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PostPosted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 7:44 pm 
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Joined: Fri Aug 08, 2008 7:56 am
Posts: 25
Location: New Palestine (Indianapolis), IN
Anyone experience this? I discovered this on a recently purchased boat and I will replace the dolphin striker, but I am wondering how urgent it is. The weather may be favorable for me to try out the boat for the first time this weekend but I can't get this taken care of by then, so I am debating how much to worry about it and whether or not to sail the boat in this condition. Previous owner was unaware it was bent, so he could have sailed it this way for years, or it may have happened last fall as he was taking it down for winter storage, in which case it would never have been sailed in this condition.

Thoughts anyone?

How hard is this to replace? I am thinking the cross bar needs to come off the hulls to replace the dolphin striker post.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3559/333 ... 6b0a_s.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3348/333 ... 019f_s.jpg


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PostPosted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 5:13 am 
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Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Mon May 09, 2005 10:25 am
Posts: 4176
Location: Jersey Shore
I'd fix it before sailing the boat. There's a LOT of load on the striker post, and if it fails, you'll be mighty unhappy. It's obvioulsy already been heavily stressed. I think you'd be ok if you just wanted to set the boat up on the beach and get other stuff figured out, but to sail it...looks a bit sketchy to me.

I'm not totally familiar with the 21SC front crossbar (but I think it is the same as the 20). In any case, you will have to remove the striker post and rod from the front crossbar and that involves removing the nuts at the end of the striker rod, so minimum you will have to take the end caps off the crossbar. If it is the same as the 20 X-bar, I believe you will need a rachet with a long extension and a U-joint to remove the nuts on the striker rod because they are fairly far down into the X-bar. It's probably a little easier with the front crossbar removed from the boat, but may not be entirely necessary. First thing I'd do would be to remove the end caps and see what you're working with. It could go very smoothly if everything comes apart freely. If there is corrosion, it could be a PITA.

Also, you're probably going to have to cut the existing bent striker post in order to get it off the X-bar because the bend won't allow you to unscrew the nuts that hold it in position. Also, the compression sleeve on the striker post (inside the X-bar) has a tendency to become frozen to the post if the boat was used in salt water. If this happens, you can't remove the striker post from the front crossbar until you un-freeze the sleeve or cut off the bottom nut.

sm


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