How to reinforce wakeboard tower mounts
 

I never found good pics or an easy how-to on this, so decided to write one up. This is a quick and dirty method for budget boats... hopefully it helps out a few folks. This was a DIY install of a Monster tower onto a '92 SNOB.

http://helgedom.com/2010/05/quick-an...keboard-tower/

cheers.

Any port in a storm.

That should work fine for quite a while. Some paint or least some Thompsons on that 2x4 may get a few more years out of it.

It was kind of you to post the how-to.

Mine are made of 2x4 Oak from a commercial pallet & run all the way to the floor from the gunnel Boxed top & bottom.

Nice writeup.

After having a couple of boats with similar installs, I have wondered if a top plate would do the install some good. Inevitably our boats have developed small cracks in the gelcoat around the tower bracket. Some not so bad, & others not so good. A top plate made of billet, carbon fiber, or even fiberglass or plastic would spread the load across the top, just like it does on the bottom side. And it could be made to look good too.

Like this?

Avoid pine as it will dry out and split over time. Even pressure treated pine will eventually have issues under stress. Definitely seal the blocks. Be sure to radius the corners and radius the edges of the blocks that fit up under and against the deck cap. While glassing in the blocks is the preferred method you can use a Tiger Hair, Kitty Hair or similar filler containing fiberglass strands to seat the blocks in place. As this cures it will fill any void between the blocks and deck cap with some structural integrity.

Quite a bit more substantial than I thought, Dave. But looks like it's doing a good job of spreading the load out over a larger area. Would be interesting to see the rest of the tower too.