Protecting Polished Tower

[JamesE]

I just bought a tower from diywake.com. By the way anyone that was following my post where I was trying to decide what tower to get I decided to go with the swoop tower from diywake.com. Well anyway I just ordered the tower from this company because money was a very important factor in my decision and I got this tower and a pro board rack for only $880. I have heard good things about it and will let you guys know how it is when I try it in the spring. I got the polished tower because I like the way it stands out. But for some reason I was under the impression that aluminum will not oxidize. I must of been thinking of anodized or brushed aluminum. Now I have heard that polished aluminum oxidizes pretty easily. So my question is what is the best way to protect the tower to keep it from oxidizing? I will be using the boat in salt water and will wash it and wipe it down every time I use it. But, is there anything else that will protect it besides just wax, I'm looking for something more permanent. I know anodizing would work best but that will be too expensive. So, I was thinking about spraying the tower with a clear coat. Do you guys think that this is a good idea? Thanks, James

[bchesley]

RE: Protecting Polished Tower

clear powder coat.

[titanwake]

RE: Protecting Polished Tower

Yep, clear powder coat or anodizing is the only way to protect the finish without regular maintenance. If you don't want to go that far you can add polishing the tower to your regular maintenance to keep the oxidation to a minimum.

[JamesE]

RE: Protecting Polished Tower

Instead of powder coating I would like to use something that I can apply myself. How do you think something like this http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/4TH61 would work? It's just a clear protective spray paint. I know it won't be as protective as powder coating in terms of things like scratch protection but do you think it will protect it from rusting? I don't want to spend the money on a powder coating on an $800 tower.

[bobchris]

Re: RE: Protecting Polished Tower

firstly it's not going to rust it's AL so it can't.
Secondly it all ready oxidized, AL ozidize's almost instantly just takes a long time for it to build up to see it.

Thirdly putting any kind of paint, powder or anything over the polish surface is a waist of time and money. The clear paint is going to look like **** and yellow the instant it is applied, Anodizing is out of the question because no one has a tank large enough and it still looks better unfinished vs a type I class 1 anodized finish. powder coating is for color not clear finish so that's out of the question.

So what does that leave you, Eagle one never dull and a lot of elbow grease about every 4-6 months and it will look just as good afterwards as it does now.

[JamesE]

RE: Re: RE: Protecting Polished Tower

Thanks for the suggestions. It seems like there really is no cheap and easy way to protect the aluminum. So I think will just do my best to wipe it down and polish it every so often. Also I have a very loose fitting cover for the boat so I think I will try to keep the tower collapsed under the cover if it will fit in order to protect it. James

[day3107]

RE: Re: RE: Protecting Polished Tower

I also have the same tower on me 83 nautique. I have had it for about 1 year and have cleaned it three times with mothers power metal and a power ball-- It takes about 4 hours. after cleaning it looks like new, but its hard to clean the mounting brackets. the last time i cleaned it {last weekend} I fully removed the tower and it seemed easier. also I have been looking for a sealant for polished alluminum and found BLACKFIRE ALL METAL SEALANT. It is designed to seal polished alloy rims on vehicles but I assume it will work on our tower.
What kind of boat are you putting this on? mabye I can help with install info.

[day3107]

RE: Re: RE: Protecting Polished Tower

james I forgot to mention I use my boat in brackish water and sometimes in the salt water and for 5 years no problems at all. I installed a flush pro and flush it EVERY TIME for about 15 to 20 minutes when i get home. recently I also have been using salt away in the engine and so far no problems.
I am in the south georgia area with alot of salt water and 1 brackish river 5 miles from the house.
You should be extremly happy with the diywake tower It is very solid and no noises. fairly easy to install but IT SCRATCHES EASILY.

[ffmedic74]

RE: Re: RE: Protecting Polished Tower

What about zoop seal.

http://www.zoops.com/zoopseal.asp

[h2oskeefreek]

RE: Re: RE: Protecting Polished Tower

I think you can powdercoat with clear.

[JamesE]

RE: Re: RE: Protecting Polished Tower

Day3107, glad to hear good things about the tower. I will be installing this on an 89 Martinique. I like the suggestions for Blackfire all metal sealant and zoop seal and I may give one of those a try. h2oskeefreek, I think that powdercoating would work too and would probably protect it the best however it's just too expensive to do that, the reason that I chose this tower was because of the excellent price. Thanks for the suggestions, James.

[day3107]

RE: Re: RE: Protecting Polished Tower

james our boats are a little different , here is a pic of the diywake pro swoop installed on my 83 sn.

For the money, this is A solid tower and I think it looks better than a monster tower.
when you get ready to install dont hesitate to call me if you need to. this pic is from last summer, I since put on a wakeboard rack and a mirror and bracket all from diywake, and are high quality parts.

[jos]

Do not powerdercoat or coat at all.

Leave it unprotected is the easy way.
You can polish it easy once a month with fine grade SS-steelwool spunge.

Anozidizing is the hard way.

Important, seal all the water entrys with 3M sealant.

Concerning salt sea water, isolate all the stainless components with non metalic rings, and seal it with 3M sealant.

Isolating and sealing is the only way to protect alumnium from eating by the sea water over electrolitic current caused by the aluminium and stainless combo.

Powdercoating is not suited, the stainless steel still reacts with the aluminium, giving under corrosion, after one season you can peel off the powdercoating on a dozen of spots.