Tower Breakage???

Has anyone ever broken a tower? I have a Wakesetter with a Skylon tower, and it has broken. My cousin was using the boat and he just said there was a "pop" as he was driving across the lake. I'm not believing that story...Anyone have any input???

Well welcome to wakeworld.

Not only is it possible, people have been hurt before from failing towers. Sounds like no one got hurt so that part is good.

Wakesetters have a lot of flex, as they are wide with an open walk through. It is common to have any brand of boat or tower snap bolts holding them together. Even welds are not fatigue proof.

Got pictures? You definetely need to share them.

You can help prevent weld fatique by x-raying the weld. Not sure if the tower manufacturers are doing this yet.

I've seen a Monster tower break when not even towing. They were good about fixing it quickly, but somebody coulda been hurt.

I got some pic, check it out
Here is the good side

And heres the broken

Wow! I have to take a look at my Skylon tower. I don't believe mine has that type of joint. What year is the tower you have? Just curious. Mine is an 05, and I believe the model is a "tribal" (yea, tired of anything tribal). I absolutely love my tower, and have had no issues in 460 hours of use. I also have quite a bit of weight up there (Rubicon 450's), and only get some sway when I hit really hard rollers. Sturdy as a rock otherwise. Anyway, bummer to hear about the tower. Not necessarily just a Skylon thing. Others have issues too. Hopefully just an isolated problem with yours. I have not heard of many others like this. Have you contacted your dealer or Skylon? Hopefully they will take care of you.

Good luck.

I just looked at a 99 MC that had that same tower I believe; it was a Skylon that could break down into 3 sections; 2 side sections and then a top section that fit into the side supports. Buzz, it did not look anything like the tower in your profile. Anyway, it had broken where the top joined the sides and was welded back together, but you could no longer take the top section off.

I was kind of concerned about the structural integrity, and the repair welds looked pretty messy. I pulled on the tower and there was quite a bit of side-to-side sway.

Do you guys think this is repairable, or is there a new new in my future???

Contact Skylon and send them the pictures with the link to wakeworld. If they are a stand up company they may very well take care of it for a small fee, and yes it is repairable, most everything is, sometimes it is not cost effective though.

Jeff,

We have repaired a lot of towers. I have to say that I have never seen a tower break in that fashion. In most cases, the welds will fatigue in that general area and eventually crack. Those pins usually do a great job of holding the tower together so it doesn't collapse. I'm guessing the tower is a T3 or early Skylon. Either way, it is probably at least six years old and most likely won't be under warranty.

Can it be fixed? Probably. Should you get it fixed? Not in my opinion. If those machined parts snapped the way they did, it is safe to assume that the other joints are fatigued as well. Plus, I think to fix it right you would spend more money than the tower is worth. My advise is to take the repair money and put it towards a new tower. Good luck.

Looking around the internet, I've seen Skylon OEM towers going for about $2200. How much does installation cost?
What are some good towers to look at???

Peter - do you think i can get Mercedes Benz to replace the stuff that is broken on my 1999 sc500? They are a pretty stand up company ;-)

Jeff, you might have a valid claim on your insurance and would only be out the deductible.

If you by the same Skylon tower, you don't need to have it installed. Use the existing mounting brackets and just buy the tower part. Wakeside.com has some pretty good prices on Skylons and free shipping. Maybe they can subtract the amount of the mounting hardware.

If you go with a different tower, you're looking at drilling new holes and having the old ones showing.

Jeff, I have the exact same tower on my Sanger and I just recently had the same sections break on me. 3 of the 4 pins were broken. I am guessing the breaks were where the holes were threaded for the bolts? There is a fab guy in San Jose that fixed it good as new for 150 bucks. He drilled out all the the aluminum studs and rethreaded stainless steel inserts into them. THen he pressed the tower back together and welded up the 4 seams(he is a welder at his day job). It is now a one piece but way more rigid than before. shoot me an email at deltaboarder@hotmail.com if you want his contact info. Dont buy a new tower they are way too expensive

Thanks for the info Daniel
Has anyone had any issues with welded up towers?

I guess this where the 2006 Nautique tower shines?

Muji, Mercedes is a stand up company, and I am positive "for a small fee" (As I said in my second post ) they would repair any of those broken parts you would like. After all a couple of thousand dollars is nothing when you are talking about $50K+ vehicle is it? Big savings over a replacement.

Weld on the tower of my 04 SSV cracked. Cheap, easy fix, but glad it was spotted. It could've turned very dangerous, very fast with the way my tower was designed and all the stuff that came on it.