Pylon - build your own

[wesgardner]

Hey All,

I've had a number of folks ask about my pylon so....1) it does not require anything existing except a boat 2) you can prolly get away with not drilling any holes. Other folks have made similar poles so feel free to modify this at will....all dimensions are in feet and inches, I apologize to my metric friends...

I'm out of the country for the next couple of weeks but will gladly answer any questions, provide pics, moral support, help you build it if you stop by my shop/house, whatever it takes to get you going...

Here’s the stuff you’ll need to build my pylon. Most, if not all of this stuff is obtainable from Home Depot. Remember now, we aren’t building an art object here, this pylon is all about function, it will be VERY strong when completed but may not have the “spit and polish” of the $400 pylons. The total cost will be about $85. I already had a ratchet system but you can get them anywhere for about $15-20.

I don’t want to offend anyone here, so I’ll assume you know the common boat terminology such as bow and stern, port and starboard, forward and aft. If you don’t already know, learn about nico-press fittings and how to use the nico-press tool. Some folks call these swage (pronounced SWEG with a short e) fittings but they’re not. Swage fittings require a fairly expensive machine but DO turn out nice end fittings. The nico-press fittings are sold here in the Annapolis Home Depot as “ferrule & stop set” by an outfit named Campbell. They let you use the nico-press tool there in the store. You can also do the same at West Marine…

1 1/2” Schedule 40 galvanized pipe – it comes in a 10’ length, I cut mine to 8’ so my existing bimini will work when the pylon’s set up. Most competition towers and pylons are about 7-7 1/2’

1 1/2” base mount – the pipe will thread into this and the base will be mounted to a piece of 3/4” plywood that’s maybe 12” x 18”

Carriage bolts to bolt pipe base to plywood – you’ll have to countersink them into the underside of the piece of plywood.

Three 3/8”x 3”(or4”as you’ll cut them off once assembled) galvanized eyebolts

Three 3/8” nylon lock nuts

One 1/2” x 3” galvanized eyebolt – this is where the mainline will connect to the pylon – you can just toss the loop in the mainline over the top of the pylon and not have this eyebolt, your call.

3/16” vinyl coated galvanized cable

3/16” nico-press fittings (they call them ferrule & stop set) I don’t use the stops, just the nico-press sleeve and I use two sleeves per end fitting.

3/16” thimbles – they are the little things that make cable go around a fitting and form a nice loop. I think I used 7…one on either of the aft cables, one on either end of the double forward cable and one where the double forward cable passes thru the eyebolt at the top of the pylon.

3/8” ‘Quick Link” fittings – they’re kinda oval looking things that unscrew allowing something to be placed inside – sort of like a carribeener…

Before you start – take the pole out to your boat and figure out where the thing is going to go. Mine sits just forward of the engine compartment. So take a couple of pieces of line and stand the thing up in your boat – two people help but I did mine by myself…to get everything right I leveled my boat side to side with a level and eyeballed it fore and aft. Don’t cut any cable at this stage….see how high you want it – approximate where the forward cable will go – will it clear your windshield/bimini.whatever? Now go mount the pole on the piece of plywood. Hopefully there’s a nice flat spot in the boat for it to sit on. Use some spare line to stand it up so you can take some rough measurements for cable. I ended up going from boat to Home Depot several times to use the nico-press tool but for me it wasn’t far…

To build

Cut the pole to length, the threaded end will thread into the pole base. Paint it if you want.
Drill the three 3/8” holes for the 3/8” eyebolts that the two aft and double forward cable will attach to. The two side holes are probably 1 1/2” below each other – yeah, I know we don’t have perfect symmetry here but believe me, structurally it’ll make no difference. Drill the hole for the forward eyebolt just above the two side holes. You don’t need to be fussy here, just space the holes out and drill them – it helps to have a drill press but you can do it with a hand held drill. Drill the 1/2” hole up near the top. This is for the mainline attachment. Approximate the length of the two aft cables – this will become critical as there is NO adjustment in them. Go buy enough cable for the two aft cables – cut it at the store so you have two cables maybe each about 10 feet depending on your boat keeping in mind it takes about 6 inches to make up an end fitting. Make up the top two ends right there in the store using the nico-press tool, a couple of sleeves and a couple of thimbles. You need to make these up so the cable passes THROUGH the eyebolt – you cannot bend the eyebolt later….You also need to strip the vinyl coating back just enough so the nico-press sleeves grip on the exposed cable. Now take these home and install them in your pole TEMPORARILY. You now need to get the pole EXACTLY where you want it so you can mark the other ends of these cables. I was able to use my quick link fittings and pass them through my stern cleats and then hook the ends of the two aft cables directly into them – works very nicely. This is the measurement you’re after so set everything up, strip off enough vinyl coating and do a “try fit” with the nico-press sleeves set up as tight as you can. Mark them so you’ll know what length to cut the cable and go back to HD and make up these ends. Now you can install the eyebolts in the pylon top permanently using the nylon lock nuts and cutting the end of the eybolt off flush with the nut – file any sharpness away. I left mine a bit slack so they can move to align with the load on the cable. That was the hard part. You should now have a cable running from one of the eyebolts at the pylon top, down to each of your aft cleats. The forward cable is just run from the bow, up through the eyebolt in the pylon top and back to the bow. The free end of the 1” nylon mesh ratchet system is then passed through the bow eye (where you hook your trailer hook to pull the boat out of the water) and up thru the two ends of the forward cable and then into the ratchet mechanism. This forward cable can be any length as the ratchet system provides a lot of adjustment. The forward cable is probably 30’ long and has an end fitting on either end of just the thimble. The nylon mesh is passed through it. Once the ratchet is set up hard, the pole will stand up in your boat. I put my plywood base on top of a rubber mat, the downward force from the ratchet is more than enough to keep it in place. You could permanently install the pole base in the boat, I didn’t want to drill any holes so.

If you need any clarification/moral support/ etc. feel free to e-mail me anytime. Fly high, land soft….

See my gallery for some pics

[MonsterTower]

Excellent project post! If you can add in a few pictures of the finished product that would be great.

I've added it to www.diyTower.com where another pylon resource was seriously needed. If you ever put together a document on the project with pix & drawings please send it to me so we can use that as well.

[wzen animal]

i admire u 4 that ita a cool set up how long did it take u.

[TOM SCHIMIZZI]

Note to add: Make sure you use the thimbles listed. We used some cheap ones on a pylon we built this summer, and when pulling out a 200 lb rider, the cable came out of them and the pylon flew backwards and ripped up the floor where the pylon connected. Luckily, nobody was hurt and the floor board was easily replaced...but beware!

Tom Schimizzi

[gmarkham1]

here is a look at a seperate base so you don't have to drill into your floorboard at all!

[c-boy]

that's a sweet set up man..ill give it a shot due to mine failing last year