wakeboard tower on bayliner

[easttexasskier]

I have a 07 Bayliner 185. I kneeboard and wanted to start wakeboarding and bought a board. I wanted to install a tower on my boat my hull is not reinforced but i was going to reinforce it with 1/2 in. aluminum plate. (big air pylon h20 a friend has one and its been great). Has anyone put a tower in this kind of boat or 1 similiar. I just want to make sure no one has had trouble before i order it.

 

[gatesmoonwalker]

Re: wakeboard tower on bayliner

I mounted a DIY Wake tower on a bayliner last year. With bayliner the hull is thinner and though the manufacturer assured me I did not need to, I went ahead and reinforced it. I actually got in and found an are where I could run some 1/2 Plywood strips. I was able to get about 6 inches x 2 foot strips in against the glass. I did have to mount it back a little farther than I had hoped but it was worth the structural peace of mind it gave me. I work in the building supply industry and was able to call an adhesive rep, on their recommendation I used a product called PL Premium to adhesively attatch the plywood to the hull. (Available at any big box yard) On top of the plywood I then backed that with aluminum plates. I pull doubles, skiers and even tubes with my younger kids from it and I have had zero problems.
I do not know about the H20 tower but I can not say enough good about the DIY tower I purchased.

 

[easttexasskier]

Re: wakeboard tower on bayliner

I ordered a big air pylon H2O tower and installed as soon as it came in. The tower looks great and works great. I used 1/8 in stanless steel (301 1/4 hard)plate and rolled it to the contour of the mounting location and chamfered all the edges. I put 1/16 in rubber between the hull and the plate. It worked great, and the tower was a great purchase. I also ordered and new stainless steel prop (4 blade) from getaprop.com, it is a powertech mqs4. I went from a 23 inch pitch (stock) to a 20 in pitch. The prop made a huge difference in getting me up and out of the water. Just thought i would share with you guys that have the same kind of setup i do.