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1992 19' SNOB Wake Tower Installation Advice |
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apolonie 
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Joined: July-20-2021 Location: North Carolina Status: Offline Points: 61 |
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 Topic: 1992 19' SNOB Wake Tower Installation AdvicePosted: August-11-2021 at 2:04pm |
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Hey guys,
So I bought a wake tower from makeawakemarine.com, not a bad price honestly, it was $1200 for both the wake tower and bimini which is awesome. I'm a little saddened to get rid of the no bimini look, but in North Carolina that sun is killer and if I'm going to get a bimini I'd rather get a wake tower as well for some board /surf fun as well. My boat is in the upholstery shop currently but will add pics when I get her back, but my question is: How did you guys install your wake tower? Where exactly on the boat did you choose your mount locations? What material did you use for your backing plate and what marine caulk did you use as well? When looking for mount locations, I saw something completely different than what I saw on some general youtube videos looking at mounting wake towers. There is bubbly yellow insulation (from what my mechanic tells me) behind the gelcoat / fiberglass. Ex: If you look up towards the fiberglass from inside your observer seat (towards the forward port side), you should see it. Mechanic says I'll need to cut out a portion of it in order to get to the fiberglass to put the mounting plate behind the bolts. Have any of you done this before? Any advice? Thanks as always, Alex
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Donald80SN
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Joined: January-12-2009 Location: Denver, NC Status: Offline Points: 3896 |
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Posted: August-12-2021 at 9:15am |
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That yellow insulation is foam for flotation that got sprayed when the boat was built. It is OK to remove it where you are going to place your backing plates. If I were you, I would look for photo's of similar model boats and see where they placed the tower. I would think the tower tow point needs to be very close to the some area, but higher, as the pilon, to be balanced when you are pulling.
You need metal backing plates under the gunnel. When you drill the holes, first place tape of top of the fiberglass. Start by running the drill backwards first this keeps the gel from chipping when you start drilling the proper direction. You might have too do some upside down fiberglass work to get a good level flat place for the backing plates.
New Dimension Towers use some type of filler fiberglass material to make a bed for the backing plated. There might be something on there web-site you can learn from. They are in Maryville, Tennessee. Good luck, |
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1980 Ski Nautique SOLD Back to Cypress Gardens
2002 Sport Nautique, GT-40, FCT2, Cover Sports, Tower Bimini, Inc., Wet Sounds Audio System, Star Gazer Wake Edition S. 1968 Ski Nautique, Project. |
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apolonie
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Joined: July-20-2021 Location: North Carolina Status: Offline Points: 61 |
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Posted: August-12-2021 at 1:54pm |
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Interesting, I've never seen foam like that before lol. I have been looking at pictures, and it seems that for the style of my tower, I will most likely need to put the front bolts on the glass where the insulation is unfortunately.
I have seen the reverse drilling trick, but what do you mean about upside down fiberglass work? Alex
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gun-driver
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Joined: July-18-2008 Location: Pittsburgh, Pa Status: Offline Points: 4127 |
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Posted: August-12-2021 at 2:29pm |
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When you get the boat back and look underneath you will see. The fiberglass is shot in with a gun and is rough (uneven) with sharp glass shards hanging down.
I covered with masking tape on the deck the areas where the tower feet would approx. be sitting then used ratchet straps to squeeze the legs if need be till I had them where i wanted them and they were evenly spaced and square per se. Then marked where to drill on the tape, make sure there's nothing in the way before drilling. I had to move some wires and a loop that held the wires up under the gunnel. I then chiseled out the foam and used a small pneumatic angle grinder to smooth out the rough glass. Then if need be you can use a glob of tiger-hair to level the area for the backing plate. Hopefully the tower maker knows what boat you have as there isn't much room for the aft legs on your boat. |
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Donald80SN
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Posted: August-12-2021 at 4:39pm |
The backing plate will be under the top of the deck. You will be laying on your back and you will be looking up. If you need to add glass to where that plate will be placed, you will be doing upside down fiberglass work. Hard to explain. Gravity can be a bitch when doing Fiberglass work.
