I am going to go out on limb here and call it the wheel retention nut. Mine comes loose occasionally, I do not believe there is a lock washer for it. Some locktite on the threads should work, I had none at hand and used some RTV and now only find my nuts on the floor in really big following seas our when the Coasties cruise by and I have had more than two beers.

Can not help on the Davits, good things are said about Garhaur products not sure if cheap is one of the adjatives used, reasonably priced maybe.

I looked up Edson Marine info and the star shape nut holding the wheel on the shaft is called "wheel nut".

The pedestal parts list drawing does not show a lock washer.

On our boat the "wheel retention nut" is me because the nut constantly loosens off and I then hand tighten it but I never do anything about it to stop it from loosening off. Which indeed makes me a nut as I keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result:D.

Affordable means different things to different people. When we got our davits we found you can go cheap and probably will regret it, or pay a bit more for good quality that will do the job. The load of a dinghy, even a light non-RIB, is significant when stuck out on a long lever arm and davits need to be stout to carry it safely. Ended up getting a custom made set for the same money as the better quality off the shelf models and are very happy with them.

The wheel retention nut on my Edson wheel usually works itself loose from time to time for me as well. I have been contemplating the idea of adding a large SS split-ring lock nut to keep it tight. That should help keep it in place.

Weather Bound, I might suggest that you add a signature to your postings that way we can assist you in any questions regarding your vessel because you can identify the year, and make of your boat. Just an idea.

Consider yourself lucky that the nut comes off! Many folks have them frozen on and can't get 'em off. I greased mine when we bought our boat in 1998 to avoid that issue. I just get into the habit of tightening it regularly, and now the grease has worn off so much it stays there most of the time. :)

Davits: Garhauer or look in your Mainsheet magazine. Google can also help.

throw a wrap of rigging tape around its the easy thing to do. Go garhaur on the davits.

With Garhauer, they can build a dinghy engine motor mount right into the davits! Great idea if you don't have one already.

If you tighten the wheel nut real tight with a wrench the nut will stay put, but it makes the wheel extremely hard to turn. Then you will have to back off the nut in order to turn the wheel properly.

If the wheel nut you are referring to is the chrome nut holding the helm wheel on, I found that blue loctite works well. When it loosened on Pooka, the wheel drive slide out over the pin holding the drive in place which then led to shear force on the drive motor connector which subsequently broke. An attempt to a quick fix of the connector led to shorting the drive voltage and damaging the control head. If the nut loosens up, it can spoil your day, to say nothing of getting black on yourself and everything else from the disintegrating rubber boot Raymarine uses on the wheel drive connector.