What are cam cleats and why would I want them?
Cam cleats are spring loaded eccentric rope jammers. We install these along with rope fairleads on the small tube midway out on the davit’s arm. We machine a custom saddle from white UHMW plastic and install the cam cleats and fairleads on top of it. They are through bolted and secured with “barrel nuts”, that hide the threads inside the davit tube – a really nice looking installation. The kit is factory installed and includes installation on both davits. Our davits already have two welded stainless cleats on each davit, but the cam cleats are a real treat to use. You tend to pull the dinghy up “incrementally”, and having cam cleats means that you do not have to tie off the line after each pull. Also, the fairleads allow you to lower the dinghy from a central location, or stand down on the swim ladder to fend the dinghy off at the same time as you lower it. Making life easy it what this is all about.
