240 Sundeck sport tower, wakeboard tower?

[JayhawkCurtis]

I think I have the same bimini, my tower is a little farther back and the front bars are a little wider. It might be a little lower on the boat. View attachment 123261

@ColoSR, Your boat is a 220, and mine is a 240, I noticed your bimini mounts on the windshield frame, mine mounts just aft. I mounted the tower as far back as I could, my rear support is right in front of the rear cleat, which looks to be where yours is. It is almost like my Bimini is too wide, at the top, I took the bolts out at the top of the tower, and spread it out to see if I could get it wide enough to clear, I could get the starboard side to clear, but the Port with the 2 rear mounting poles is too wide. Looking at different biminis, but I dont know how I can be certain they will fit before I order one. Argh

 

[ColoSR]

Can you take some pictures of the mounts/ locations? Mine appears to be a little different because the front bars are a little wider than the rear. Mine is still wrapped up, but I might be able to get some pics to see the difference

 

[Lazy Daze]

Jay, that's a shame. I hear where you're coming from... got a nice, shiny new tower and because it wasn't designed for your boat it's causing all kinds of headaches. Bummer. So, what can be done...

Ideally, scrap the tower and see about getting one from the original manufacturer. I'm not sure if it was Monster or maybe Extreme? But that can be found out. However, while that's "ideal", it does eat into the pocketbook. But if you could re-sell the tower you have and at least get close to what you paid for it, you'll still be ahead of the game verse altering the existing tower, altering your existing bimini or getting a new bimini. Your bimini is extra large - to be able to cover that entire cockpit without using two biminis. You'd be left with some holes in the boat - but they're fixable.

But, in terms of looking for a new bimini, they're sold based on height (above the mounting point) and width. Make sure you get one that will fit inside the tower... or get one that isn't as long so that is starts just forward of the tower. You won't have as much sun coverage for the rear bench, though.

Side note... towers don't really help with normal skiing, wakeboarding and tubing. They do help someone learn to ski/board, but people have been learning to ski/board without a tower for many decades. The "real" or "true" purpose of a tower is allow wakeboarders to jump "higher". Just a thought... maybe you don't really need it all?

 

[JayhawkCurtis]

Can you take some pictures of the mounts/ locations? Mine appears to be a little different because the front bars are a little wider than the rear. Mine is still wrapped up, but I might be able to get some pics to see the difference

Here are the mounts, you can see mine mount aft of the windshield frame,

 

[ColoSR]

Jayhawk, my tower is mounted a little lower in the boat so that the tower connects at a 90 degree angle vs the 45-60 on your boat. It spreads out the bars a bit. Here are some shots of mine

 

[ColoSR]

A few more

 

[JayhawkCurtis]

@ColoSR, sorry I thought you were talking about the Bimini mounts, here are my tower mounts, I couldn’t really go further aft, I am almost into the rear cleat,

 

[JayhawkCurtis]

I finally set up my Bimini and did some more measurements of my Bimini, it is 73” wide in the front, 84” wide in the rear, 96” long. If it were 73 inches the whole length I would be fine. Here is a pic of my port side, it is for sure the issue.

 

[JayhawkCurtis]

Jay, that's a shame. I hear where you're coming from... got a nice, shiny new tower and because it wasn't designed for your boat it's causing all kinds of headaches. Bummer. So, what can be done...

Ideally, scrap the tower and see about getting one from the original manufacturer. I'm not sure if it was Monster or maybe Extreme? But that can be found out. However, while that's "ideal", it does eat into the pocketbook. But if you could re-sell the tower you have and at least get close to what you paid for it, you'll still be ahead of the game verse altering the existing tower, altering your existing bimini or getting a new bimini. Your bimini is extra large - to be able to cover that entire cockpit without using two biminis. You'd be left with some holes in the boat - but they're fixable.

But, in terms of looking for a new bimini, they're sold based on height (above the mounting point) and width. Make sure you get one that will fit inside the tower... or get one that isn't as long so that is starts just forward of the tower. You won't have as much sun coverage for the rear bench, though.

Side note... towers don't really help with normal skiing, wakeboarding and tubing. They do help someone learn to ski/board, but people have been learning to ski/board without a tower for many decades. The "real" or "true" purpose of a tower is allow wakeboarders to jump "higher". Just a thought... maybe you don't really need it all?

