towing with tower speakers

I had an idea the other day while pulling my boat to the lake. Like always when I get there my towerspeakers have bugs all over them. I thought maybe putting some plastic wrap on them for the drive. Any thoughts? I could buy a tower cover but the guy that makes them here wants like 750 bucks for one.

thats waaaaaaayyyy too much. I know of several companies that are going to start producing speaker covers. I found out this morning from another poster here about this website. www.hitmancovers.com you might check them out.

I've heard rubbing some "PAM" (Canola cooking spray)on them works. I've thought about it for long trips but have never tried it. Not sure what would happen to the finish???

I use pie plate covers/food for mine. You can get them at the grocery store and they have an elastic band built into a plastic wrap. They are made to cover a pie or food dish in a round pie pan. I use them on the front and back when towing or outside exposed on the trailer. Stupid I know but they work well and go on and off easily. You can get them in different sizes to perfectly fit a 8 or 9" speaker can.

Don, that is an excellent idea! Regular kitchen wrap may blow off but it may work great, and it's cheap. If it blows off the shipping variety streatch wrap would definately work.

I have been using industrial shrink wrap for a few months now and it works great.

You just cut the shrink wrap off when you get to your destination and the tower and speakers are clean.

I shrink wrap from the flight clips on one side to the flight clips on the other side.

Hey,
I haven't thought of that but it sounds like a good idea because I have the same problem. The only thing that I would be careful of is don't tow it like that for too long. I am not sure how hot suran wrap needs to me to start melting but I know it isn't very hot. That would be quite a mess if it started to stick to your speakers. If you want something cheap, try tin foil taped on. Haven't tried it but it was just a thought.
Jimmy

I had a custom cover made for my Boss Cans.
It worked great but! I had to have it re made 3 times because it ripped from the wind. if wind got behind the cover it caused the cover to flap. I also noticed from flapping it rubbed some of the pain off my speaker grills and speakers can as well as scratched the polished clamp's. IMO its very hard for a company to make a one size fits all cover for towing. all the towers and cans are very diffrent so making somthning that would fit and still be tight enough to withstand the wind. Im begining to thing the plastic wrap that monster tower posted would be the best thing for me untill i find or have a custom cover for my box

Gramp's does the shrink wrap look like the photo Bill (Monster) posted and if so wher do you get it and how much does it cost. Thank you G

i travel with my tower down. i took a 2x4, covered it in carpet, then cut 2 half circles in another piece of 2x4 and attached those to the original 2x4. my tower lays perfectly inside the 2 half circles, and no bugs on the tower, racks, speakers, or lights.

bad pictures but hopefully you get the idea. and, they have bugs on them because i just built this when i took the pictures. i can only get one to upload.



(Message edited by mossy44 on May 05, 2004)

I use plastic garbage bags.The size for most bathroom garbage cans. I get them from the dollar General. I wrap them around each speaker, and use what is left to tie a knot. It works great, and only costs a little.

you could probably get a deal on 4 of them


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=23807&item=3675965 064&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

i don't leave my speaker cans up when i'm towing anything other than local. too much weight for a rough ride. there's more bouncing and swaying on the trailer than in the water.

i don't have a speaker box though.

I lay my tower down too for long hauls

How do you guys that tow with your tower down make sure it dosent bounce up??

I e-mailed the guy on the covers to see if he makes them for 6x9's till then Im going to try the plastic wrap and see how that works. oh and the cover I was telling you about for 750 bucks covers the whole tower, racks , and speakers custom made with sunbrella.

That HAS to leave some type of scratching on the gel coat, no matter if it is carpeted.......????

wake fun - i used to just lay a hand rag on each side. no scratches at all. now i have a strip of gator grip there (wasnt put there for that purpose, just happened to be in the right spot). still....no scratches

grant - there are 2 hand rails on each side of the boat that i use a rope to tie down the tower.

i have not had any problems and its very cheap to do

Maybe Mr. Monster Tower will have some insight here, but it seems to me that towers are designed to withstand stress only when erected. For Monster, do you recommend towing with the tower up, or down?

What's the rationale behind towing with the tower down? Is it just the bug thing?

(Message edited by swass on May 06, 2004)

I had never rely thought of towing with my tower down, because I was worried about the tower tubing getting dented by the handrail. Im sure if I folded the tower down and rested it on the handrail with out any protection and hit a bump I could have some problems. Thanks for the tip Ill look into for the handrails and padding or some sort of wood peice like Matt has.

