The changes we see so far for 05

[Socbum]

Eric,

The put the '05 226 in the water on Sunday. I didn't even notice it out on the water until Tino Santori went for his first trick and he hit some big air and his foot came out of the binding. Tino hit the water hard and the 226 came running over to see if he needed help.

The 211 was SIC. I was hoping that it would follow me home <grin>

[AbunDiga909]

I have to say I think the 05's I've seen are HOT!

Also regarding the anchor light, I agree that it is a great idea and have to admit when I saw it first on a MC intigrated into the pylon part of the tower, that seemed most logical. However, when you say it folds down, it seems like, and from one of the pics on the home page, it is an external small anchor light in front of the pylon part, like Moomba's design. If its part of the tow rope part, i dont' see how it can fold down...

Anyway, I'm sure its worth it and would also like to find out if it could be added to an 04.

[BigBald]

226 was on the water on Sunday....it was setting out by the floating billboard most of the time...

[Timber]

Boat looks great. Do you guys know why they went back to the old style tower?

[TwinTip]

AbunDiga, the anchor light is not part of the pylon (like MC). It is mounted in front of the pylon, towards the bow. The power source to the light is fed from within the tower, if you cannot feed it through your tower you can probably route it from outside but with some good protection on the wires.

I think there are two ways to add it to the older towers (lets not consider the electrical right now). One would be to weld a bracket to the top of the tower, like the new towers have it. You are likely to damage the paint though.

The other would be to make a braket that has the countrour of the tower (pipe shape, imagine you have a pipe with a larger diameter than the one on the tower and you slice it in half to end up with a quarter moon or ( shape) to hold it on the tower, either with screws or brakets. This braket would have to have a mount on top in order to hold the anchor light. Here is a quick drawing of what you could do (I hope it comes out right).

[TwinTip]

I made a mistake on the side view drawing. The vertical bracket to hold the anchor light should have a hole on it. I have a black rectangle showing where the hole should be instead of having a circle.

[TwinTip]

Here is one more option. You can make the base for the bracket out of two aluminum plates. Instead of mounting these on the pipe from the tower, you can mount these on the flat portion of the top center plate on the tower. The top plate would have to have the bracket for the anchor light welded on it (something like this ==> ┴ ). The top plate and bottom plate would be secured through bolts at each corner, with the tower plat middle plate in between.

[TwinTip]

So many options.........here is another one. If you don't mind drilling a couple of holes on the top center plate of the tower (in front of the pylon), you could also attach the bracket there. This would look more like how it is being done now (instead of welded to this center plate).

[TwinTip]

Here are two light options that you can purchase at Overton's. The corresponding model is the label on each picture. These would certainly look much clearner than the option of making the bracket I posted before. Both of the lights fold down or can be tightened at different angles.

One word of advise is that, when routing the wire through the tower, make sure that a connector is installed at the fold-down hinge. If the tower needs to be removed in the future, not having a connector that allows to disconnect the tower light would require you to remove the wire at one of the ends. This connector can be similar to what isused on the speakers. Ah, make sure that it is for marine applications and it seals water tight.

[AbunDiga909]

Thanks for all the options Twintip! I guess I'll just have to see what the dealer thinks is the best idea. Our tower is Powdercoated not Painted so I'm not sure if what you were saying about damaging the paint applies to me, but i'll look into it more.

Thanks again!