Adding Tower to 2001 Hull Nautique

Just bought a 85 Nautique and going to transfer a monster tower to the boat. Do I have to reinforce the fiberglass? Let me know what everyone did when they added a tower to this boat.

Does anyone know where I can get a manual for this boat?

Thanks for your help.

Jeff:

On the tower, I doubt you will have to reinforce the glass with the tower. Monster suggests reinforcing only if the glass is less than a certain amount and I know on my 81 SN I was well above the limit on all of my mounting spots.

On the manual - check with discount inboard marine. You will really only be able to get the manual for the engine.

I have seen some situations on 90's model nautiques where the tower punched through the fiberglass because it is so thin, for that reason I had my fiberglass reinforced on my 96 where the mounts were placed

I just put a wakeair tower on my 84' nautique. Have a big enough backing plate so I dont need any reinforcment. Plus, after I drilled the holes, there was at least 1/2"-3/4" of figerglass there for support, and the tower doesnt move at all.

Regarding the manual, I called correct craft a while ago, and they said that 80's nautique didnt come with a manual. If you want to know more there's a web site called Correctcraftfan.com that should help you out a lot.}

Thanks for the help. I will post a photo next week once it's mounted.

Jeff, we added supports to our boat before adding the tower. IMO, I think the gunnels on those old 2001s are not as strong as I'd like them to be. On our boat, you could hit the gunnels with the flat of your hand really hard and make it shake some. Now, with our supports, you can't.

I know some people have towers on theirs without supports, but for me, I prefer to have everything as stout as I can to lessen the chances of failure.

Fourth pic from the bottom is our supports. Go here: http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/3183/171458.html?1085458980

oops, fourth from the top!

Another resource you can try is:

http://planetnautique.com/

Vectwar, What model tower did you get? I have an 86' 2001 and I got what used to be the sport. I think its the cheapest one. But I love the way it looks on those old nauti's it really works with the lines of the boat. And Ive had it a year and no issues as of yet.

Jeff, I got the new Sport tower. It cost me $1000.00. Im take it out this weekend to try it out. Seems solid, had 2 people hang from it, and then we climbed on top. No movement, but we shall see this weekend. Looks bad ass.

Hey guys,
I have been looking for a wakeboard boat and thought i found one. A 87 nautique 2001. I have heard peopel talk abotu what a good wake they have but this my friend i talked too told me that they are really poor boats. He says they dont handle well and they dont plan off good even at cruising speed, he said they are sloppy when a rider cuts out and so on. He said nothing good abotu them so i was wanting to know opinions from other people. Are they a good wakeboard boat. Do they throw a good wake do they handle weight, i know alot of people have them so please let me hear all the opinions good or bad on them. Also what do you think an 87 with 360 hours would be worth.

Stephan- As with any boat if weighted improperly the boat will not throw a good wake. If you add weight to the back weight should also be added to the front.

What does he mean by sloppy when the rider cuts? I have heard of complaints because the extended pylon would rock the boat too much. A tower will distribute the forces better and the boat will not rock as much when the rider cuts hard.

The boat will rock just as much with a tower as with an extended pylon if they both share the same rope height. It don't matter if the force is applied centrally or spread across the boat as the lever effect is exactly the same.

The 2001 is a fairly narrow boat so it will get pulled about by a heavy rider but its not taht much more than most boats.

Stephen- I have an '87 2001 and couldn't be happier. I bought it for @ 8000 and it only had 235 hours on it. I still think that I got an unbelievable deal because the boat was in such good condition with low hours. Everyone knows the boats are small, but that usually isn't a problem because I usually go out with about 2 or 3 other people. Actually, it being small can be a good thing because it doesn't take a lot to weight it down. I put two side sacs in it and the wake really improves. This passed weekend I did experiencing some porpoising, but we had about 1400 lbs. of passengers in it and that was going around 32. It was fine at wakeboarding speed. All in all I think they're a really good boat for the money. People on this website get a little too caught up in having a 60k wakeboard boat to do toeside 180s behind. If the boats in good condition with 360 hours I would expect to pay somewhere between 9 and 10k. They're really a nice boat that you would probably be completely happy with once you take it for a drive.

Jay, we noticed a big difference in sway from when we switched from an extended pylon to a tower. Before, with the extended pylon you could cut out really hard to the side and the boat would lean. Since we've put on the tower, it leans very little. However, this may be because we reinforced the gunnels and tied them back to the floor for more support. We didn't just slap a tower on it. Everybody that has rode in it since we put on the tower has noticed it, so it isn't just me.

Fuel, I second that. We used a pylon for a couple of years then added a tower to our '82 there is far less sway. We sold the boat but the tower was a noticable difference.