My tower design.

DeadBoy · Newbie Joined: 09 Feb 2004 Posts: 13

I know I always like to see what other DIY's are up to. Heres the tower I'm going to build. It will be out of 2", 1/8" sidewall Al. tubing. I currently own a 19' I/O. It has a stainless tower on it (made by the guy I bought the boat from). It is wicked heavy and doesn't fold. So being a "boat in the garage" kind of guy this thing goes on and off every use. Too heavy for me to do alone, and for my wife. So I'm always bumming some muscle off of a neighbor to put it on and take it off.

The stainless is out of 2" id tubing. The mounts are 2" trailer balls mounted to the hull (ugly when the tower is off). The Tubing slides down over the trailer balls and is notched and a hole is drilled through the balls and tubing, and it is pinned to attach it. It's a simple system, but it won't rotate on the forward mount or the rear mount because of the angle of the ball on the hull (binding). This tower is stouter than anything I know of on the market. You can see the gussets on the front, the back is gusseted as well. No noticeable deflection...So if anyone wants to buy a
ss tower, I got one for sale.

I'm gonna mount the new one with heim joints. The old one could be fitted with them, but I'd have to remove that bottom brace as well as the one section of leg in order for it to fit in the garage. So I decide to start over. I've designed the new tower to cover the holes that the trailer balls now occupy. I seriously thought about a Monster as it would have covered nicely. But I kinda dig doing this kind of stuff, and I can do it for half, plus my bimini will fit under my tower, pretty sure it wouldn't under the Monster. Anyway, critic away. I don't have nearly the sophisticated design stuff as some others, just autocad. And I'm relying on the engineering done by others. Note the steep angle of the front leg will mimic the angle on my windsheild. Hope it looks sweet...

finkle · Wakeboarder.com Freak Joined: 22 Sep 2003 Posts: 4067

good luck dude.

Ruune · Posted: Feb 20, 2004 4:29 pm Post subject:

yeah man, aesthetically that will be an improvement alone! I'm anxious to see how it works out for you!

cstmgsxr · Soul Rider Joined: 07 Feb 2004 Posts: 470

DeadBoy, a couple of questions as i am a DIY guy as well, 1, where are you going to get the tubing from? 2, how are you going to bend it? 3, are the main pieces (front section and back section) going to be 1 whole piece, 4, what kind of welds will you use? 5, how are you going to have it finished, ie paint, powdercoat, chromed ect ect?

DeadBoy · Newbie Joined: 09 Feb 2004 Posts: 13

I work at a steel mill as an engineer, so I can use our vendors for the tubing. I can get it for 4.30 a foot.

I'm going to have some of my electricians help me bend it. They have a power mandrel bender for their conduit. The aluminum will be no problem. Also in our fabrication shop is a hella TIG welder, so that's the welding. I will make the front and back each a loop...The crosspeices will be welded in. Not sure on the finish yet. Maybe powder coat it. I know that I want to have it heat treated to bring it up to T6, but don't have a source for that yet. I may just hand polish it and keep it clearcoated for now...Might have to wait for later to powdercoat. Although I like the polished look...

jeffrey_25 · Addict Joined: 05 Oct 2003 Posts: 811

You should powdercoat that thing. It would look pimp.

Ruune · Posted: Feb 20, 2004 7:56 pm Post subject:

DeadBoy, hey... since you have all these resources, you might want to consider selling your own tower!

hopesfall · Outlaw Joined: 06 Nov 2003 Posts: 104 City: o.c

if you know somebody that can bend it for you why dont you try and do something more complex mayeb like try and do a bent pipe at th ebottom and weld the existing tower on top of that, kind of like the tower on the nautiques or something. I dont know im not really good with that kind of stuiff, just giving you an idea maybe.

DiyGuy · Soul Rider Joined: 26 Dec 2003 Posts: 460

How much do you think in $$$$'s this project is going to set you back - Including everything??

How many hours do you think it will take to build? Looks like a tremendous amount of work.

As as DIY'r the gratification is worth every effort especially when the end project comes out almost exactly as you planned.

wesgardner · Posted: Feb 21, 2004 11:23 am Post subject:

Hey DeadBoy,

I think you've got a great design...AutoCad is plenty and since you've pulled together the resources to bend, mill, and weld - hey mate, go for it! The mounting "feet" will be your challenge - don't forget to tab the thing for speakers and lights and drill for pulling wire, oh yeah, work out where your racks will go so you have good side vis.

How easy would it be to model your boat in the design - don't know if you could get a good side view with no distortion and paste it in as a graphic...

Post pics when finished

Wes

DeadBoy · Newbie Joined: 09 Feb 2004 Posts: 13

I thought about the design style you mentioned Hopesfall, but by the time I get the thing to bend and fit under my garage door, it looks crappy...This design will actually fold forward on the front mount, clear the bow of my boat and lay on the tongue of the trailer. Otherwise it won't clear my door...I'm buying the heim rod assemblies and the spool from Raul, the guy that is selling the cheap cans. I was going to attempt to turn them on the lathe myself, but for 23 bucks, I can't make them that sweet. Not sure how many hours it will be...thinking about 400 bones to make it...not bad...If the Monster would clear my Bimini I'd go with it, but this will be a fun project...I'll post some pics when I get going...thanks for the kind words of encouragement...

DeadBoy · Newbie Joined: 09 Feb 2004 Posts: 13

wesgardner, I wish I could model my boat in AutoCad (I'm an electrical engineer, so I'm not too good with the mechanical end of things). My solid modeling consisted of an exacto knife and profile pic of my boat...I drew different designs, and cut them out with the knife and played with how each one could fold down. This design is where I ended up. How's that for sophisticated solid modeling Rolling Eyes

I'll post the side view of my boat that I used when I get to work Monday...
I like the little Stingray. I'm a little jealous of the sport boat owners out there. Spent a week last Sept. down at Powell with some friends that have a SWANK houseboat and a Maristar. That boat is pimp...but I don't have 50k...

