DIY Pylon question

burntorange77 · Soul Rider Joined: 31 Jan 2006 Posts: 321 City: Kingwood

Does anyone have any experience with building a pylon for a boat that has an underfloor ski storage compartment?

I'm hesitant to put a tower on the boat due to the expense, so I'm thinking about a 7-8' pylon. But I have this storage compartment in the floor of the boat that is where I would put the base of the pylon. I could easily build something that spans the opening, but I'm afraid that the floor there is too weak to support the downward force of the pylon when it's pulling someone.

So basically I see two options.
1. I can fabricate a base that fits inside of the storage area, which would basically render the space useless for storage. This is troubling since the boat is only 16' with sparce storage as it is currently.
2. I can put the pylon farther back in the boat on solid floor. But I have issues with this intuitively because I would think that the pull point should be more towards the center of the boat if it's raised 7-8' from the surface of the water.

I would really appreciate any input for y'all.

burntorange77 · Soul Rider Joined: 31 Jan 2006 Posts: 321 City: Kingwood

No one has any advise on this? Am I the only one with a boat that has a storage compartment under the floor? Or does no one care about pylon questions?

WakeCrasher · Newbie Joined: 20 Feb 2006 Posts: 38 City: Tybee Island

I care I care. I just dont know any advice to give. I too am thinking about a Pylon and have a under deck storage area. Eventually someone will respond with some useful info we can both use hopefully.

RWB42C · Newbie Joined: 07 Dec 2005 Posts: 38 City: St. Charles

I am also making plans for build a pylon for this summer. I am planning a design for the base that would reduce the amount of force on one spot of the floor. Basically, I am going to cut out a circle (or square with rounded corners) of wood probably around 2" thick and around 18in diameter. I will then cut a circle in the middle of it about halfway through the thickness of the wood and with the diameter of the pole. This way it will sit inside the base, not slide around on it, and not be touching the floor directly. I will also either carpet or put some sort of surface over the wood base after I seal the wood so that it looks good and it wont slide over the carpet on the floor of my boat.

Hopefully this will give ya some ideas. I didnt really like the idea of screwwing a base into my floor like some of the manufactured pylons. I want to be able to take it completely out.

Rick

burntorange77 · Soul Rider Joined: 31 Jan 2006 Posts: 321 City: Kingwood

RWB42C,

A friend of mine made a pylon for his boat and he did a similar thing for the base. He cut a rectangle of plywood and then cut a second, smaller rectangle. He cut a circle out of the smaller rectangle that's the same diameter of the pylon. He then screwed the smaller one to the larger one and carpeted the whole thing. Actually, I think he carpeted each piece and then attached them, but that's not important. He never drilled into his floor, and the thing is solid due to the vertical down vector that the pylon creates.

However, I don't think that will distribute the force of the pylon in a manner that will keep my floor from collapsing around the storage space. Do you diagree?

wesgardner · Posted: Mar 13, 2006 4:34 am Post subject:

Hey burntorange77,

I've got lots of advice for you...first, check out my gallery for pics of my pylon, second, go to diytower.com (Bill of Monster Tower fame was kind enough to put my "how to" up on his site....my pylon was located just ahead of the engine compartment and worked out just fine...sure, in the idle world you'd locate the center of the thing further forward...USE WHAT YOU"VE GOT AND GO RIDE...
You could glass in a piece of either alu. tuve or even 3" PVC just under the hatch lid to transfer the load of the pylon down to the hull and this would still give you some storage...without pics, its hard to give detailed advice,,,BTW, you are correct, the load on the pylon is STRAIGHT down...

Have a great season, if you need any more moral support or tech adivce, gimme a holler.

Wes

burntorange77 · Soul Rider Joined: 31 Jan 2006 Posts: 321 City: Kingwood

wesgardner,

Thanks for the advice. I hadn't thought about adding a support to the hatch as you mentioned. I'll have to look into that. Maybe I'll get some pics up once I get it finished.

hal2814 · Newbie Joined: 08 Feb 2006 Posts: 34

I've been pondering this same problem. I'm thinking about building a pylon but unsure how to deal with my ski locker that extends all the way back to the engine on my I/O. My idea is similar to the two layer wood approach but between the two layers I would add a sturdy sheet of metal centered that is at least wider than the ski locker. That should prevent the pylon from crashing through the floor since it can't crash through the metal.

wesgardner · Posted: Mar 14, 2006 10:39 am Post subject:

Hey hal2814,

Same advice, transfer the load to the hull below with PVC or alu. tube, you may have to thicken the hull with a couple of layers of matt (easy work). Bring it over to my house and I'll do it for you.

Wes

wakerider268 · Outlaw Joined: 21 Aug 2005 Posts: 123

i just got finished my DIY pylon and i had a 7 inch thick cross tie and we cut it to fit inside our ski storage. then drilled a hole in the middle to fit the pole and put a 2x6 that goes to the front of the storage for support and 2 on the side goin to the 2x6. it works pretty damn good

acej92 · Criminal Joined: 11 Jul 2005 Posts: 56 City: MIA

i have some advice for you..
i built a pylon last summer (sorry no pics). i have 19' i/o that has the in hull storage. i set the length of the front cables so the base for the pylon is directly aft of the storage compartment. i haven't had any problems with it at all. the only problem i may see is that your boat is 16' so the base may be further back on your boat compared to mine. if you want to put it over the ski locker i'd suggest using a thicker piece of wood (at least 2") that spans 3 or 4" over each side of the locker. make a duplicate piece to place over the top except drill a hole large enough for the pole in the top sheet. i'd imagine this would be more than strong enough to pull anyone you need. hope this helps.