Frequently Asked Questions

When we designed our products, we chose the best possible processes and materials to give you the strongest, lightest, and most easily mounted system.A system which would mount in a range different configurations. Our castings are our secret to sucess, and what sets us apart from ALL others. This design allows us to add strength where required and take out weight where it is not needed. As a fourth generation family business, the techniques we use were handed down generation after generation. Newer companies, and in fact all other system in the world use a bent / welded design; All Stainless will suffer a reduction in corrosion resistance because of welding. These davits cannot come close to the features Atkins & Hoyle has come to know as standard - customizable, durable, stronger, lighter, and more corrosion resistant.  Our castings are 215-R1 Anodized, a process which hardens the surface and coats them with an Electrical Insulator; preventing Electrolysis due to disimilar metals

We are often asked about the possibility of 'corrosion due to dissimilar metals'.

Atkins & Hoyle is known for its long lasting, generational products. Most people have heard of us only after inheriting one of our products. For our products, we've selected an alloy (AlMag) which is incredibly unique in its properties. It resists most if not all forms of corrosion. We also anodize out castings to coat them with an oxide layer further protecting them from corrosion. 

Before joining everything together we coat both the 316 Stainless, and the AlMag in a neoprene coating to enitrely isolate the metals.

The conditions and forces that we expect our products to go trough demand that we use a super strong, super light alloy that will not corrode in salt water. The best alloy for these specifications is Almag 35, an aluminum-magnesium alloy. This non-ferrous, anti-corrosion metal alloy is perfectly suited to the marine industry because it is lighter stronger than ordinary aluminum. Almag 35 is the lightest, strongest and most corrosion resistant alloy for marine use available today. It provides a 40% elongation, meaning that instead of breaking, the davits are flexible, absorbing shock loads, it has a tensile strength 44000 lb. per square inch and is 20 % lighter than aluminum

Chlorides in the marine environment are very corrosive to most metals. Beyond the reactivity of some grades of stainless steel, such as 304, 316 stainless steel is very resistant to this corrosive environment. This is why it is considered the only true marine grade stainless steel. Be sure to choose any product for your boat that only uses 316 stainless steel to maintain their look and strength. Atkins & Hoyle only uses 316 stainless steel. To increase the corrosive resistance and give a beautiful mirror look, we bright polish our stainless steel. This crucial step eliminates tiny cracks and holes in the exterior finish which is where the corrosion begins.

An electrical process that etches and penetrates the surface of the casting to further add corrosion resistance and enhance the aesthetics.

 Our castings are 215-R1 Anodized, a process which hardens the surface and coats them with an Electrical Insulator; preventing Electrolysis due to disimilar metals

Our rail mounted davits are very simple to remove and can be stowed away in merely a few minutes. We also have an optional removable shoe for our larger deck and transom mounted davits. These features make removing your davit system when you want a breeze.

Rusting, buckling, low lift ratios, a pain to remove - davits no longer have to be poorly designed and engineered. We have created a diverse product line of davits to fit any situation without comprising quality, aesthetics and corrosion free boating.  Our revolutionary designs allow you to truly customize almost every aspect of our davit system. No more awkward mounting procedures for generic davits. Atkins & Hoyle davit systems mount completely universally and will adapt to your specific needs. Finally, a set of davits that you can fine tune until they are just right.

Our davits our rated to a safe working load that is well below their tested maximum capacity. This means that we test our davits beyond what we ultimately rate them at because we know that there is a lot of extra load when your boat is on the water. Make sure that any davit system that you are considering quotes only a safe working load and is not simply the useless “maximum capacity” that many other davit manufacturers use. Other manufacturers’ tubing is not stronger than ours, not only because the unique way that we produce our products, but in the fact that the wall is reduced during their bending process. Simply put, all other davit manufacturers overrate their products

Atkins & Hoyle is the only davit manufacturer that has designed way to take the load off your rail and transfer it on to the base. This is accomplished by an independent compression strut that is free to rotate with the rest of the davit. By avoiding a fixed welded strut, our design is the only that truly transfers the weight towards the base, eliminating 40% more horizontal torque. No other davit system on the market uses a compression strut in the independent way that we do.

We believe in providing the highest lifting ratio for our davits. All of davits have a MINIMUM 6:1 block and pulley system, most come standard with a 7:1 purchase. Our 750 lb. Model 5000 has a 12:1 system plus a 6.8:1 winch. All of these purchase systems are designed to give a maximum 30 lb. pull on the rope. This provides 100% safety advantage while other manufactures provide optional block systems that exceed the tolerance of their davit systems. This ensures that you have to expend the least amount energy as possible to secure your tender.

