Re: Wakeboard tower and fiberglass
Todd, I added a tower a couple of years ago and this is what i found out...<br />A tower will not mess up your hull if properly installed in hull with at least 3/8" thick fiberglass. Less than 3/8" and you will run the risk of cracking. And by cracking i am not refering to the spider type gel coat cracks but actual fractures in the fiberglass. I have seen the spider cracks develop in ski boats designed for the towers like Air Nautiques and such so to they are probably likely on boats not designed for towers. Currently I have one mount point that developed some spider cracking so far, the other 3 points are not showing any cracks yet.<br /><br />I have heard 2 sides to the Tower Movement issue. One side says no movement at all is best, makes for the most air and helps with the rigidity of the boat. The other says that some lateral side to side movement will allow your tower to flex with your boat hull sides but still keeps 90% of your "line loading" for big air.<br /><br />I do not know which is best, but i do know this... Our friends have an early (2001'ish) Air Nautique(60k boat). Their tower is bolted directly to the hull with no movement allowed in any direction. He has had cracking in the hull deck from about 2003 on. Last year his tower cracked at one of the bends from metal fatigue. Maybe he got a lemon, but the way i see it any metal, alu or steel is much stiffer than fiberglass, so if you put to structures together that have different properties I would allow for some movement, otherwise one of them will give.<br /><br />I think the choice of tower is tougher than the install. Installation was easy. The tower i got had instuctions and included the tips on drilling through the gel coat & fiberglass.<br /><br />Sorry its so long but i hope it helps...
