I dont want to rivet or bolt anything to my front beam,I was thinking of making an aluminum plate that attaches to the dolphin striker and the brace with u bolts providing a platform in which to attach the righting pole..before going to the lengths of machining up the plate I seek the the infinite wisdom of those that frequent this forum for advice.Any takers?
I used a gooseneck from a Hobie 18 and bent it around the dolphin striker. The rivet holes line up so you can run a small bolt through them. Then, you have the pin end that the boom would attach to sticking out to give you a universal attachement to any kind of pole.
Dan, do you think I would or should incorporate the brace that goes under the dolphin striker for extra support or would simply using the goose neck on the dolphin striker be enough..the dolphin striker is 9/16 dia
I would probably add spacers above and below it to keep it from sliding up or down.
I'm worried about bending the dolphin striker by the force that the righting bar exerts at the attachment point when righting the boat..How does yours work?
OK, this is going to sound obnoxious, but you don't want any pressure on the dolphin striker. It really only holds the end of the pole and acts as a moment for the pole to turn on. I attached mine at the top of the striker right under the beam. I used some nylon hose between the striker pole and the gooseneck and really tightened the screws after I had bent the gooseneck around the pole. That kept it from sliding down the pole.
All of the weight on the pole should be (I'm not an engineer, so I am probably wording this wrong) at the end and directed towards the upper frame through the wire that is attached from the end of the pole to the upper frame. The upper frame being the one out of the water.
I only used mine once and it worked well. The only problem I had was keeping the pole rotated forward because it wanted to go to the back of the boat while I was hanging on it.
Thanx..as I suspected, I would think the load would be at the end of the pole as well..there were some threads on this forum a while ago eluding to rivets being pulled out of the beam due to the shape of the mtg plate where it fits the beam impling that there is a load of some sort there.
I would imagine that a bungee cord would help keep the pole from swinging toward the back of the boat but you woundnt want to use it in shallow water