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So I have a 2009 SANTE 210 w/FCT3 and Z5 rack. As you may know, you can't lower the tower with the Z5 on. I live under a bridge, so I have to lower the tower to get under it, although I don't have to lower it ALL the way. For the last year I have just had the Z5 off the boat. This year, I decided to modify the tower to get it to be able to lower the distance I need without removing the Z5. Here is what I did.
first a good reference on how the robline assembly works - you can review the Roswell replacement instructions here:
https://roswellmarine.zendesk.com/hc...-Instructions-
Unfortunately, Mine did not look like that. So I have included more details here. It appears that the newer robline assemblies ($60 per side) allow some spring tension adjustment, and some height adjustment - I needed a specific height, so it was easier for me to simply make my own.
Also - don't mind my disaster of a garage... its been a long week.
First - materials needed. This is a cheap "fix"
6 feet of 1/8" cable. This is ~35 cents a foot and is good to 340 lbs
8 stainless fender washers - 5/16in x 1 1/2". These are 46 cents each.
2, 1/8" Aluminum Ferrule set. This is about 2 bucks.
Now we have to remove the current rob lines. Mine were pretty stretched out, so they were not in any tension when the tower was up.
I removed the bolts holding the robline in place with the tower up. Remove this bolt:
If you do both sides at once, the tower will not be supported when you lower it. It will be very heavy, and it will rotate quite far - lower it slowly, until it comes to rest like this:
Now remove the bolt that is used to lock the tower up:
Now you have to remove the 4 bolts circled here. To get the ones on the bottom, you have to unscrew the bolt/nut that is supporting the wires that go through the tower (arrow in picture below)
Once you remove these bolts, you can pull the whole rob line assembly out of the tower like this. Just pull back on the knuckle.
There is a plastic insert in the tower as well that the spring slides into - remove it as well.
Now the whole assembly should look like this:
There is a bolt that holds the roller wheel of this assembly, and thus the whole assembly together. If your spring is in tension, you will want to get a second hand before removing this. Mine was not under tension, so I could simply unscrew it, and remove the roller wheel.
When you take this wheel out, you can remove the robline from the spring - this is what you are left with:
Now - we are going to create a new robline - out of the 1/8" cable
First, fold over and crimp one end of the cable like this:
I then slid on the 4 washers on to the cable.
I removed the metal eyelet from the original robline
I then made a loop at the other end of the cable. The length of the cable is 18" from the bottom of the washers, to the end of the loop.
EDIT - I ended up remaking the cables to 19" - see following post
You can see I used some tape to hold the cable at the right length, so I could push the ferrule down the cable before crimping it.
Next, just crimp the ferrule
Now, slide the new cable into the spring like so:
For the next part, you will either need 2 people, or some method to compress the spring while you re-insert the roller wheel. I used a winch off my quad and my table vice. If you read the instructions from Roswell, the suggest using a rope to help pull the cable through. I will attach some pictures, but the PDF really does a better job of explaining this step.
In the photo below, the new cable is through the spring on the left. A rope is tied to the end of the cable, and is run through the knuckle. The sleeve is over the spring so that when the spring is compressed, it stays inline. You can see the right end of the rope is tied to ANOTHER cable on the right side of the photo - this goes to my winch. I activated the winch, to help pull the new robline cable through the knuckle (compresses the spring):
Here is is pulled through. In this image, the spring is under a lot of tension. sorry the image is rotated:
Once you get to this step, simply re-install the roller wheel and pin to hold the whole assembly together.
From here it is a reverse install. after you get the knuckle installed on the boat, just push the cable such that it is tilted down like this. This will give you enough clearance to get the tower to fold and connect up the cable.
You will notice that locking the tower takes a bit more force, but it locks securely no problem. The Ferrules make the fitment tight - so make sure you try to get the smallest ones that work. Here it is connected
Here is how much drop the tower has with the 18" lines. you can probably go with 19" or 20" and get a little more drop and still not have the Z5 pushing on the windshield. The 18" cable gives me all I need to get under my bridge.
The first cable took me a long time to do, because I was figuring it all out. The second cable, from start, removal, building the cable, and re-install took me 1 hour.
Hope this helps someone.
first a good reference on how the robline assembly works - you can review the Roswell replacement instructions here:
https://roswellmarine.zendesk.com/hc...-Instructions-
Unfortunately, Mine did not look like that. So I have included more details here. It appears that the newer robline assemblies ($60 per side) allow some spring tension adjustment, and some height adjustment - I needed a specific height, so it was easier for me to simply make my own.
Also - don't mind my disaster of a garage... its been a long week.
First - materials needed. This is a cheap "fix"
6 feet of 1/8" cable. This is ~35 cents a foot and is good to 340 lbs
8 stainless fender washers - 5/16in x 1 1/2". These are 46 cents each.
2, 1/8" Aluminum Ferrule set. This is about 2 bucks.
Now we have to remove the current rob lines. Mine were pretty stretched out, so they were not in any tension when the tower was up.
I removed the bolts holding the robline in place with the tower up. Remove this bolt:
If you do both sides at once, the tower will not be supported when you lower it. It will be very heavy, and it will rotate quite far - lower it slowly, until it comes to rest like this:
Now remove the bolt that is used to lock the tower up:
Now you have to remove the 4 bolts circled here. To get the ones on the bottom, you have to unscrew the bolt/nut that is supporting the wires that go through the tower (arrow in picture below)
Once you remove these bolts, you can pull the whole rob line assembly out of the tower like this. Just pull back on the knuckle.
There is a plastic insert in the tower as well that the spring slides into - remove it as well.
Now the whole assembly should look like this:
There is a bolt that holds the roller wheel of this assembly, and thus the whole assembly together. If your spring is in tension, you will want to get a second hand before removing this. Mine was not under tension, so I could simply unscrew it, and remove the roller wheel.
When you take this wheel out, you can remove the robline from the spring - this is what you are left with:
Now - we are going to create a new robline - out of the 1/8" cable
First, fold over and crimp one end of the cable like this:
I then slid on the 4 washers on to the cable.
I removed the metal eyelet from the original robline
I then made a loop at the other end of the cable. The length of the cable is 18" from the bottom of the washers, to the end of the loop.
EDIT - I ended up remaking the cables to 19" - see following post
You can see I used some tape to hold the cable at the right length, so I could push the ferrule down the cable before crimping it.
Next, just crimp the ferrule
Now, slide the new cable into the spring like so:
For the next part, you will either need 2 people, or some method to compress the spring while you re-insert the roller wheel. I used a winch off my quad and my table vice. If you read the instructions from Roswell, the suggest using a rope to help pull the cable through. I will attach some pictures, but the PDF really does a better job of explaining this step.
In the photo below, the new cable is through the spring on the left. A rope is tied to the end of the cable, and is run through the knuckle. The sleeve is over the spring so that when the spring is compressed, it stays inline. You can see the right end of the rope is tied to ANOTHER cable on the right side of the photo - this goes to my winch. I activated the winch, to help pull the new robline cable through the knuckle (compresses the spring):
Here is is pulled through. In this image, the spring is under a lot of tension. sorry the image is rotated:
Once you get to this step, simply re-install the roller wheel and pin to hold the whole assembly together.
From here it is a reverse install. after you get the knuckle installed on the boat, just push the cable such that it is tilted down like this. This will give you enough clearance to get the tower to fold and connect up the cable.
You will notice that locking the tower takes a bit more force, but it locks securely no problem. The Ferrules make the fitment tight - so make sure you try to get the smallest ones that work. Here it is connected
Here is how much drop the tower has with the 18" lines. you can probably go with 19" or 20" and get a little more drop and still not have the Z5 pushing on the windshield. The 18" cable gives me all I need to get under my bridge.
The first cable took me a long time to do, because I was figuring it all out. The second cable, from start, removal, building the cable, and re-install took me 1 hour.
Hope this helps someone.
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