Installing a Wakeboard Tower - Help!

[Geo2008]

HI I will be purchasing a wakeboard tower in a month or so and am trying to decide if I should do the install myself.

I have plenty of tools and know how to use them but have never so much as drilled a single hole in a boat.

Has anyone photo documented a DIY wakeboard tower project that you can share, I would like to understand more about it and hopefully decide that I can do it myself.

All good advice appreciated!

 

[Geo2008]

Re: Installing a Wakeboard Tower - Help!

Can someone move this post to "Boat Topics & Questions"?

I think it would actually be better off there, this is more of a nuts and bolts type question.

 

[salty87]

Re: Installing a Wakeboard Tower - Help!

check out diytower.com

drilling holes in fiberglass is easy. how good at measuring are you??

 

[Geo2008]

Re: Installing a Wakeboard Tower - Help!

When it comes to advice on how to install a wakeboard tower...you folks are very good fisherman, boaters, & engine mechanics!!

 

[mikeyc boards]

Re: Installing a Wakeboard Tower - Help!

Hey Geo, I purchased a universal tower a few months back and did the install myself. Me and a buddy took about 4 hrs or so once we got going. The place I got my tower from came with instructions of course and tips for drilling into a boat's fiberglass. Even without the tips, drilling into the boat seemed to be no problem at all. check them out online if you wish. these guys were very helpful with me and even sent me the instructions before I purchased the tower to let me see what i was getting into. www.bigairpylons.com

enjoy!

 

[Liquid_force]

Re: Installing a Wakeboard Tower - Help!

we built our own tower, and rigged our own mounting hardware.

At the end of each of the tower's 4 legs we attached one of these -

For the boat we made four 4" round stainless plates and welded a SS stud to each that fits the spherical joints. We added a small gussett to each stud to help deal with the torque/leverage on the studs.

Each disk is bolted to the side of the deck using 4 bolts. On the inside of the boat behind each plate we used 2 pcs. of 1" angle iron 8-10" long, one across the top two holes, one across the bottom two, which are basically used as washers to spread the force out a little more.

After 3 years of use our tower did crack (being rebuilt out of SS), but the attachments to the boat are still solid.
I would think a universal tower would be quite a bit less complex to install than what we did, but if you have some time and want to do it yourself it's kind of a fun project.

You can't see much detail here, but you get the idea --