Swass: sorry I just re-read your post and got the last question
What's the rationale behind towing with the tower down? Is it just the bug thing?

For some people its weight, I agree with salty. Theres way more flex on you tower when towing down the road then when your going across the lake. I was thinking if my tower was to ever crack or crack my gell coat it would be from towing. But for other's and my self who drive over 1 hr to the lake you have a bunch of bugs up there after a tow and cleaning them is a pain in the A$$ 1/2 of them fall back into the boat and some how end up on you.

I put a walmart plastic bag around it and tie it at the top for the short trips(they last about 1 round trip), easy and cost effective. Having some covers made though.

my main reason is the bugs. going where i go in the dark, there are som many bugs hitting my windshield that it sounds like it is raining. cleaning off all those bugs is a PAIN and traveling with the tower down is honestly one of the best things i have ever done to my boat. i have had no problems at all

the only time i have ever had to wipe off bugs is sometimes on the board racks. i guess the bugs were flying heavily those few times and since i guess they stick out a little bit further than the tower, they had a few bugs on them. thats all though

Wakedesigns make covers. I got mine a couple years ago for under 50 bucks for 4 of them. They have a new style now but I've not seen the new ones up close. They fit 6.5" speaker tubes. The only negative thing I would say is that they have faded to grey on the tops, but I left them in the California sun for 2 years so that's my bad.
http://www.wakedesigns.com/images/03-S-TS.JPG
http://www.wakedesigns.com

My tower folds right into the boat and sits on the back seat, bouncing is not a problem. I do it mostly for the bugs but also for the gel coat stress at the tower mounts. Our highways here can be pretty rumpty in parts.

i store my boat outside and i wanted to protect the speakers from the sun and rain. what should i use.

buy or make some speaker covers.

I tow my SAN with the tower folded when towing long distances. I use the little sheepshin covers made for seat blets over the front grab rails to keep the two from banging into each other. I have not had a problem yet. I do this for two reasons, 1. it keeps the bugs to a minimum and in east texas this is a big reason, and 2. it reduces the frontal area that sees wind, and increases my mileage. I think it adds about 1 mpg, so on a long trip that can start to add up.

It might reduce stress at the tower mounting points since the wight on the end of the tower now is not being slung around with as long of a lever arm.

I found someone with a little sewing know-how (mom), showed here what I wanted, picked out some all-weather vinyl, velcro and uphulstry thread. a day later, I had nice, custom covers. I'll post a pic.

just wipe the bugs off

I found someone with a little sewing know-how (mom), showed here what I wanted, picked out some all-weather vinyl, velcro and uphulstry thread. a day later, I had nice, custom covers. I'll post a pic.

post the pic

I just put on a quick coat of wax on all forward facing surface before heading out, and then wipe it off at my destination, bugs, wax and all. Takes less time than fussing with a cover.

No input from Monster yet? What's the recommendation from the manufacturer? Tower up or down when towing?

Good q Swass.
I'm thinking tower up,otherwise,it might get a little scratched up.
I have those big pro audios(2) on mine,that equals more weight(about 25 pds).I really don't want to ding my new tower.

Good news, it's finally the busy season again for the tower guys. Bad news, my discussion board addiction is not being fullfilled :-( Better news, I'm sneakin a little ridin here & there.

Towing with tower up or down depends on a lot of things. On my SeaRay I towed with it down because the tower rested on the rear seat and the front legs had vests where anything touched. I had a great cover that held everything down real well so when I towed to neighboring states it was always tower down, cover on. For most days, it's pull it out of storage, cover off & left at storage, tower up and tow it to the ramp. Some of the three piece towers fold forward and rest on the bow and I dont know where or how they sit. With so many different boat styles and factory / aftermarket towers I doubt there is a blanket statement here.

Hey,
I just purchased a monster tower from you a couple weeks ago and I love it. One question, however, when I fold it down, I try to fold in the two front legs but they just hit in the middle of the boat, and stick up pretty high in the air. Any suggestions from anyone with a monster tower or from bill would be greatly appreciated.}

Jimmy,
Installed my Monster Tower last year. The way it folds down into my boat came out better than I had ever hoped. I'll try to post a picture soon to give you an idea of how it works for me. Heck, I still need to get some pics over to the guys at Monster Tower for the free T.
I usually tow mine with the tower down. My I/O only has 1/4" of fiberglass so I try not to stress it too much. I plan to mount some custom speakers on the front legs of the tower so it can fold down with them in place without the speakers laying on the rear deck.

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