Aquarius Sail Owners

I am a new member to the forum, yet a SC owner for 20+ years.....

I just obtained a '85 SC20 and have a question regarding the mast base/foot. This is the 2nd SC20 I've owned and the mast base/foot is different than my prior SC20. My new boat has the fixed beam and the mast base/foot is the same design as my SC17 (casting platform mounted to the front cross beam with the nylon ball attached). However, my prior SC20 (telescoping beam) had a mast base 'pole with ball' that went thru the cross beam and onto the dolphin striker. My current SC20 has the dolphin striker with the vertical pole inserted into the cross beam, however the mast base/foot casting prevents the pole from extending thru the cross beam..... Is this configuration correct??

I wasn't sure if the telescoping beam version had a different configuration or if the design changed thru the years. I got the boat from the original owner and he made no mention of any changes to the mast base/foot(only noticed this after I picked up the boat).

Thank you for your help

Larry Vaught

I thought all of the 20's had 'floating strikers', the one I had did anyway. Mine was a telescoping beamed boat. Seems that I've seen pictures of solid beam boat that had the rod going thought the beam. I could very well be wrong though!

Larry,

I believe what you are seeing on your fixed beam SC-20 is correct.
The original telescoping SC-20 had a floating post that passed through the beam. On the fixed beam SC-20 we changed the design to utilize a modified pedestal from the smaller boats. That pedestal has an internal stainless steel rod that extends from the ball through the cross beam and into the aluminum post below the beam. The cable is then tensioned to preload the beam into an arch, take a look if you beam has a bow upward when it is not installed on the boat. If this is not the case I would give Tom a call at 651-462-SAIL and he can explain how to tension and pre-load the cable.

Thanks for the reply, description of "fixed" mast base seems logical.... Looking forward to getting the SC20 on the water.