Homemade Tower

Wakeboarder166 · Outlaw Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 112 City: Sioux Falls

I wanna make myself a homemade tower over this winter. I want to know what kinda metal I should use and what kinda welder to use too. Do I need a Tig welder or is just a regular one just fine

LoudonTN · Posted: Aug 22, 2005 8:45 pm Post subject:

One of the best resources I had when I built my DIY tower was www.diytower.com. They have alot of good projects on there, some with more detail than others.

My project is listed on there (Cody's project, or something of that sort), and it basically has all the information I know about building a tower. There are better, more indepth examples on there though.

I used two pieces of stainless steel tubing, which each piece had two mounts inserted and welded in (not by me, by my dad) into the steel tube. All four mounts were to serve the aluminum that was going to be the tower. I welded the two stainless steel tubes to four mounts which sat on flat surfaces along the top of the boat. It's really not that hard to build one in theory, it's the math you have to watch out for. I made my mounts a little too inward, and once I had three legs of the aluminum in, I had to pull the fourth leg to the spot. It is snug, however, so it's not a bad thing to me.

And about the welder, I couldn't tell you to save my life what type of welder it was. My dad just showed me how to use it and that was that. I wish I could be more helpful, but I'm sure those links will provide more information for you. There are tons of different ways to do it! Have fun!!

Wallrat · Posted: Aug 22, 2005 9:08 pm Post subject:

Welder type all depends on the material you want to use. Aluminum is nice because its rigid, lightweight, and offers some corrosion resistance but the downside is that you can only use certain TIG and MIG welders (need to use AC) and its pretty expensive.

If you go stainless you can stick weld it and you get zero corrosion forever. Plus you can polish it up one time and it'll look great for years. Downside is that its twice the price of aluminum.

Mild steel is cheap, but will corrode if not painted or powder coated. You'll also have to worry about rust on the inside if you drill any holes for speakers, lights, ect.

LoudonTN · Posted: Aug 22, 2005 9:25 pm Post subject:

Even using stainless, you have to consider the weight and stress you put on your boat's fiberglass. We knew we would only use stainless for the mounting tubes, and they weighed a whole lot. I wouldn't recommend using it for the tower. Just doesn't seem like a good idea.

Ian_82 · Addict Joined: 24 Mar 2005 Posts: 803 City: Longview, WA

do you need to worry about triangulation? i know on roll cages, they use triangulation to provide strength. is the pressures not so much on the tower to need it? i notice most of the ones you buy just seem to have crossbars and such.

id triangulate the hell out of it, make it like a roll cage, put a seat up top, something cool. and make a mount for a portable diving board. haha. im kidding. would that even be possible?

surfersarah · Posted: Aug 23, 2005 1:14 pm Post subject:

im trying to persuade my dad to have a go at building a tower for our 223 formula, he used own his own fabrication business so the practical side shouldn't be too much of a problem. jus need some big ass fat sacks and ill be ready to roll!

doubleup138 · Outlaw Joined: 03 Aug 2004 Posts: 145

I built a homemade tower. The whole thing was made out of an old trampoline that had rust on the inside of the tube. The mounts are made out of some angleiron (sp). The back we just used one piece so it was like this L but in the front we used two an overlapped them so it was like a U. We just put bolts to our boat and then one through the tower. It has seemed to hold up fine. The only time it feels like it is gonna break is when my big brother falls but hold on to the handle for a second and then pops it. Our boat is aluminum if that matters for the stress.

doubleup138 · Outlaw Joined: 03 Aug 2004 Posts: 145

Here are some pics of the finished product.

surfersarah · Posted: Aug 23, 2005 1:56 pm Post subject:

nice!

RufioSwashbuckle · Posted: Aug 23, 2005 3:17 pm Post subject:

is it sturdy enough for you? I would think you'd put more cross bars on it....

doubleup138 · Outlaw Joined: 03 Aug 2004 Posts: 145

It is pretty sturdy. It flexes a little side to side but not noticable. But the maximum we have pulled on it is around 150 pound person but it does fine.

RufioSwashbuckle · Posted: Aug 23, 2005 4:48 pm Post subject:

ah thats cool. You might want to watch that side to side movement though , so as not to damage your boat.

Wallrat · Posted: Aug 23, 2005 5:23 pm Post subject:

Here's the one I'm currently building out of aluminum: The angles aren't correct. You might notice that the only thing holding the two hoops up is having them lean towards each other and seperated by a weld rod. But you get the idea.

Ian_82 · Addict Joined: 24 Mar 2005 Posts: 803 City: Longview, WA

Wallrat, looks good. you gonna paint it or anything?

doubleup138, good for you getting a tower on a aluminum boat. work with what you got. but why so squared off? it looks akward.

Wallrat · Posted: Aug 23, 2005 5:35 pm Post subject:

Thanks Ian. Actually I'm gonna get it powdercoated blue. I mostly ride in salt water so I'm a little concerned about corrosion.

doubleup138 · Outlaw Joined: 03 Aug 2004 Posts: 145

Well, we don't have a pipe bender so we could bend pipe so we had to scavenge some legs from a trampoline, so we just used that angle. The only thing we bought for the tower was the trailer ball, and the screws. So its about a ten dollar tower.

Ian_82 · Addict Joined: 24 Mar 2005 Posts: 803 City: Longview, WA

doubleup138 · Outlaw Joined: 03 Aug 2004 Posts: 145

The way we made ours is so my dad could walk under it comfortably. It's around 6 feet tall. I think regular towers run around 7 feet. You probably could make one around 10 foot high but I dont know if it would make a big difference.

woody6226 · Criminal Joined: 21 Jan 2004 Posts: 97

I think i have you all beat.

Byw, this is not my boat.

Ian_82 · Addict Joined: 24 Mar 2005 Posts: 803 City: Longview, WA

woody6226 · Criminal Joined: 21 Jan 2004 Posts: 97