Building a Extended pylon

[ks_cowboy]

I have a 79 ski Nautique and plan on puting a tower on it at the end of the summer, but was thinking about building an extended pylon to get me by until then, they look so simple i hate to spend that much on one. Has anyone tried this, and if so is it more complicated than it appears. Thanks Ross

[bkhallpass]

Ross,

I've seen plans and discussion boards as to how to make a homemade
extended pylon. Try a google search, or and askjeeves search.

However, I've also seen high poles on both craigs list and ebay for
as low as $100. At that price, it doesn't seem worth your time to
make it. I saw one on craigslist.org (sfbay area tab) for $100 just
yesterday.

Your pole probably has a ring at the top. Flite pipe is the only
company I know of that makes a pole for which you do not have
to remove the ring. Most people remove the ring, and then can
use most any pole. IMHO you should take your time and carefully
remove the ring so that it can be reattached. Many people just
hacksaw it off, and I personally thing it looks terrible. Further, It's
not easy to find those pylons to replace it if you go to sell the boat.

If you can scrape together the cash, personally, I'd go straight to a tower.
It will only take you a few hours to install, and it's done. You'll get most
of your money back when you go to sell the boat. Monster tower (monstertower.com) make a very good tower for around $1200 bucks.
There are others out there at lower costs, but from everything I've read
monster is the stiffest and strongest at a relatively reasonable cost.

Good luck.

BKH

[ks_cowboy]

Thanks for the advice, i plan on buying a monster tower but have had some recent financial setbacks so i was just looking for a temporary substitute. IF i could find a used one for around $100 i would just do that, but i haven't seen any close to that, That is why i was considering building one myself. How do you remove the ring without cutting it off because i don't want to ruin my pylon. Thanks Ross

[bkhallpass]

I've never removed a ring. However, several guys have discussed
doing so over on correctcraftfan.com. I would go there and
do a little searching on the posts.

As I understand it, there is a pin to be drilled out. Then the
ring twists off. It may take some force. One guy mentioned using
a four foot pipe to get leverage in breaking the ring loose from
the sleeve.

See craigslist.com -> sfbayarea -> boats. There was a pylon
listed there in Napa California for $100 on June 16.

Good luck.

BKH

[87nautique]

extended pylon

I have an 87 nautique with the ring pylon.
I first tried to drill out the roller pins, but kept breaking drill bits. So I bought a punch set and was able to quicky punch the pins out. Then I put my 7 foot skylon right over the pylon.
I hope this helps.

[darrel409]

RE: extended pylon

My friend fabricated one for his boat. He copied the "flight pipe" design. Its really 2 large clamp blocks and a pole. He cut the pieces out of some aluminum from a metal supply store. Alum. is fairly easy to cut to shape and bolt to make it clamp on to existing pole. If you look at a picture of the Flight Pipe one can see its a simple fabrication. Try It. Good Luck.

[Brad_K]

RE: extended pylon

I tried making an extended pole, I cut it to about 7f and made up bushes to go over the original pole so that the extended one was a tight fit, I then used a ratchet strap down to the front towing/winching eye at the front. MAJOR PROBLEM the original wooden mounting block that the standard pole fits into under the floor that is glassed into the hull cracked and came away so the only thing holding the pole in place was the collar that it fits in to go though the floor.

Has this happen to anyone else? And what do you think caused it, my guess would be either the ratchet strap was done up to tight or it broke from the increase sideways leverage from boarders cutting out wide.