Dolphin striker wire tension

[Mac M]

Had my 20 out today in a little breeze, 7-8 mph and noticed the mast was really close to bottoming out on the beam when the gusts would come. It's a telescoping beam and has the wire striker. The shrouds were set pretty tight, 3rd hole from the top out of 4 holes. The beams have an acron nut outside the cap. I assume if I need to tighten the striker the nut on the outside of the beam would do this? Don't see where there is any adjustment with the acron nut though. We are planning on going out again tomorrow, I loosened the shrouds up one hole thinking this might help.

What's the procedure for tightening the striker, and are the acron nuts something the previous owner added? They are on the front and back, I think my previous 20 had them as well.

[Mac M]

Here's a picture of the nut on the front beam and the position of the dolphin striker rod with the mast.

I found a thread on here about tensioning the striker, but don't want to remove those acron nuts until I know that's what I'm supposed to do.

[Matt Haberman]

Mac,

That looks like a normal setup. I would suggest calling Tom tomorrow and he can explain the procedure.

[Mac M]

Will do!

[Bill Roberts]

Hi Mac,
From the second picture the Avibank pin looks to be about 1 1/4 ins below the end of the bushing that passes through the beam. The cable can be shortened until the Avibank pin is about 1/4 ins below the end of bushing. To raise the cable and mast post etc 1 ins, the cable should be shortened 1/6th of an ins overall or 1/12" on each end. Shorteneing each end of the cable keeps the bend in the cable centered. I see lots of corrosion. Some penetrating oil might help losen things up. There is a jam nut on the inside fo the end cap that will require moving/turning down the threaded stud the same amount the acorn nut on the end is turned. When you get things apart and cleaned up, put things back together with a liberal amount of white lithium grease. It fights corrosion. 1/12th of an ins is about 0.083 ins. You could measure off 1 ins on the threaded shank of the stud. Then count the threads for this 1 ins. Then you can figure out how many turns or what fraction of a turn to turn the two nuts to move them down the stud ~0.083 ins.
Good luck,
Bill

[Mac M]

Thanks Bill. Yeah the boat was a salt water boat it's entire life until I got it a couple weeks ago.

I'm assuming ill need to put the mast down to do all this?

Mac

[Kevin Keller]

Actually you might be able to jack up the dolphin striker. You'd have to loosen up the stays too. It would be easier to do with the mast down because of the corrosion problems you will probably encounter.

[Bill Roberts]

Mac,
I just had this thought. If these nuts are so corroded that it is very difficult to get things apart and make the adjustment you are interested in, Have Tom make a post 1 ins taller for your boat. Job done.
Another thought. While you have the end caps off, check the fittings at the ends of the cable to be sure nothing is moving, the cable is not pulling out of the tapered fitting that holds the cable inside. There should be a glue ring right at the end connection between the cable and the tapered fitting. Check it out.
Bill

[Mac M]

Thanks Kevin and Bill!

Hadn't thought about corrosion problems inside the beam Yikes! That solid beam and self tacking system Tom is working up a quote on for me might be looking more attractive!

[Bill Roberts]

Mac,
I didn't say so but to do this work the mast needs to be down and the boat telescoped together so you can pull a foot or so of cable out past the end of the beam to inspect it and the fittings and work on it/each end. You know, a new mast post one inch longer might be the easy and quick way to solve this problem. It sure is simple. Check with Tom and see what one would cost.
Bill

[Mac M]

I finally got the mast down and brought her home for the winter. I took some time today to look at tightening the striker cable. I took the acorn nut off and pulled the end caps, there doesn't seem t be the corrosion I thought I'd see. I'm assuming what I need to do tighten the cable is to thread the jam nut towards the center of the cable the same on each side? I took a picture for reference and for others in the future who may wonder what's going on inside the beam.

[J Drew]

Mac,
I had similar issues with mine, especially with the beam corrosion around the big bolts when I first got it. I found the solid beam conversion to be appropriate and kept the telescopic beams for transport/set up. I used the original cable and end caps.
Kevin posted an excellent thread on his upgrade (I copied).
Plus it helps to have a traveler track for the main

[Mac M]

Did you do the beams yourself? I had been looking at changing at least the front beam over to a solid one from the factory and going self tacking, but things kinda fell thought the cracks.

[J Drew]

I copied Kevin's upgrade and did them myself. I admit it is a project that requires accuracy, but it was worth the work.

[J Drew]

I've always found the stuff I got from Tom to far surpass what I can do. The self tacking jib track for example was well worth buying