Wakeboard tower positioning?

[blackrandomapple]

Hi all,

Im picking up a new wakeboard tower in the morning and I intend to install it myself but Im not sure about positioning, I have scanned the interweb but cant find much about doing this.

The tower is a Jobe addict 1.3 and the boat is a 2003 bayliner 185

Any help on this will be apprieciated!

 

[julians]

I had a 21 foot sea ray with a factory installed tower, and whilst I cant tell you the exact position of the towing point, I have had a look at a few photos of it, and I'd say that it was probably just behind (maybe by a foot) the mid point of the boat.

I'd guess that you want it around the mid point, but to keep it looking nice, you probably also should position the tower in line with the windscreen. So some sort of compromise around these positions.

See photo attached.

 

[blackrandomapple]

I had a 21 foot sea ray with a factory installed tower, and whilst I cant tell you the exact position of the towing point, I have had a look at a few photos of it, and I'd say that it was probably just behind (maybe by a foot) the mid point of the boat.

I'd guess that you want it around the mid point, but to keep it looking nice, you probably also should position the tower in line with the windscreen. So some sort of compromise around these positions.

See photo attached.

View attachment 41722

That's a nice looking setup, From what I have read people are saying just make it look good, Im gunna line it up with the screen and see where the towing point is and go from there!

Thanks

 

[Nick_H]

Here's a ski boat I had with a home made tower, before proprietary towers were widely available. I doubt it helps much as modern towers are much better, but the boat is a similar size and age to your Bayliner 185, so maybe its useful. I don't think there's a huge load on these things, but you may still have to think about strengthening the GRP where you fix the ends of the tower. An epoxy coated plywood backing plate will probably do the job.

 

[blackrandomapple]

All done! View attachment 41754View attachment 41755

 

[dingdongs]

Looks good and now time to give it a try.
Hope it was not too difficult to achieve a good fitting and hope you strengthened the hull up to allow for the extra stresses before you get stress cracks.This is a must thing to keep hull in A1!
Just a little note I changed my bilge vents as they were yellowing like yours for stainless ones by cutting the hose fitting off the back of the plastic one and marine silicon to the stainless one and they screwed using same screws as original for about £30 and this improved the aft end.

 

[blackrandomapple]

Looks good and now time to give it a try.
Hope it was not too difficult to achieve a good fitting and hope you strengthened the hull up to allow for the extra stresses before you get stress cracks.This is a must thing to keep hull in A1!
Just a little note I changed my bilge vents as they were yellowing like yours for stainless ones by cutting the hose fitting off the back of the plastic one and marine silicon to the stainless one and they screwed using same screws as original for about £30 and this improved the aft end.

Ahhhhhh noooo..... how do I strentgen the hull? Surley it can take it as is?