"John H" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 4 Jan 2009 17:57:03 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:


"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
message ...
On Sun, 04 Jan 2009 17:18:55 -0500, John H
wrote:


I'm thinking these may work. This piece would go into the bottom of the
stainless steel upright:

http://tacomarine.com/item--Top-Caps...set+screw.html

And the ball would go into this piece, screwed or through-bolted to the
gunwale.

http://tacomarine.com/item--Deck-Hinge--F13-0301.html

This *looks* like it would allow a good deal of lateral swaying before
any
stress would be placed on the mounting screws.

That's *my* story.

Ah - my mistake - I didn't comprehend what you were talking about.

My bad - I had the impression you wanted to dampen the lateral swaying
rather than prevent stress from messing up the mounts.

Yeah - those might work, but looking at the design you might get more
sway than you want. That might put added stress on the assembly
itself and cause it to distort or, possible, even collapse.

Just a thought.



Yabut,

Even with his "increased" lateral sway, at some point it stops and the
same
forces (or more, due to acceleration) are imposed on the mounting bracket
screws. He's just introducing a time delay.

Eisboch

It's ok to talk directly to me!

You're correct, if conditions were severe, the swaying could eventually
cause the upper part of the socket to contact the sides of the base.
Hopefully I'd have enough sense to take down the bimini before the swaying
got that bad.

(No comments about that last line, please!)

As it is now, almost *any* swaying is stressing the bottom bracket and
therefore the mounting screws.


John, I don't know how to make this more clear.

*All* of your lateral "swaying" forces are transmitted to your gunnel
brackets.
I don't care if they are ball and socket, pinned or magnetically attached.

Eisboch