Anyone install an AR/Ltd S Wake Tower?

[tonyGinFL]

Picked up a ‘17 Ltd E-Series (non-Tower) with bimini and would love to add the AR wake tower.

My dealer won’t touch it citing lack of support in the non-tower hull design.

After looking at the parts list, it seems pretty straight forward, 3 bolts topside of the freeboard. I’m tempted to run an oscope up inside to see what’s there.

Others elsewhere on the forum don’t believe Yamaha has different hull designs for tower/non-tower hulls (practicality)

Thoughts?

 

[John Mcpartland]

I believe they are the same. If you crawl under the starboard seat and look up where the tower mounts you csn see where the mounting location is built up. That area is about 2-3 inches thick with gelcoat on top then fiberglass followed by another material almost like the gell coat then plywood followed by fiberglass. I can't remember the size of the plywood but i think it was 1/2 inch. So if you can get in under the seat snd look up you should be able to tell if it has been built up like that. The AR tower only has 2 bolts, the limited has 3 and is almost 8 inches wider (from the end of the window to the stern)

 

[bronze_10]

Someone on here just added a tower and said it was pretty straight forward.. They went the extra step of adding backing plates to the underside to increase strength. Can't remember who it was.

 

[tonyGinFL]

I believe they are the same. If you crawl under the starboard seat and look up where the tower mounts you csn see where the mounting location is built up. That area is about 2-3 inches thick with gelcoat on top then fiberglass followed by another material almost like the gell coat then plywood followed by fiberglass. I can't remember the size of the plywood but i think it was 1/2 inch. So if you can get in under the seat snd look up you should be able to tell if it has been built up like that. The AR tower only has 2 bolts, the limited has 3 and is almost 8 inches wider (from the end of the window to the stern)

I was hoping that was the case. And yes, both AR & LTD S towers are different (conceptually similar though). Thanks for the feedback, I will def check this out!.

 

[tonyGinFL]

Someone on here just added a tower and said it was pretty straight forward.. They went the extra step of adding backing plates to the underside to increase strength. Can't remember who it was.

I was hoping someone has, and will keep searching. Extra plates makes sense as well -thanks!

 

[Chillypilot]

I added a factoey tower to my 2009 SX230. Not the same tower as your. I did not find evidence of the hull being reinforced for the towerand the original backing plates were small so I made new backing plates out of marine plastic. I made a rubber gasket and placed it between the hull and my larger backing plate because the hull wasn't perfectly smooth. Then just to totally over do it I placed the original backing on top of the one I made. It's been on there a couple of years and no issues.