Dolphin Striker cosmetic?

[Max Mariner]

Is the dolphin striker really needed or is it mostly cosmetic if the bobstay is sufficiently tightened?

What, you ask, is a Dolphin Striker? don't feel bad, i had one on my boat for almost a year and didn't know the technical term 'dolphin striker' until very recently-
here we go:
a short, perpendicular spar under the bowsprit, used for strengthening the bowsprit and jib boom against the force of the headstays, also known as a martingale

While balancing my Formosa's Mast's and tuning the rigging the 'loosened' dolphin striker plummeted to the depths ...hey, i tried diving for it but the water was very murky and very cold...lake superior in May is still COLD.

In searching for other formosa owners online in order to get a measurement so i could replace mine, i came across several other formosa 41's that did not have a dolphin striker.
got me thinking, maybe i don't even need it as long as i can tension the bobstay.

input?, advice?, ..anything please...

Max
Duluth, MN

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Max,

The dolphin striker is there for the same reason you have a spreader part way up the mast. Same principle. You can see the difference in angle of your bobstay when you get rid of your stricker. If you are able to get enough tension to counteract your forestay pulling upward without the striker you can probably get away without it. If other Formosas don't have it, check to see if their bobstay rigging size is the same as yours. They might have increased the size of the rigging and reinforced the bobstay stem fitting to make up for the differing angle.

Hope this is not too confusing.

Dolphin striker is a cool piece of equipment with a fun sound to its name. I really enjoyed pointing out bobstays, whisker stays, dolphin striker etc when I had my Mariner Ketch. Made the environmentalists gasp.

I'd just get another piece of stainless and replace it.

JohnL

[delmarrey]

Unless your bow strit is in really good shape and attached to the deck real good I would say replace the dolphin striker and bob stay. Why did it break loose????

It's main purpose is to hold down the sprit so it and the deck are not taking the load.

On the old ships they use to have a "standard knee" braced under a "Pawl bitt" to hold the the aft end down and then even backed up with 1 or 2 bob stay's. Some were held down with a gammoning wrap, as well.

BTW A dolphin striker can also be called a martingale boom............._/)

[Max Mariner]

John L & delmarrey,

Thanks for the input...

John L, not too confusing...makes fine sense, your comments were most helpful.

delmarrey- it didn't 'break loose', i had just stepped the mast's, had all my shrouds loose includung the bobstay and forgot i had loosened the set screws on the, ahem, martingale earlier. the small spar just fell right into the water when i was making some adjustments on the pulpit...DOH!...'splash'...

btw...you sir, have deep regard for traditional ship characteristics and terminolgy. pawl bitt, gammoning wrap?...wow, headscratch?...but very cool.

i am deffinitely leaning towards replacement, in fact i now have a piece of SS pipe and access to a pipe cutter...i just need a measurement and to somehow fabricate a 'curved' fitting for the bobstay end.


best- max

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha again Max,
As far as length goes just slack your bobstay turnbuckle off a bit (about 3/4 of extended length then measure what length needs to go where you want to fit the striker and build your new striker to that length.
The angle of bobstay vs striker should be equal on both fore and aft sides of the striker.
Delmarrey might have some other hints to add. He truly is an expert.
JohnL

[delmarrey]

What John said!!

I'm no expert, I just have the research materials.

Now here's a Bow Sprit (with a flying jib boom).

[44'cruisingcat]

just to show multihullers have a sense of tradition, we have seagull strikers on our forebeams.

[SkiprJohn]

Wouldn't it be fun to be out there in a good blow? Aaargh!!
JohnL