What's with these bolts then?

Have you been using the nylon bolts?

Yesterday I broke two of Hobie's.... two in the same day.... again.....

I know the subject has been beaten half to death here, but I am starting to think about a substitute which:

• Is a little stronger than the Hobie pins
  .
• Has been used by somebody for awhile and has broken several times without compromising anything in the rest of the aka.

I have keep-out lines - and, theoretically, something that breaks more easily than the Hobie pins should be a painless option.... but i have to think that every time a shear bolt breaks, there is the chance of something else that I never dreamed of happening, so less-frequent = better as long as nothing else gets unduly stressed....

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There is a pretty simple test you can do yourself with just a fish scale. Put a new hobie pin in, then with the AMA out using the fish scale measure how much pulling force it takes to pull the locked AMA with say 50 lbs of force (about the same force as a boat wake hitting the AMA). Now remembering that force jerk the AMA back using around the same force say ten times. Now remove the pin and look at it. If your results are the same as mine the pin will be deformed, and the tips of the threads crushed. Now do the exact same test with the pin in your picture, If your results are the same as mine and Keiths you will see no deformation. My opinion is the standard pins are a ticking time bomb where either one large hit or several smaller hits both will break the pin (thus the ticking time bomb). There are different grades of bolts some stronger than others, you only need to test once (as described above) to determine if the bolts you buy are better or worse than the standard hobie bolts. I suspect any nylon bolt without the threads cut in the critical area will be superior, only you can decide how much stronger you want them. Keep in mind if you go too strong (ie... stainless bolts), the next link in the chain simply breaks instead (either the aka bar folds, or the hull rips, or the 1/2" dia ball attached to the hull breaks off), all your choices on what you want to break first, all the other failures end your sailing day/week, and parts must be ordered and replaced.
Just tryin to help here.
FE

I've been using nylatron pins, but they've gotten very expensive. When I run out of those, I will use these nylon pins--essentially the same thing, but a lot cheaper.

Keith

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2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

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