Will These Home-made Dinghy Davits Break?? | Sailboat Trawler Restoration (Ep58)

This is the moment of truth… and it does NOT go as planned. In this episode of Motor City Boat Werks, I take you through my full attempt at designing and building a pair of custom composite dinghy davits using Coosa Board, epoxy, and fiberglass—and yes, you’ll see exactly where it all goes wrong. If you’re into DIY boat restoration, composite fabrication, or learning from real-world boat-building mistakes, this episode is packed with valuable lessons, detailed design work, and honest results. ⛵ What You’ll See in This Episode ✔️ Designing dinghy davits for a trawler or sailboat ✔️ Building Coosa Board composite structures ✔️ Epoxy lamination, filleting, fairing, and fiberglass techniques ✔️ Davit arm and base construction ✔️ Common boat-building mistakes to avoid ✔️ Stress-testing the davits (the failure moment!) ✔️ Reinforcement attempts and why they didn’t work ✔️ The reality of using Coosa Board for structural components ✔️ Finding affordable aluminum davits after the failure 💬 A Hard Lesson Learned After hundreds of hours of cutting, laminating, sanding, and fairing, the davits sheared apart under load. In the end, I learned that Coosa Board isn’t suited for this type of structural stress, and that sometimes the best solution is the obvious one: find a pair of forged aluminum davits. (Spoiler: I scored a set on Craigslist for $50!) 🎥 Featured Projects & Playlists ➡️ Coosa Board & Composites    • Coosa Board and Composites For Boat Building   ➡️ Albin 27 Pocket Trawler Restoration    • Trawler Restoration | Albin 27 Family Crui...   ➡️ Skipper 20 Sailboat Rebuild    • Small Sailboat Restoration   ➡️ Small Sailboat Pilothouse    • How to Build a Small Sailboat Pilothouse   📌**MotorCity Boat Werks has no sponsors and receives no compensation from any of the brands featured or recommended. However, there may be compensation from the use of Amazon affiliate links below.** Equipment featured this episode: Digital Angle Finder - Der Winkle https://amzn.to/3GiiQgA TotalBoat Epoxy Fairing Compound https://amzn.to/47OOE8f 🔔MotorCity Boat Werks channel provides how-to tips and tricks for boat sailboat restoration and boat building. Please join me Fridays at 5pm EST episodes from the Boat Werks. 👍 If you enjoy Motor City Boat Werks: Please like, subscribe, and share    / @motorcityboatwerks   📧Questions or comments: https://motorcityboatwerks.com/contact/ 🚀 Support the Werkers community on Patreon Join The Werkers (fan club):   / motorcityboatwerks   PATREON Werker members get: ⭐ Detailed materials lists &epubs ⭐ My Da Vinci’s Notebook ⭐ Bonus build content ⭐ Signed book + decal giveaway (limited time!) #boatrestoration #boatbuilding #sailboatrestoration #motorcityboatwerks BoatWerks Theme: "Early Retirement Start" by Ryan Muns Eyes on the Moon Studios