Atkins & Hoyle davits are fully adjustable, allowing you get the most reach that is possible with a davit system. This is accomplished with our innovative spline casting that locks our modular units after a one time adjustment, thus allowing you to tailor suit the height and reach for your particular boat. Our 1900 model can also have added length to the tubes if you require even more reach, up to 12 inches. Our systems also have the ability to hold the davit away from the rail or transom to give the maximum reach that you need.

Yes, all of our davit systems can be mounted in a variety of ways. The universal base mount can be fitted to any angle so it can lie flat against your deck or transom in place of a rail mount.

Plain and Simple - Strentgh and Longevity.

Atkins & Hoyle Ltd. has been making castings for about 75 years. We have had experience casting in many types of metals which include Bronze, Gold, and many types of Aluminum. Throughout our years we have discovered that welds represent a short-cut in the design of a marine product. The main existence of welds is as a cost saving method. They are ugly, can corrode, leave rust stains, and above all do not provide a great deal of added strength. Below is an excerpt from Lincoln Electric's website, a supplier for welding materials:

"In steels a weld can be made as strong as the parent material, but this is not the case with aluminum. In almost all instances, the weld will be weaker than the parent material."

Our competition chooses to weld, which according to the experts CAN potentially be as strong for steels, but not aluminums. We feel that there is too much human error involved in welding; whether the torch is too hot, not hot enough, not long enough - the potential error is endless. Castings are more reliable, and will far outlast a welded product. Welding can never be 100% consistent due to human and machine error.

What the competition doesn't tell you... There is a risk of removing the 'stainless' part when they weld their stainless steel davits. Nickel is the main element which creates the high corrosion resistence we have all come to admire from stainless steel. Unfortunately Nickel is a relativelty sensative element which is destroyed at higher temperatures, temperatures which are easily reached during the welding process. On your boat or elsewhere, this is why you have noticed rust at weld joints before anywhere else.

Lastly, the tubing which is welded together by our competition is pre-bent. Bent in areas where I would never want to see any of our davits bent for strength reasons. Whenyou bend a piece of tubing, you stretch the tubing at the bend which reduces the overall wall thickness, and thus dramatically ruduces the strength. We use super strong, super light castings to join our modular pieces together. This provides the most strength that is possible when joining the various aspects of a davit system. 

Atkins & Hoyle Ltd. is the only official hatch repair shop for our hatches. A long history of dealing with manufacturing, installing and repairing hatches means that we have a great deal of experience with refurbishing hatches. We have access to the chemicals and glues that are used to ensure a water tight seal for decades to come. We only use cast acrylic sheets which are far stronger and more resistant to breakdown than extruded acrylic.

We supply the full range of parts for all of our products including, port knobs, screens, gaskets and glue, hatch arm assemblies and much more. Be sure to check out our parts list found on our homepage.

Atkins & Hoyle Ltd. deals with customers on a first hand basis.

on most of our product pages, you simply have to scroll down to view product pricing and to order.

Not only does this factory-direct approach mean that you get the best deal, but it means that you have access to the designers and producers of the product you are interested in. We ship internationally and are excited to do business overseas. Please send us an email or call us direct if you are thinking about choosing Atkins & Hoyle Ltd.

Atkins & Hoyle Ltd. can be reached  at 416-596-1818 and of course online at atkinshoyle@dapa.com

 If you have tried to find replacement lens's for your hatches recenty, you will notice there are a lot of options out there. The technology surrounding plastics has come a long way in the last 10 years. You can find plastic sheet of all colours, patterns, sizes, and thicknesses. 

The process by which Acrylic is made ensures exceptional surface finish, optical quality and thickness uniformity. It is more 'craze' resistent to UV rays, and other chemicals present in our atmospere. ("Plexiglas, Acrylic Sheet" - Plexiglas.com). Scratches are easily polished out, while the material itself has better overall light transmission (Clarity) to begin with. 

Polycarbonates on the other hand are extruded. The process by which they are made makes them more impact resistant (commonly "Bullet Proof"); yet weaker over a larger surface area (such as windows). This is one reason Plexiglas is commonly used for motorcycle visors and helicopter windshields and not Lexan. Polycarbonates are quick to scratch which can obscure its clarity. ("Acrylic vs. Polycaronate", HydroSight.com)

Acrylic can be up to five times more expensive than materials such as Lexan, but we have found that it holds a seal better in hatches because it is less prone to expansion and contraction with temperature. We have tried it all, and there is only material to use for sealing in boat windows / hatches  / ports - and that is Cast Acrylic.