Problem Mounting a Tower

[Skier12]

I have a 94 sport nautique and I'm mounting a titan series 1 tower. The problem I have is that there is a metal loop in the underside of the deck where the front mounts are located. I think these loops are from the production process, when the top half of the boat was lifted out of the mold. My question is how do I mount the tower? Should I attempt to drill through the metal? Should I try to remove the metal loop and any other metal? I am open to any suggestions and I have included pictures below of the topside and the underside of the mounting location. Thanks for any responses.

[ag4ever]

RE: Problem Mounting a Tower

From the looks of it, you can cut it out of the fiberglass and just replace that portion with new fiberglass.

[efox]

RE: Problem Mounting a Tower

You could use a sawzall to cut the loop out...or perhaps a dremel. Be Careful though.

[DavidF]

RE: Problem Mounting a Tower

Yes, simple cut the metal loop out. The loop is additive to the main fiberglass laminate, so no need to reinforce afterwards. Simply cut using a dremel tool along each side of the loops "legs" and on the ends, then pry/break off.

[Skier12]

Okay so the consensus is to cut the loop out. I'll do that and hopefully I'll post a pic of the boat and new tower this weekend. Thanks for the responses.

[Mikeski]

When I put the Monstertower on my 95 SN I moved the mounts back next to the windshield so I did not have to contend with the vent. I tend to prefer a tower that is not much further forward than the windshield.

http://home.comcast.net/~mikeskiw/95SN-trailer.JPG

[EarlyRiser]

If mounted where you show on the deck, will the tower fold forward? If it does, could it hit the deck lifting ring? ER

[Skier12]

I'm putting a Titan tower on it so the back hoop of the tower will fold back flat on the deck. The front hoop is curved and will lay on the wind shield. The further forward it's mounted the lower the highest point will be. This is because of the curve of the front hoop.

Theres been a slight delay in mounting the tower because I have yet to get it from the shipping company, hopefully I'll have it by thursday. Also my Dad is on vacation and since it's 2/3 his boat were not drilling into till he is back. Hopefully the tower will be on by Sunday in which case I'll get some pics and post them.

Oh incase your wondering why I didn't go with the ND tower. The reason is basically that I'm on a small budget and for the cost of the Titan tower $1200 I can put 2 racks on and get a bimini for the price of the ND tower $2000. I'm not knocking the ND towers at all they look great and from all I've heard they make a great tower. I'm just on too tight of a budget to get one for this boat.

[mjg100]

tower

Every boat that I see I shake the tower if I am able too. A lot of the factory towers have a lot of side flex. The Titan does not have very much side flex. That is why I installed a Titan on my boat.

[dave210]

RE: tower

heres a suggestion your ruining the value of the boat with an ugly titan tower

[Onthewater]

RE: tower

^ what a flippin jacka$$

[Sinkoumn]

Re: RE: tower

heres a suggestion your ruining the value of the boat with an ugly titan tower

ahahahaha PDT_046 , a tower is a tower, or is it only a tower with the "bling" factor? Can't hate on Skier, has a budget and he's getting the most out of it that he can.

[Hydrofoilmaniac]

RE: Re: RE: tower

dave210,
I have a Titan on my boat. I didn't select it because it looked the best. I selected it because, at the time, it had by far the best reputation. Many traditional "old fashion" SN owners weren't to crazy about a tower on my old boat.....but I didn't buy the boat so I could look at it. Go ahead and buy any old rattle trap for your boat that looks cool....I'll stick with quality equipment that doesn't have a reputation of damaging the boat deck, etc.

[mjg100]

Titan tower

From an engineering standpoint the Titan tower is a very good design. Most towers do fine when pulling from straight behind the boat, but a lot of towers (factory towers included) have a large amount of flex when subjected to a lateral pull. The Titan has very little flex due to its design. The cost of a Titan is cheaper than Monster tower, so why not have a custom built tower (out of stainless steel) rather than a bolt together aluminum tower. I am not knocking Monster tower. If Monster had not increased their price and Titan had not dropped their price I would have bought a Monster tower. I just did not see the reasoning of paying more for a universal tower vs a custom tower. One other question for Dave. Would you spend $3,000 for a tower to put on a boat that is valued $5,000 to $10,000 dollars? Most SN 2001's fall in this area.

[nautiquelee]

I wouldnt spend three thousand dollars on a tower, but I would spend a few extra hundred and get one that looked like the Gen II. Not a big fan of the Titan tower but in the end a tower is a tower.