcome to the C-BRATS. WOW, Portland to Portland. Right now the left side one has a lot less winter, well at least the frozen white kind. I'm on the left side in the real Washington and our church pastor came from your current Portland. he says he likes the rain.

In order to slide a dingy under your arch you will need enough clearance for the inflated tubes. There are 2 sizes of arches, the low arch and the high arch and you are looking for the high arch. Not sure of suppliers on your side, but it might be worth a call to the C-Dory mfg guys and ask if they have an eastern source. It may be cheaper to find or have one made there than to ship one across country.

From their web site, linked at the bottom left corner of the C-BRATS home page:

For technical information, please call 360-389-5351 or email a factory representative. We are available to answer any questions you have about our products.
Click to expand...

This is a good source for C-Dory info so I'm sure you will get more and maybe better ideas.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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Hey Gus
As for photos go to most any photo album of 25 fters and you will find some pictures of what you are looking for. Both tall and short. Radar arches are a very popular add on. In fact check out 22 fters as well. Other than being a bit wider to accommodate the 25 being a bit beamier they are the same.
 
Welcome aboard! You want to have the boat first to determine how high the arch needs to be. You want at least several inches above the inflated pontoons of the dinghy--and determine what the best way is to get the dinghy up there.

You can also put the Radar forward, on a pedestal and put the dinghy aft of it--with the transom up against the radar pedestal and the tubes on each side.

We like using a Garhauer Davit to hoist our dinghy up to the roof. They can be ordered with a longer "leg" than standard.
 
We have a 22 and there is only so much width one can obtain between the posts for the arch. The 25 may be a bit wider. While there is a good selection of dinghy's that meet our narrow width requirements, there are some that are too wide to fit between the posts. Good to check the width of your dinghy, or the dinghy that you are ordering to assure the fit you want. Just another consideration. Have fun with with the boat!
 
Phil Barnes":3ik5vbya said:
We have a 22 and there is only so much width one can obtain between the posts for the arch. The 25 may be a bit wider. While there is a good selection of dinghy's that meet our narrow width requirements, there are some that are too wide to fit between the posts. Good to check the width of your dinghy, or the dinghy that you are ordering to assure the fit you want. Just another consideration. Have fun with with the boat!
Click to expand...

Yes, the 25 is nearly a foot wider than the 22, that width being in the cabin and the corresponding rooftop. Also, since the cabin is longer, there is more real estate on that cabintop for a dinghy, including room to move it fore and aft.
 
Also consider where you might be boating. I have my radar right on my roof. Allows me to go under a lot of things other folks might not fit thru with higher arches. Of course that means I can't throw a dinghy inflated on my roof, unless I do it upside down over the radar... Colby
 
Thank you guys,
I am in the process of finding the right Dinghy.
How hard is it to get a dingy on the roof from inside the cockpit, or do you do it from the bow.

Thanks
 
Since we often have the Bimini or full canvas up, we have always brought the dinghy up over the side (starboard seems to work best for some reason) directly to the cabin top. It means holding on to the railing with one hand, and sliding the dinghy up with the other. The heavier the dinghy, the more difficult this is. We usually grab the gunnel line on the top of the dinghy, and Marie usually aft, and I am forward--so she is pulling with her strong right arm and I with my weaker left arm.

Below is how our 9 1/2' dinghy is carried on our 22, and the davit in this case brings the boat up over the cockpit. When in carrying position, some of the weight of the dinghy is carried by the Davit arm, so there is minimal weight on the bow of the Bimini.

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Our technique was to put the dinghy on top from the bow. Raise the bow of the dinghy with the painter, ease it over the bow rail, rotate it and lift the aft portion of the dinghy onto the roof, side it into place. We used adjustable locking lines to keep it there (fast and easy). This process is easy with two people (as long as one doesn't push the other off the bow while rotating the dinghy), a bit more effort solo.

With the above method, you are rarely trying to lift the entire weight of the dinghy, since it is leaning on something.
 
I have a CD25 cruiser. It has a low arch well aft on the cabin roof. My dinghy does not fit under the arch, but it doesn't need to since there is plenty of room for it without interfering with the arch......depends of course on length of dinghy.[/img]
 
I have a CD25 cruiser. It has an arch well aft on the cabin roof. My dinghy does not fully fit under the arch, but it doesn't need to since there is plenty of room for it without interfering with the arch......depends of course on length of dinghy.

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