2013 AR190 Tower question (suspected damage)

[dscable]

Hello everyone. New Yamaha owner. Appreciate all of the great information here. I recently purchased a 2013 AR190 and noticed the issue in the pic below. Looks like a stress related failure. Wondering if I should be concerned about stability with the tower and have it repaired before towing anyone/thing with the tower tow point.

 

[d_coyne1984]

I would definitely not tow anybody until that is repaired. I think you are probably safe to just boat with it like that. That is probably the highest stressed point on the tower and those 1-7/8" towers were kind of flimsy to begin with. I am guessing somebody was pulling big tubes from the tower. Sorry you have to deal with that man, that sucks.

 

[2kwik4u]

I've not seen one there on a 190 before, but that failure looks exactly like water got inside the tower and froze. The deflection doesn't indicate overloading to me. Looks like a hoop stress failure, not a bending failure at first pass. Again, I've never seen the frozen water issue on a 190 before though.

I would get that to a reputable fab shop before towing anyone with it. A mending plate that is rolled and welded outside the tube. Mending plate should extend at LEAST 2.5x the diameter in each direction, and be as "wrapped" as possible when welded. Place the starts/stops of the weld towards the center of the mending plate to reduce the chance of cracking. Secondarily, if you're headed to a fab shop anyway, best solution would be to have that piece recreated and replaced entirely. That will look better and work better than a "fix" applied to the outside of that tube......Source: I'm a ME that designs new and repairs existing giant rotating tubes for a living.

@dscable Do you have some pictures not quite so zoomed in? Also one "along" the tube would be helpful to see if there is any twisting of the tube in that area.

 

[dscable]

@2kwik4u Here are a few more pics

 

[2kwik4u]

How does the other side look? Similar, or nice and clean/clear of any deflections?

How do each end of the cracked tube look at the joints with the remainder of the tower?

There is very little deformations to indicate an impact, or overload condition. There is very little vertical or horizontal deflection around the welded boss. The material looks like it was failed from the inside of the tube, based on the crack location, direction, and the deformations around the area. The material does look "worked" around the cracked area though, which leads me to a fatigue failure at some level. This is definitely an odd failure.

My reccomendation would be to disassemble the tower in the off season, and isolate that tube itself. Hand it to a good fabrication shop and have them rebuild it from scratch to match that one. Hard part will be getting the curve correct without a CNC bender, or rolling dies for that size tube. Not sure if Yamaha will sell you just a single piece of that tower (if they even have stock left of it).

That can be "patched" over with a larger tube on each side of it, or with a rolled plate. Again, I would keep the welds towards the center, and make sure any repairs cover at least 2.5x the diameter of the tube on either side.

 

[dscable]

Thanks for the quick response and info 2kwik4u. The other side looks clean and clear. Guess I'll take it apart and get it to a fab shop this winter. Disappointing, but at least I noticed it before it became a bigger safety issue.

 

[dscable]

I would definitely not tow anybody until that is repaired. I think you are probably safe to just boat with it like that. That is probably the highest stressed point on the tower and those 1-7/8" towers were kind of flimsy to begin with. I am guessing somebody was pulling big tubes from the tower. Sorry you have to deal with that man, that sucks.

Thanks for the response. It does suck, but I'm glad I noticed it before something bad happened.

 

[2kwik4u]

Thanks for the quick response and info 2kwik4u. The other side looks clean and clear. Guess I'll take it apart and get it to a fab shop this winter. Disappointing, but at least I noticed it before it became a bigger safety issue.

No worries. Glad you caught it as well before any kind of catastrophic failure.

Have the new piece drilled at the bottom to let water out to make sure this doesn't happen again too!

 

[Jim Crane]

Looks to me like someone pushed down on the top rod that connects it to the broken piece. Like someone did a pull-up on the tower. It looks like it got pushed down and forced the welded joint into the bottom tube, causing it to flex and pop. Not that this fixes your problem, but I don't think it was ice damage. I would look for damage on the top of the tower, maybe a tree branch fell on it, or they went under something that didn't have enough clearance.

 

[smurf00]

Just stumbled upon this thread. I have a 2015 AR190 with exactly the same damage. I purchased the boat this way little over 2 years ago and still haven't gotten it fixed. I'll be honest, some of the comments above now have me a little on edge because I've been towing tubes wakeboards with it like this now.

 

[d_coyne1984]

Just stumbled upon this thread. I have a 2015 AR190 with exactly the same damage. I purchased the boat this way little over 2 years ago and still haven't gotten it fixed. I'll be honest, some of the comments above now have me a little on edge because I've been towing tubes wakeboards with it like this now.

Just so you know, Yamaha (and most manufacturers that I have seen) say not to tow tubes from the tower. Tubes put a ton of stress on them and that particular tower is a little on the weak side to begin with. I would be very nervous about using it further. If it decided to break, not only would it probably do some substancial damage to the boat, it could come down with enough weight and force to kill someone sitting in that back seat. Not worth the risk IMO.