Storing dinghies forward of the mast as in the photo above has benefits and problems.

It makes launching with the spinnaker halyard easy, and raising the dink at night leaving it alongside is simple. And often there is no other location that is practical.

There are two major negatives. The first is your sight lines from aft, which are now substantially impaired. The second is risk from boarding seas.

On the other hand using davits has its problems as well. They are not as easy to use as a spinnaker halyard, have risks from following seas, and interfere with Med mooring.

Our preference is the aft deck, where the dink is best protected while not blocking the view forward. This requires a length of around 65 feet/20 meters in most cases, and allowance from the beginning in the design process.