dolphin striker? what for?

anyone can explain to me what's a dolphin striker for?

It stiffens and provides support for the front crossbar. It's required if you're going to sail in high winds and/or plan to trapeze.

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Warm regards,

Jim

The dolphin stiker on the larger boats (and the 14 if it has one) builds the front crossbar into a truss system giving it greater strength. Just like the trusses used in newr home construction for the roofs.

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Nick

Current Boat
In the market
Previous boats owned
'74 Pearson 30
'84 H16
'82 H18 Magnum
St. Louis, MO

Plus, it pisses off the dolphins.

where do you get one and how much do they cost? If im 175 lbs will i need one for trapezing?

Without it the crossbar could collapse under the weight of the mast.

Look into the parts guide online under parts for the 14 http://static.hobiecat.com/2010_archive/support/pdfs/partguides.pdf

Have fun, and stay away from those darn dolphins.

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The fact that this windy world is largely covered in water obviously means that man was meant to sail.

should my boat already have a dolphin striker

Not all H14's do. I don't knwo if it is a turbo mod, based on teh year or what. JamieZX will probably know.

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Nick

Current Boat
In the market
Previous boats owned
'74 Pearson 30
'84 H16
'82 H18 Magnum
St. Louis, MO

Unless it was originally a "Turbo" model (with a jib), it almost certainly did not have a dolphin striker.

If you look at the front underside of the front corner castings, there should be holes drilled through the "web" of the casting. That's where the striker mounts.

You can see it in this photo:


That's the aftermarket dolphin striker kit. I adapted a Hobie 17 dolphin striker to fit my 14 (rod is the same length, center post only needed about 1 1/2 inches cut off the threaded end) so it looks very much like the 16's dolphin striker and the factory installed striker on the 14.

All the newer boats I have seen had them already on (like '84 and newer) but its only like 75 bucks and an hour to put one one. Drill, rivet gun, stainless rivets and a couple of wrenches. I have put 3 or 4 of them on and its not too hard.

Matt, do you have a picture readily available of EVERYTHING hobie??

No, not really - I just saw this old POS on eBay this AM and thought to myself, "My dolphin striker looks way better than that one." I'm stealing eBay's bandwidth on that photo. They've got plenty to spare.

Thought I was pretty resourceful, using the DS off the cracked 17 front crossbar that's been stashed in the garage for about 6 years. Also proved to my wife that it's been worth keeping all these years. ("Honey, no way am I going to throw that away - there are still good parts on it!")