2010 242 Limited S tower ice damage?

[Rhino72]

Hello all, I just picked up a 2010 242 Limited S, and something i missed prior to purchasing is a very odd condition with the first lateral support for the tower on the port side of the boat. The support on the starboard side is flat on both sides with a curved top and bottom and is welded to the two uprights the come from the side of the boat. The support on the port side appears to have been expanded from the inside, thus the flat sides are curved out. The extent of the expansion of this lateral brace was enough to break the vertical portions of the welds to the front upright of the tower. Looking at this, the only thing that i can even theorize is expansion due to freezing water inside the lateral support, but i don't see how it would even be feasible for water to get in there in the first place. Any ideas? 

 

[Dixemon]

I think your theory is spot on. Ive seen tubes bulge from excessive internal pressures, but not something that isnt being used for that purpose. Such as the issue you have. Interesting, i guess you could drill a few small holes in the bottom of that support to see if any residual moisture dumps out of it. Then aleast youll have that piece of the puzzle.

 

[Rhino72]

I think your theory is spot on. Ive seen tubes bulge from excessive internal pressures, but not something that isnt being used for that purpose. Such as the issue you have. Interesting, i guess you could drill a few small holes in the bottom of that support to see if any residual moisture dumps out of it. Then aleast youll have that piece of the puzzle.

If one assumes the vertical members of the tower are bent tubes with no cutouts for the laterals and the laterals are welded to the surface of those tubes, how would sufficient water even make it in there? If there was just a little water that froze it would just expand into the void space, thus it would have needed to be almost full of water before the freeze process. I am truly perplexed.

 

[Ronnie]

There was similar post on this years ago. It was water that got into the tower, froze over the winter and spit the support. Yamaha wouldn’t cover it. Don’t recall how the water got in but recall one theory was that it was rain water that leaked in though cable harness, doesn’t explain the support a few feet higher getting damages though.