Apollo71 wrote:
A question - I have read that most people attach the righting line to the dolphin striker. After reading the two recent threads on bent dolphin strikers, are there any concerns that the righting line may have caused or contributed to this?
These things are stainless steel. They cannot be bent without significant force and as they are brittle, more likely break under stress when cold. Stainless fails catastrophically, not gradually. Mine was not bent, it was just pivoting on the the entry point to the lower side of the front beam.
As the thread on the step has failed the top of the rod is free to fall out when the boat is not upright and then the righting line plays its part. In the upright position the DS and post are under stress and cannot move. I've tensioned the DS to reduce the chance of movement. I need to replace the step.
The righting line could never bend a DS post, I also doubt towing could do that (I could be wrong), more likely towing results in the top of the post being dislodged as mine was and the post pivoting front to back making it look like it is bent.