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1980 Ski Nautique SOLD Back to Cypress Gardens
2002 Sport Nautique, GT-40, FCT2, Cover Sports, Tower Bimini, Inc., Wet Sounds Audio System, Star Gazer Wake Edition S. 1968 Ski Nautique, Project. |
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apolonie
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Posted: September-15-2021 at 2:44pm |
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Hey guys, so I finally got around to have a mechanic attempt to install my wake tower. He drilled the holes and then was convinced that the fiberglass was structurally "unsafe" and proved it to me by sticking a pocket knife in the fiberglass and showing that it's soft. He only noticed it on the port gunnel side (a little aft of the observer seat cup holder), and declined to go any further because he didn't want to be responsible for any damage if he continued. I called the tower company (Make a Wake Marine), and he wasn't convinced that the fiberglass wasn't suitable. He told me that CC used flotation foam in the early 90's, and that's what the mechanic was sticking his knife into. I have a picture attached:
 Next picture is a pic of the port gunnel cupholder to give you a better picture of the glass:  Does anybody have any opinions on this? The wake tower guy said he put this exact wake tower on this year boat with no problems, and I sent him a pic of the hole and he was sure it was the floatation foam. Also, does anybody have any wake tower installers in the Charlotte area they would like to share? Would be much appreciated!
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8122pbrainard
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Joined: September-14-2006 Location: Three Lakes Wi. Status: Offline Points: 41045 |
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Posted: September-15-2021 at 3:02pm |
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Alex,
Yes, that's the flotation foam your mechanis is concerned about. It get removed in the area and then extra glass is typically laid up to reinforce the mounting area.
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apolonie
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Posted: September-15-2021 at 3:08pm |
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Pete,
Awesome that makes me feel a whole lot better. Mechanic definitely scared the crap outta me by drilling holes and then saying there's no hope! Maybe I'll just take it from here. As far as the fiberglass work, do you guys recommend a certain type of glass and resin? I also hear chamfering the drill holes can ease the stress on the gel coat. Does anybody have a video of what that entails? Never seen or heard of that technique before. So, I guess to just be painfully clear, the topology of the wake tower (from outside to inside) would be the mount and bolt, the gel coat, the fiber glass, (remove the floatation foam), two or three layers of fiberglass with resin, 1/2" pressure treated wood (as large as the mounting area allows), another layer of glass, and then the lock nut?
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gun-driver
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Posted: September-15-2021 at 3:14pm |
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Where was he sticking the pocket into ? It’s only a 5/16 hole
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apolonie
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Posted: September-15-2021 at 3:18pm |
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It was a skinny blade and he was showing me where the "fiberglass" went soft, but turns out it was just flotation foam.
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apolonie
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Posted: September-15-2021 at 3:19pm |
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Ah forgot to mention, anybody on here ever remove the flotation foam before? Any tips or tricks?
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8122pbrainard
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Posted: September-15-2021 at 5:02pm |
Anyway you do it, it will be a mess. Also it's a tight area to get into. See if you can get a wire wheel on a 4" right angle grinder up in there. If the right angle won't fit, then try a wire cup brush on the end of a drill. Epoxy resin would be my choice. Any cloth would work but biaxial would be best.
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gun-driver
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Posted: September-16-2021 at 4:01pm |
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Just chisel it out with a wood chisel or something like that.
You don’t have to glass wood blocks in, the tower should have come with metal plates to go under the tower legs. Just make sure the surface is fairly level where the metal supports go. If not you can make it level by using tiger hair body filler that can be purchased at most Autoparts stores. This takes two people, person A inside the boat under the gunnel and person B outside to put the nuts on the bolts while person A holds the plate in place. After drilling the holes, wrap your metal under support with plastic wrap stick bolts through the plate put a blob of tiger hair on the plate and stick it to the underside of the gunnel while person B puts the nuts on and snug down the bolts (not super tight just snug) After the tiger hair dries you can remove the bolts and put the tower on. |
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ultrarunner
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Joined: October-02-2005 Location: Ridgefield, Ct. Status: Offline Points: 1846 |
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Posted: September-16-2021 at 6:20pm |
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Did you need the tower for storage, as opposed to simply using a Fly High pole for wake boarding, and installing a conventional bimini? Just curious.
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apolonie wrote: