Adding Tower?

[Reel Happy]

Twinfin --

When you added your tower did you remove the hardtop and start over or have the hardtop braced and add on top of that. I have been thinking of adding a tower and toying with which way to go. Also how involved was adding the second set of controls. Was the boat already set up to plug and play or did you have to change alot to accomodate two stations. I haven't even taken a look at that yet.

Anyone else been through something like this? I would appreciate all of the insight I can get.

thanks to all in advance.

[TwinFin]

Sorry - I just now noticed this message!

My apologies Reel Happy.

I spoke with Mac before I bought my boat and again with Keith a year later just before I added my tower and they felt that adding a tower to my hard top would be no problem. I was primarily concerned about whether or not my hard top was strong enough to support a tower since it's different than the hardtop you get if you order your boat with a tower. My understanding is that the construction and strength are similar but the design/shape is different to accommodate things such as the ladder entry on the aft end of the hardtop you get with a factory tower.

I also discussed the tower design with Pacific Yacht Towers in San Marcos, CA and they ultimately did the job for me in a guest slip up in Oceanside. That was sort of cool. I left San Diego harbor one afternoon and returned two days later with a tower installed. The controls job then took several weeks to complete with the mechanic and I getting to it in time blocks as other work committments allowed. I ordered almost all of my controls through go2marine with a lot of help from Keith and Mike in terms of identifying the right parts. Keith explained how they typically set up the tower oil pressure and engine temp alarms and sent me parts for that.

My tower is fastened directly to my hardtop and it was designed to match the factory lines as well as possible. The tower itself has 4 aluminum pads, one on each leg, that are through bolted to the factory hardtop and backed with ss washers underneath the hardtop. My ladder access is on the sides instead of up the rear of the tower as in the factory design. I weigh in at about 230 and I spend almost all day up in the tower during our offshore trolling runs. I'm very happy with my tower and I have had no problem with it in 3 seasons.

The tower installation was fairly easy. Installation of controls up top was more difficult. I did some of the work my self (VHF radio, VHF antenna on buggy top, auto pilot control, compass, seawater temp display, anchor light on buggy top) and I had a mechanic do the gear box/throttle hydraulics, steering and alarms).

Here is a brief description of the main issue I encountered:

Rigging paths were tight. The 04 half tower uses smaller diameter Al tubing than the newer towers. Since I wanted steering and hydraulic gear and throttle controls up top, I knew I needed to run 11 hydraulic lines up there. (3 for steering and 8 for the gear shifters and throttles (2 each)). On top of that I wanted a VHF in the tower as well as water temp, tachs, oil pressure and engine temp alarms, and autopilot. No way I was going to get all that through the half tower tubing. My solution was to add a stancion between the electronics box and my helm station. I really like the way it turned out. It's also 1 more thing to get a hand on in rough conditions as you get in and out of the cabin.

I'll attach a few pics here so you can see what I did. The tower shows in the first pic and you can see the stancion on the right in the second pic. If you add a tower, let me know beforehand and I'll be happy to discuss some of the other considerations like welding to tubing that already had rigging running through it. I'll explain how we did all that.

[missprint]

they did a great job it looks great.

[Reel Happy]

Thanks

That really helps. I had a welding shop in Wanchese, NC take a look at it and it sounds that their design is really similar to what you had done. I also talked to Keith and he said they had not done that before but it should be fine. Both of those are reassuring.

Thanks for the info and the pictures. I will definately be in touch with all sorts of questions when I get closer to taking this plunge.

[Ofishal Business]

Steve,

May I ask what the total cost was for your tower project?

Thank you.

My apologies Reel Happy.

I spoke with Mac before I bought my boat and again with Keith a year later just before I added my tower and they felt that adding a tower to my hard top would be no problem. I was primarily concerned about whether or not my hard top was strong enough to support a tower since it's different than the hardtop you get if you order your boat with a tower. My understanding is that the construction and strength are similar but the design/shape is different to accommodate things such as the ladder entry on the aft end of the hardtop you get with a factory tower.

I also discussed the tower design with Pacific Yacht Towers in San Marcos, CA and they ultimately did the job for me in a guest slip up in Oceanside. That was sort of cool. I left San Diego harbor one afternoon and returned two days later with a tower installed. The controls job then took several weeks to complete with the mechanic and I getting to it in time blocks as other work committments allowed. I ordered almost all of my controls through go2marine with a lot of help from Keith and Mike in terms of identifying the right parts. Keith explained how they typically set up the tower oil pressure and engine temp alarms and sent me parts for that.

My tower is fastened directly to my hardtop and it was designed to match the factory lines as well as possible. The tower itself has 4 aluminum pads, one on each leg, that are through bolted to the factory hardtop and backed with ss washers underneath the hardtop. My ladder access is on the sides instead of up the rear of the tower as in the factory design. I weigh in at about 230 and I spend almost all day up in the tower during our offshore trolling runs. I'm very happy with my tower and I have had no problem with it in 3 seasons.

The tower installation was fairly easy. Installation of controls up top was more difficult. I did some of the work my self (VHF radio, VHF antenna on buggy top, auto pilot control, compass, seawater temp display, anchor light on buggy top) and I had a mechanic do the gear box/throttle hydraulics, steering and alarms).

Here is a brief description of the main issue I encountered:

Rigging paths were tight. The 04 half tower uses smaller diameter Al tubing than the newer towers. Since I wanted steering and hydraulic gear and throttle controls up top, I knew I needed to run 11 hydraulic lines up there. (3 for steering and 8 for the gear shifters and throttles (2 each)). On top of that I wanted a VHF in the tower as well as water temp, tachs, oil pressure and engine temp alarms, and autopilot. No way I was going to get all that through the half tower tubing. My solution was to add a stancion between the electronics box and my helm station. I really like the way it turned out. It's also 1 more thing to get a hand on in rough conditions as you get in and out of the cabin.

I'll attach a few pics here so you can see what I did. The tower shows in the first pic and you can see the stancion on the right in the second pic. If you add a tower, let me know beforehand and I'll be happy to discuss some of the other considerations like welding to tubing that already had rigging running through it. I'll explain how we did all that.

[tallyHo]

Steve,

It looks great. Maybe I will see you on the fishing grounds this year.

Capt. Bob Schmidt