Extended Pylon or Tower ?

I have a 88 Nautique, and wanted to pull skiers, boarders and tubes and use the back seat of my boat. The aftermarket towers never looked right, were expensive and the people said that over time they loosen up. In any case, everybody, even Correct Craft discouraged the use of tubes with their towers.   The only people who said they would use some sort of vertical extension with tubes were those selling the Monkey Bar, sort of a combination of the tower and the pole.

I bought one.   It took about an hour to install , with the boat on the water (drill four holes). The pull load is carried by a cable going to a hard point on the bow, much like a boom extension. It is one piece so no connectors to loosen, very sturdy, pulls big four person tubes, goes on and off easily (pulling or inserting two pins). It is not as tall as a conventional tower, on my boat, with the ski line attach point about seven feet off the water.

I also bought the Tower Boom, which gets the boom hardware out of the boat. It attaches to the bare and also using cables to carry the load.

Maybe this helps.

I had a pylon extension on my 84sn that did not go over the original pylon but had clamps that went onto the pylon so you could still use a barefoot boom and the original ring and finger. The brand was "Flite Pipe", I am not sure if they are still in business or not. It was a great product and easy to put on and take off.

cedwards, I'm 240 lbs and 6'4". If I can't get the pylon to wobble, I doubt many can.


I can however get the boat to list pretty well while I rank on the rope though when way outside the wake.   

I am not sure on a 78. On my 82, there is a female cup fiberglassed into the hull. There is a male post on the bottom of the pylon.   A bolt goes through the male/female assembly, and holds it in place. The pylon also goes through an aluminum cradle which clamps down on the pylon with four bolts. If someone doesn't come along who knows for sure what the 78 looks like, you'll need to lift the engine cover and have a look. BKH

wakeroper wrote: Thanks BKH, that mystery is solved!

P.S. The circuit to the aux toggle is wired. It could be wired to a stereo or other electronic device. You probably knew that. Just trying to be clear.

The ring can be an SOB to get out. There should be a pin a couple of inches down from where the ring slides into the pylon. The shaft on the ring assembly is 3/4 to 1" wide or so. I don't know if it is a press fit, but it is damn tight. Folks have had good luck soaking with Kroil, or other rust type dissolvents. Use a long pry bar to twist it loose. Careful, you can bend the ring. Others have had luck applying lift to the ring with an engine hoist, overhead come along, etc. and rapping on the pylon with a mallet. Keith lifted his whole boat off the trailer and never got the ring out. Others have used a broomstick and it popped right out. Go figure. Some knuckleheads give up and just hacksaw the ring off. That's a shame, they are unique original components to the boat, and worth their weight in gold as they are no longer available.

BKH

Wakeroper, post a pic of your pylon with the ring and finger in it.

Looking at the reference section the pylon on the 84 looks just like the pylon on my 78. If so, the pins are there. Look down about 3-4 inches from where the aluminum pole starts.

There is one toggle swithch that goes to nothing. It is an auxiliary. BKH

it is a fairy strong belief that towers especially aftermarket knock down resale value on a Nautique. It is your boat and you can do what you want. I had a joystck pro on my 87 and I liked it as did the person buying it but that was lucky for me. I now use a Fly High. !/2 the cost of a tower, does the job, and it's on and off in seconds.

There is a mount(I've seen on here CCF store) that allows mounting a pole without wrecking the ring on your pylon.

I don't think the classic boats look right w/ a tower.