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I just purchased a 99 Python Powered Nautique Super Sport with an original FCT tower. The boat is black and tan (zephyr I think CC called it?) and seems to be in great shape, especially mechanically. I’m sure I will have plenty of questions so I will be posting here quite a bit and I will share pics once I get it cleaned up.
Unfortunately when I got it home last night I noticed that somewhere on the latter half of the mountainous and pot hole filled 1,000 mile trip home from SC that I cracked the rear tower foot where it mounts to the deck. Amazingly this just rested on the outside of the tower foot and did not damage the deck. All of the other welds and mounts still seem fine, I just need a replacement for one of the rear round feet that mounts to the deck. It sheered right where the hex bolts go through that allows the tower to fold forward for storage. I can get some pics tonight if people are not sure which part I am talking about. I was thinking that I would eventually like to upgrade to a NDT but before that foot broke the tower worked just fine when we were riding behind it before the trip home. Ideally I would like to put the tower conversion off a season or 2 because I want to replace some of the interior skins, add PP, integrate ballast and upgrade the prop first.
Worst case scenario I think I can have one of these feet fabricated for me relatively easily but does anybody know where I might be able to get one of these parts? I still have both parts of the foot so I might even be able to have it TIG welded (these towers are aluminum right?) but not sure I would want to go that route. I doubt that any dealers would stock this part but maybe somebody has replaced their FCT1 and still has it lying around and would want to sell this part? I know plenty of people have added NDTs to these era Super Sports that did not come with factory towers but has anybody swapped out an original FCT for an NDT or FCT2? If so how did it go? I know the FCT2/NDT rear legs stretch back further than the FCT1, so did you have a professional re-glass the holes left from the original tower feet or how was this remedied? Are there holes for the front feet that also need to be repaired or do the front feet of the new tower cover the existing holes?
Thanks for any help that you can provide. I am glad my search for a 210 is over and that we got it home to MA without any tow vehicle or trailer issues so I am hoping this tower fix won’t be too complicated or expensive. With everything that could have gone wrong on the ride home I still consider myself pretty lucky to avoid any accidents, break downs or run ins with the law. If anybody has dealt with a similar issue with one of these towers please let me know how you resolved it.
Thanks,
Shawn
Unfortunately when I got it home last night I noticed that somewhere on the latter half of the mountainous and pot hole filled 1,000 mile trip home from SC that I cracked the rear tower foot where it mounts to the deck. Amazingly this just rested on the outside of the tower foot and did not damage the deck. All of the other welds and mounts still seem fine, I just need a replacement for one of the rear round feet that mounts to the deck. It sheered right where the hex bolts go through that allows the tower to fold forward for storage. I can get some pics tonight if people are not sure which part I am talking about. I was thinking that I would eventually like to upgrade to a NDT but before that foot broke the tower worked just fine when we were riding behind it before the trip home. Ideally I would like to put the tower conversion off a season or 2 because I want to replace some of the interior skins, add PP, integrate ballast and upgrade the prop first.
Worst case scenario I think I can have one of these feet fabricated for me relatively easily but does anybody know where I might be able to get one of these parts? I still have both parts of the foot so I might even be able to have it TIG welded (these towers are aluminum right?) but not sure I would want to go that route. I doubt that any dealers would stock this part but maybe somebody has replaced their FCT1 and still has it lying around and would want to sell this part? I know plenty of people have added NDTs to these era Super Sports that did not come with factory towers but has anybody swapped out an original FCT for an NDT or FCT2? If so how did it go? I know the FCT2/NDT rear legs stretch back further than the FCT1, so did you have a professional re-glass the holes left from the original tower feet or how was this remedied? Are there holes for the front feet that also need to be repaired or do the front feet of the new tower cover the existing holes?
Thanks for any help that you can provide. I am glad my search for a 210 is over and that we got it home to MA without any tow vehicle or trailer issues so I am hoping this tower fix won’t be too complicated or expensive. With everything that could have gone wrong on the ride home I still consider myself pretty lucky to avoid any accidents, break downs or run ins with the law. If anybody has dealt with a similar issue with one of these towers please let me know how you resolved it.
Thanks,
Shawn
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