When you say davit, that means you're getting set to hang it off a larger boat over water, right? That means vibration and humidity. I'd go for something with a through-bolt, backing plates, etc. Unless you could slide a couple of slings over the bow and stern and hook those in the middle. I'd like that because there's no holes in the wood that way.

Another thing to keep in mind when selecting  locations is the balance points. You may have to have asymmetrical supports and the fore/aft attachment points may support different weights.

Have fun,

Laszlo

I've made a gazillion lifting bridles.  U bolts are always good lifting points because it distributes the load better.  I would also recommend learning how to splice Dyneema.  Brummel locks in particular.  You can also make some whoopie slings to determine the proper lengths to balance the boat, then transfer those bearing point to bearning point dimensions to the final product.

On top of a bigger boat, but the davit will get it up there.   Thanks to you both. I’ll go with the U bolts with backing plates and experiment with the balance. I’d thought of slings to avoid holes, but I’d mainly be lifting directly from the water and I’m not sure if I could pull off getting slings on while it’s floating. But maybe I’ll try that first. Thanks!