Is a dolphin striker needed to trap out?

I am just about to buy a H14, for fun solo sailing. I normally sail an H16, but on bigger water and can't right it solo, limiting my willingness to push the limits.

I thought I heard somewhere that if you plan to trap out on a 14, you need the dolphin striker, which the boat I am looking does not have.

Can someone confirm?

Thanks!

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Steve
2017 Hobie 16 "Cayman" sails 114795
1985 & 1973? Hobie 14 "Sea & Ski"

Yes. You will crush/flatten the front crossbar without one.

There is no accessory striker kit available anymore. You would have to DIY.

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Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

Thanks, Matt!

By the way, we had a great regatta in Caseville, Michigan over the weekend. We had about 40 cats on the water, and 18 H16's, good weather allowed us to get 10 races in over the 3 days of racing. A great time was had by all. In 2 weeks we are having another 3 day event, for the 1st time in the Upper Peninsula in a very long time for us, and are trying to put together an H14 fleet, just for kicks.

CRAMsailing.com
Cat Racing Association of Michigan
All are welcome to join us!

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Steve
2017 Hobie 16 "Cayman" sails 114795
1985 & 1973? Hobie 14 "Sea & Ski"

I am also looking for a solution to add a dolphin striker to an old (1978?) Hobie 14. Could you point to viable DIY designs or maybe part drawing or critical dimensions to be used to replicate the old design? While it is very expensive to cast small number of parts, metal 3D printing can make it viable. Thanks.

SailingMarsupi,

I also want to add a dolphin striker to an old (1978) Hobie 14. Could you recommend successful DIY designs or maybe critical design parameters such as overall length and required strength (I saw you posted engineering drawings elsewhere)? While doing small series casting is too expensive, making affordable parts through CNC or metal 3D printing might be possible. Thanks.

SailingMarsupi

I modified the aftermarket striker kit on my 14 by using a 6-foot long piece of 5/16” diameter stainless rod, two pieces of stainless all-thread, and coupling nuts. This allowed me to get rid of the 1/8” diameter wire support, which is pretty ineffective (I guess the wire will keep the front crossbar from collapsing, but it isn’t strong enough to keep it from flexing).

I cut some threads on each end of the rod using a 5/16” die, so that it could be connected to the pieces of all-thread using the coupling nuts. All of the rods were bent by trial and error using a bench vice so that they fit in the striker post and corner castings. The nice thing about this approach was that the boat didn’t need to be disassembled to install.

You could probably do the same thing, but since the casted striker post is no longer available, you would need to buy a Hobie 16 post. That would require drilling a hole through the center of the front crossbar and either drilling and tapping or replacing the mast step to accept the post.

On a 1978 Hobie 14, I would suggest that you take a real good look at the condition of the hulls and the boat overall and make sure you’re confident that everything is up to the task of handling the added load of a trapeze before going too far. A lot of 45 year old Hobies are going to have soft hulls.

sm

Looking at my H16 and H14 while double stacked on the trailer, it seems like it would be an easy job to cut down an H16 front crossbar to work on the H14. The only possible challenge would be shortening the rod and moving the 'bends' for the tension rod. There are tons of old H16 front beams available as people scrap old hulls.

_________________
Steve
2017 Hobie 16 "Cayman" sails 114795
1985 & 1973? Hobie 14 "Sea & Ski"