Fishmaster · Posted: Feb 21, 2004 8:31 pm Post subject:

If anyone has a solid model of a wakeboard boat you can be my new favorite hero! I spent some time on a solid model and the hull would have taken a ton of time. You can see I took the simple road on our patent application drawings.

wesgardner · Posted: Feb 22, 2004 6:31 am Post subject:

HeyMonsterTower,

There is a "freeware" hull modeling program written for the pc that'll fair lines etc. - I'm on a Mac so I can't run the thing rec.boats.building may be a newsgroup source for it.

Hey Deadboy - solid modelling at it's best!

Wes

DeadBoy · Newbie Joined: 09 Feb 2004 Posts: 13

Here's the photo I used for my "solid modeling". I don't have or know how to use Photoshop, so I used good old MS Paint to "grey" out the existing tower, printed it off and went to work with my pencil and exacto knife...HiTech at it's best.

I got a question for you Bill, what type of rubber do you use under your mounts? There are so many out there it is confusing...EPDM, Neoprene, the list goes on and on.

Fishmaster · Posted: Feb 23, 2004 8:02 am Post subject:

I believe it is a Buna rubber and will try to find out. We cast our bases so there are some UV inhibitors added as well. Our rubber pad is 2" x 3" and shoot me your address at bill@monstertower.com and I'll be happy to send you some.

It's a good idea to cut out a larger hole in the rubber pad around where the bolt goes through the hull. This move the stress away from where the bolt hole is.

lcap · Ladies Man Joined: 13 Nov 2003 Posts: 10973 City: Homeless

DeadBoy

Would you please consider changing your nickname? It hits very close to home for those of us who have lost, or are now loosing--in our case to a terminal disease (my boy just turned 7).

Thank you

GeniusBlock · Criminal Joined: 23 Feb 2004 Posts: 78

Sorry if the username offends. Okay, new name, couldn't figure out how to change it so I re-registered...Deadboy is an inside joke with my brothers. It's what they call me when we play computer games...Perhaps this gives a clue as to my skill level...

Can I just say that if you keep being so nice, Monster Bill I'll feel obligated to buy your tower out of guilt...Wish more people chose to do business the way you do.

lcap · Ladies Man Joined: 13 Nov 2003 Posts: 10973 City: Homeless

Thank you!

GeniusBlock · Criminal Joined: 23 Feb 2004 Posts: 78

Finally finished my tower. Bought 2", 1/8" sidewall alum. tubing. 6061 T6. Bent it on the power conduit bender at work. Used the TIG welder at work. My first aluminum welding so don't look too closely at the welds. Got the heim joint ends, rope spool and the leg joints from Raul. Most of you know who he is. Not as fast to break down as a Monster, but I can do it myself. Note that I changed the original design...Just like the looks of this better. I fold it forward, take the legs off, then I can get it through the garage door. Note the new mounts cover the 3/4" holes that the trailer balls mounts on the old stainless tower used.

I have to thank Bill for the rubber pads. He sent me some to look at and I used them. My mounts are fabbed out of stainlessI don't think my tower is as stiff as the monster but it will do. Pulled my 304lb brother up on it...and he is a beginner so it was no easy pull. Nothing broke. Now gotta figure out how to finish it. Right now it only has a 220 grit sanding job.

GeniusBlock · Criminal Joined: 23 Feb 2004 Posts: 78

Heim joint from Raul. It is not stainless though, gotta order some stainless ones, these are already rusting.

GeniusBlock · Criminal Joined: 23 Feb 2004 Posts: 78

One leg is off. Showing how I get it thru the garage door.

GeniusBlock · Criminal Joined: 23 Feb 2004 Posts: 78

We are test driving the new tower. Got my little girl between my legs...she can't wait to go again.

molypod · Criminal Joined: 05 Jun 2004 Posts: 85 City: Chilliwack

Wakebrad · Ladies Man Joined: 11 Dec 2003 Posts: 12257 City: Dallas

GeniusBlock, that tower looks great. 10x better than the one on there. Congrats, That's the best DIY tower I think I've seen.

Are you wakeboarding in a large pool? That water looks so clear and blue

GeniusBlock · Criminal Joined: 23 Feb 2004 Posts: 78

That, my friend is Bear Lake located in northern Utah. It is known as the Carribean of the Rocky Mountains. The first time I went there 5 years ago, I thought something was wrong, that someone had dumped dye in it or something. It is absolutely gorgeous. And cold. 68.8 degrees that day (last friday).

Thanks, love how the tower came out. I was so close to ordering the Monster, but the kicker was that my bimini would have not fit. My neighbor's teenage boys just saved all their summer money and bought the Monster. I know I sound like a broken record with the rest of the peeps on here, but that is a nice tower. Definitely stiffer (laterally) than mine...and the welds, well we won't talk about my welds. But at less than half the cost, plus the chest puff you get out of building it yourself, I'm more than good with my finished product. Now for the finish....

YELLOWMOBIUS · Addict Joined: 25 Apr 2004 Posts: 776 City: da region

do you have more pic of bear lake Question

thats looks so amazing i want to see more

GeniusBlock · Criminal Joined: 23 Feb 2004 Posts: 78

Couple more...me and daughter waiting to go, and another day up there before the tower was done.

GeniusBlock · Criminal Joined: 23 Feb 2004 Posts: 78

Here's the old tower mount. Effective but ugly. Okay, I'll stop now...