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Originally posted by Tryathlete
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Measure 100 times, drill once haha! I replaced the factory first generation FCT on my boat with an NDT last summer and it went very smoothly. I have been meaning to do a good how to write up for the DIY section for a while now. I still plan to do that but let me throw together a quick one for you. Also you can read through this thread (http://www.planetnautique.com/vb3/sh...ighlight=tower) that has a lot of good info that I used for my install.
If you don't already have one, make sure you get a countersink bit so you can champfer all of the holes to prevent gel coat cracking. I used all new drill bits and they went through like butter. Make sure to get some stainless steel backing plates and some kitty hair fiberglass and hardner so you can bed the backing plates in and prevent point loading. If you are running speaker wires through the backing plates don't forget to add a hole for it....I almost did. Get some wire loom and electrical tape if you are running wires.
Before you start you are going to want to remove the plastic wrap-around seat bases, combing pads and the shelf/tray things to make access to the under side of the gunale easier. You also need to remove the kick panel at the drivers feet to get to the under side of that foot. In hind site I would have been much more comfortable if I had removed the drivers seat but I was able to contort myself in there.
1. Put a big square of masking/painters tape over the general area where the tower feet will end up.
2. Carefully put the tower down and get it where you think you want it. In general you want it to line up closely with the windshield so it blends in nicely.
3. Measure, measure and measure some more to make sure everything is straight. Measure from the tip of the bow to the front legs (don't assume the nav light is centered correctly and the bow cupholders are definitely not good to measure from), measure from the windshield to the back of the front legs, measure from each side of front feet to a common reference point. Repeat for the rear legs using the back edge of the windshield as your most important reference point.
4. check to make sure it looks good from all angles and that nothing is in the way (ex. windshield still opens and closes). Also this is a good time to check that the tower will fold and unfold without binding. It helps to have a 3rd set of hands so that a person can hold the feet down on both sides while you fold and unfold. Check under the gunale as close to each spot as you can to make sure the backing plates will fit flush. For both rear feet on my boat there was a little bit of foam under the gunales that I had to scrape away to get to the bare fiberglass so they would sit flush. On my install I had to grind down one of the corners of the port front backing plate because otherwise it would interfere with the front cupholder.
5. use a pencil or something to mark all of the holes for the tower feet onto the tape you put down.
6. Take the tower off and drill one pilot hole (1/8" I think) for each of the 4 feet. ****Make sure you know what is under the gunale before you drill any holes****
7. Put the tower back on and put nails or something through each of the 4 holes to make sure everything lines up before you drill any more holes. Make sure all of the markings you made for the rest of the holes still line up with the tower. This is also a decent time to make sure the tower still folds and unfolds without binding.
8. Drill the rest of the 1/8" pilot holes and repeat step 7 for the rest of the holes if you want to be sure.
9. Once you are satisfied you have your pilot holes in the right spot come back and carefully bore them out to 1/4" (I think) and make sure you have the bit centered. You can repeat step 7 again here if you want but to be sure.
10. Take a 1/2" (I think) countersink bit and cut through just the gel coat around each hole. Go nice and slow so you don't cut into the fiberglass. There are some good pics of this in the thread I linked to. I also kept the painters tape on through all these drilling steps and I did not have any issues with gelcot chipping. Crack a beer because all the nerveracking work is done.
11. Get some cheap 1/4" nuts, washers and bolts for each of the holes you drilled and make sure the mounting plates look good on the under side and line up with the bolts.
12. Mix up your fiberglass kitty hair. This stuff cures quick so make sure to only do enough for one backing plate at a time or it will likely harden before you get to the next plate. Have the cheap bolts and washer in the holes for the deck, put a thick covering of fiberglass on the plate and push it up into place. Put the nuts on and suck it up tight to the gunale so it will harden in place. watch out for excess fiberglass to squeeze out on you. Repeat for all 4 plates.
13. By the time you finish bedding the 4th plate, the first plate should have cured pretty well so if everything feels hard you can start removing the hardware but it doesn't hurt to let them cure longer. Either way after the last step you should let it cure overnight before traveling or using the boat.
14. Drill additional hole in the deck and run speaker wire if necessary.
15. You should have some kind of rubber shim or padding to go between the tower feet and the deck so don't forget to sandwich those in. Then take your good stainless hardware and tighten that tower down and start celebrating.
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