thumb|Boat suspended from Welin Quadrant davits; the boat is mechanically 'swung out'
thumb| in the 19th century, showing her boats suspended from wooden davits
thumb|Gravity multi-pivot on [[cruiseferry Scandinavia]]
thumb|Gravity Roller Davit
thumb|Gravity multi-pivot davit holding rescue vessel on a North Sea ferry
thumb|Freefall lifeboat on the Spring Aeolian
thumb|Frapping line
thumb|Labeled Tricing
thumb|Gripe
thumb|Steps to launch davit
thumb|Roller Gravity Davit
A davit () is any of various crane-like devices used on a ship for supporting, raising, and lowering equipment such as boats and anchors.
Davit systems are most often used to lower a lifeboat to the embarkation level to be boarded. The lifeboat davit has falls (now made of wire, historically of manila rope) that are used to lower the lifeboat into the water. Davits can also be used as man-overboard safety devices to retrieve personnel from the water.
The maintaining and operation of davits is all under jurisdiction of the International Maritime Organization. The regulations are enforced by the country's coast guard.
Development
Davits were first devised in the 17th century for use by whaling ships in the Greenland whaling grounds. They began to be introduced into Royal Navy warships in the late 18th century and originally took the form of squared baulks of timber. Curved iron davits began to be introduced later in the 19th century.
Development of the davit has also been in terms of material. Traditionally davits have been made in aluminium or steel but recent advances in composite material have led to the manufacture of davits in carbon fibre which has an excellent strength-to-weight ratio. This means davits can be stowed away when not in use and the same davit used in several deck sockets fitted permanently on deck.
Davit types
Davits are designed to fit into deck spaces that the naval architects deemed necessary:
- Radial (obsolete) – Hand powered davit. This type was used on the lifeboats of RMS Lusitania. Each arm must be rotated out manually; uses manila rope falls. Goose-neck shape to the arm that is swung out.
- Mechanical (obsolete) – This type is like the radial davit, but both arms are moved out at the same time using a screw system; uses manila rope falls. An example is the Welin Quadrant davit type used aboard RMS Titanic.
Components
; Liferaft: These can be enclosed, partially enclosed, or open.
; Frapping lines: These lines are used on all davits except the fixed and freefall davits. The frapping lines are used to pull the lifeboat over to the embarkation deck along with the tricing pendant to be loaded.
; Gripes: Ropes used to hold the lifeboat in the stored position while underway.
; Tricing pendants: Lines used to initially pull the lifeboat over to the embarkation deck so that the frapping lines can be connected.
; On-load: For this style of release mechanism, the lifeboat can be released at any point from the davit. This type of system allows a lifeboat to be released when it is not in the water, whether this is because of the emergency or an accident. Because of this, during an evacuation the release mechanism must be watched to make sure there is not an accidental activation.
; Off-load: This release mechanism requires the weight (load) of the lifeboat to not be on the hook when it is released. This includes the Titanic-era Monomony hook design that requires someone to remove the hook from the lifeboat by hand. But this type also includes the hydrostatic system many lifeboats use now. For this, a float is raised up and engages the release once the craft is in the water to the right depth.