Tower Cracking my Top Hull!!!!

[Suicidal-Element]

We have a 2005 Super Air Nautique 226 with the flight control tower. The tubing is thinner than the new towers and it flexes like all ****. It is starting to crack our hull now from it shaking so bad when hitting other boat wakes and such. Anybody else had this problem??? We are thinking about just taking the tower off, re-glassing the mounting points and getting a newer Nautique tower on there instead. Any Suggestions from the community???? Here is a picture of the boat.

[Quinner]

RE: Tower Cracking my Top Hull!!!!

Would be interested in seeing some close up shots of what's happening. I have NVS's hanging on my tower and wonder how much weight + pull stress the tower can withstand before it or the hull begins to crack or fail. Is it cracking on the side the foil hangs from?

[core-rider]

RE: Tower Cracking my Top Hull!!!!

Assuming you are the original owner or got the warrenty transfered, this should still be under warrenty. I would go that route.

[Suicidal-Element]

It is happening on both sides in the rear mount of the tower. It does it whether the foil is on the tower or not, just a very flexible tower I guess. I will see if I can take some pics. Altogher, I would say we have maybe an extra 50 lbs with the foil, boards and speakers. A tower should be able to handle more than that. Anybody switched out their towers yet??

[WakeSlayer]

I would fight like crazy on your warranty. You will be out of luck soon. Rather than go through the dealer, go through CC directly and get it approved, then take it to the dealer. Dealers do not want to hear about warranty work, especially nowadays.

[CAN'TSKI]

I have an 07 211 with Wetsounds PRO 485's. My tower was creaking in rough water, so I pulled out a screwdriver and checked the tower mounting screws, just to be safe. Three of them were sheared off below the deck. You would have never known just by looking at them. I love my speakers, but hanging those monsters means it needs to be checked periodically.

[Suicidal-Element]

If i push for a warranty, what is it going to be for??? To fix the cracks just so it will do it again later down the road. Maybe if they help me out with a new style tower since this one seems to have a problem, that will work out. Not complete warranty, but maybe a discount on the new tower.

[WakeSlayer]

They don't want to deal with a warranty cause they get screwed on the reimbursement, not COD like service work.

SE, Try and get the deck repaired and re-inforced, and then help on a new tower under warranty.

[WakeSlayer]

If you have problems with your current boat, get them fixed under warranty.

[AuMDLST]

RE: Tower Cracking - Sorry For Replying to the hi-jack

As to the original post - I would check the mounting hardware - as mentioned before - It can work itself loose and increase the amount of play in the tower.
In my case the tower knobs (stainless with black knob) had sheared off two times due to the additional play in the tower due to the loose hardware.

[NautiqueJeff]

RE: Tower Cracking - Sorry For Replying to the hi-jack

I have cleaned this thread up as best I can, and have banned the rev (again). I am sure he'll be back, but he will get tired of this game eventually.

[harddock]

I would fight like crazy on your warranty. You will be out of luck soon. Rather than go through the dealer, go through CC directly and get it approved, then take it to the dealer. Dealers do not want to hear about warranty work, especially nowadays.

They will if they want to keep selling boats. You can't just call the mfg to buy a boat. They refer you to the dealer, usually your closest). Part of the dealers responsibility is to do warranty work on the boat, especially if they sold it. If not then by all means get in touch with CC, ( which I would contact first and have them advise how to handle it).

Be nice when you call. They will do more for you than if you are arrogant and combative evn though you are mad. There is product liability involved and unless you are negligent in adding too much stuff to it or improperly maintaining it. I'm sure they will do something.

[Mikeski]

Been there...

My 211 had gelcoat/deck cracks repaired in 2005, 2007, and again in 2009. But, before they did the 2009 repairs they actually measured the deck thickness under the tower feet to discover that it was thinner than spec. So they built up the glass under all four tower feet and repaired the gelcoat. I have 25 hours on the boat since the repair, so far, so good. Sure wish they would have measured it in 2005...

My recommendation is to let them fix the deck only if they add glass under the feet. It seems that our liner boats built in 2005 may have had some thin spots in the decks.