Tower sway

I just bought my first boat with a tower - MC 205. The tower is a 13th Floor and it seems very wobbly side to side. Is this normal? Front to back is fine but when we are driving or trailering it sways back and forth quite a bit. Does anyone knows if that is normal for all towers or just the 13th Floor towers or if it shouldn't do it at all?

mine does it a tiny bit...did you check all of the joints and mounting points to make sure any bolts are tight and what not? do you have board racks? if so, pay attention to your tower when you have boards on it and you are driving through choppy watter, that should be the worst sway your tower ever has, and mine (stock supra) only chatters very slightly.

my buddy has a 13th floor tower on his boat and it sways and creeks like crazy! seems to be ok though. we beat the crap out of it

Some towers have this issue. I wouldn't say it's OK, and I'd definitely keep it in mind as you load the tower with speakers, boards, bimini, etc. Periodically check for cracks in the welds & fiberglass. And slow down when the water conditions get bad.

I just bought a boat with the Titan II on it, which has to be about the strongest tower out there. It currently has a bimini & four Dbot5 8" speakers on it & will be setup to carry two SkySkis on Comptech racks & up to four wakeboards on two Skylon Bat Racks. Should be a good tower test in choppy water conditions.

(Message edited by bill_airjunky on October 29, 2007)

I have a similar tower to the 13th floor. It's a TrickTower. Mine has begun to sway a little side to side and creek a little when it does. I have 4 wakeboards, a skyski and a pair of Skylon Rubicon 450s on it, so I guess I should expect it. Going down the road with only the Rubicons, it does sway pretty good. I took it back to see what TrickTowers said. They told me it is normal with the way the "feet" attach. They said to keep an eye on it and they would warrenty it if something should happen.

Mike V, my tower sound just like that - sways and creaks like crazy. It seems strong though front and back so hopefully there is nothing wrong with it. I don't have any boardracks or any extra weight on it, just sways under it's own weight. I am planning on putting some mounting plates under the fiberglass to take some stress off the boat.

......if you know someone that can weld...you can try welding a bar between the top bar and side support (about 16 inches in on top bar and 16 inches down on side approx.) obviously the tower is flexing in the c shape that it makes with the boat...if it cant flex it shouldn't shake if firmly attached to boat. These cross bars should help prevent that or stop it completely.

Sounds about like the bolt on braces that Mastercraft is recalling towers to install, Michael. Definitely makes a big difference too.

I always wondered about using top plates in addition to bottom plates. Maybe make them out of billet or carbon fiber & sandwich the boat fiberglass between the two plates.

For many people, driving the boat in the chop with a loaded tower could be the only time they will notice this problem. If you don't throw many big tricks out to the sides of the boat, you may never notice it. But foil riders do all kinds of jumps & flips out there. And if a big guy trys to hold on to one out in the flats like that, a flexible tower will flip even the best non-stretch rope & handle right into the boat. It can get pretty hairy!

(Message edited by bill_airjunky on October 30, 2007)

Todd,
check to make sure that it does not already have backing plates. We had them installed at the same time as an option from the mfg. This is out in cali. though. BTW the tower is always loaded 4 bazooka speakers 4boards usually a half naked drunk chick or 2 and lots of choppy water he hates gettin up early. IMO It looks like it is designed to sway left to right, keep the bolts snug but careful not to overtighten those allen screws strip easly.