Need input on Busted tower

Hello, we have a 2001 Centurion whit what I believe is a t3 tower. Factory installed before the proflight took over. I have 4 cracks in the welds in the top of the tower. I don't know if it is worth trying to weld or not. I don't want to be afraid of having anyone in the back of the boat for fear it will come apart, but I don't want to spend 3 grand either. Has this happened to anyone else? Thanks for the input.

Hello, we have a 2001 Centurion whit what I believe is a t3 tower. Factory installed before the proflight took over. I have 4 cracks in the welds in the top of the tower. I don't know if it is worth trying to weld or not. I don't want to be afraid of having anyone in the back of the boat for fear it will come apart, but I don't want to spend 3 grand either. Has this happened to anyone else? Thanks for the input.

I have a 2001 also and it came with a tower made by custom tops n towers. It cracked at a weld also. I called the factory in Merced and asked them the same question. They told me to bring it in...which I did. They replaced it for free. Does your tower have the pins in the front that you pull to break it down?

Thanks for the response. Yes it does. I was told it was a T3 tower made in Florida by a company that is no longer in business. I'll try and put a pict of the tower on. Thanks

where are you located? I own a welding shop in Santa Rosa CA

Thanks for the response. I am in Chico. All four corners are like this and I think it will split if I take it off. Do you think welding it will work long term or is it a quick fix that will just get by for a few more times on the lake. I have taken it to 2 welders and one said that they wouldn't touch it for liability reasons and the other thought they could do it in a couple of hours but didn't give any info on long term. Thanks,
Rob

IMHO would opt for taking it off and replacing it, if that is within your budget. I don't think it would be a pretty picture if you have a guy in two and a boat load of people if your tower collapses.

It looks to me like those are joints between the pieces they put together to build the tower - IOW between four corner formed legs and two top cross bars. Good welds will probably last about as long as the originals did. If you do get it welded, make sure they grind off most of the original welds down to base metal, not just patch over the cracks. If they patch the cracks, it will break again soon.

Rob, Call Shell at fineline. Send her that picture and ask what she recommends. She will probably tell you to bring it to Merced. Seriously, Fineline replaced my tower at $0 cost with a proflight. Excellent customer service! I really hated that old tower. Looked nice but rattled like crazy at the pull pins in chop. Oh, one down side to replacing my old tower was going from 1 5/8 to 1 7/8 diameter. Racks, speaker mounts, mirror all of a sudden did not fit....big bucks. Something to think about. Good luck

It is fixable and will last. But are you going to get the tower re powdercoated or would paint do the trick? Something to think about. Centurion replaced our tower because it caused a bunch of spider cracks. I also got the pro flight replacement.

definitely check with the boat manufacturer, in this case Fineline. Just because of the liability issues involved, they may take care of it even though its out of warranty.

Thanks for taking the time for the input guys. I appreciate it. I will call Centurion and see what they can do. I'll let you know what happens.
Thanks

I would recomend the factory route if that worked for someone else, my experiances were the not the same..

Also about re-welding the cracks.... I am not so SURE about the welds holding from personal experiance. I had 2 very reputable Aluminum welders try to repair mine, it cracked the first time out after both attempts. Mine was in the same place as the above picture as well. I ended up getting 4 1"x6" ( 1/4 thick ) plates, driling holes through the plates & tower and bolting them up.

Either way good luck to ya