@Lazy Daze, I appreciate your response, but to say it was not designed for my boat is a bit simplistic. It is an aftermarket tower, that is universally designed to fit almost any boat. If you look, it was 9 months between me first commenting to @ColoSR about his tower until the point I purchased it. I did a lot of research, unfortunately there were 2 things I missed. The fact that the tower narrows quite a bit as you go up, and that my bimmini is quite a bit wider at the back than the front.
Now to the point if I need the tower or not. Probably not, but when you get right down to it, I dont NEED a boat either. The reason I decided to purchase and install one is that I have 9 grandkids ranging in age of 3-13. The low attachment point makes learning to ski difficult. On the hole shot, the ass end of the boat digs, and the attachment point is almost below water level. Now it can be done, I have skied behind it, my 35 year old daughter skied behind it last year and mentioned that it was a bit difficult to get up on one ski because of that. So I believe teaching them to ski and wakeboard will be much better with the tower.
When I first noticed the bimini issue, my first response was to get rid of the tower, but then I remembered why I wanted one in the first place. So I am keeping the tower, and will figure out a solution whether it be to purchase a different bimini, or try to modify my current one.
The reason I post about this, is perhaps to keep someone else from making my mistake.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Jay, in case you thought this was the case, I am not knocking you in any way. What I meant by the tower not being correct for the boat is that the tower company didn't do their homework if they said it would properly fit the 240SD. Sea Ray, for example, had a special tower made to accommodate the bimini. Again, I'm not knocking you - you're doing your best to make things work - hence my comments in response to your question about "what bimini would fit/work".

And don't take offense to anything I said about the "function" of a tower - it really was just a side point - a sort of "in case you didn't know" thing. I don't know what you do/do not know about the function of the tower so I was just throwing it out there "in case".

Along the same lines of "just in case"... do you use the trim tabs with the drive fully down for the hole shot? The reason I ask is that I am very familiar with your model/engine and have never had any issues skiing - not even slalom... other than making sure to pull my knees up when cross the wake!

 

[ColoSR]

Do you have any good canvas shops nearby? They may be able to modify the Bimini so that it connects to tower when up.

We have a good one called Paul’s custom canvas in Denver. I was thinking of getting a full camper top, and they would have to bend/modify some poles so we don’t run holes in eisenglass.

 

[ColoSR]

Not sure if it’s useful, but I was never able to find out the oem tower provider in 2003. I heard both Xtreme and Monster, at prices between $4k and $7k. Personally I decided to go aftermarket.

 

[JayhawkCurtis]

Well, I really wanted to keep the factory Bimini, and I decided to modify the frame. I had a buyer interested in the canvas only if my idea didn’t work. I decided to cut 10” out of the center of the aft 2 spans. I was worried about the butt weld flexing and breaking, I had some 3/4 stainless tubing from another project, and it fit perfectly inside the frame tubing.

So I cut 10” out of both spans and welded together

The canvas rolls over the edge, but it ends right about where the hardware, so I don’t think it looks too bad

And 1 more with the boot on

I think it turned out ok, we will see this summer if the whole ordeal was worth the effort. Thanks for all the advise.

 

[JayhawkCurtis]

Jay, in case you thought this was the case, I am not knocking you in any way. What I meant by the tower not being correct for the boat is that the tower company didn't do their homework if they said it would properly fit the 240SD. Sea Ray, for example, had a special tower made to accommodate the bimini. Again, I'm not knocking you - you're doing your best to make things work - hence my comments in response to your question about "what bimini would fit/work".

And don't take offense to anything I said about the "function" of a tower - it really was just a side point - a sort of "in case you didn't know" thing. I don't know what you do/do not know about the function of the tower so I was just throwing it out there "in case".

Along the same lines of "just in case"... do you use the trim tabs with the drive fully down for the hole shot? The reason I ask is that I am very familiar with your model/engine and have never had any issues skiing - not even slalom... other than making sure to pull my knees up when cross the wake!

Thanks @Lazy Daze, I do put the drive all the way down for the hole shot, but not the trim tabs./ The only time I mess with the trim tabs is if I have a full boat of people to level it out. I will try the tabs this summer.

 

[Lazy Daze]

That's nice, even heat penetration, Jay! Good on you for making 'er fit!

Once you start using tabs more... you'll never want a boat without them. I think you'll be really happy with the difference they provide for the hole shot. FYI, Bennett makes an "auto" tab control. It's pretty much just a plug-n-play. You tell it the "attitude" that you want the boat running at and it will make continual adjustments to keep the boat at that attitude. But, of course, you don't need that - you can do the same thing manually.

 

[Chris Lovlecae]

Well, I really wanted to keep the factory Bimini, and I decided to modify the frame. I had a buyer interested in the canvas only if my idea didn’t work. I decided to cut 10” out of the center of the aft 2 spans. I was worried about the butt weld flexing and breaking, I had some 3/4 stainless tubing from another project, and it fit perfectly inside the frame tubing.
View attachment 123654

So I cut 10” out of both spans and welded together
View attachment 123655
The canvas rolls over the edge, but it ends right about where the hardware, so I don’t think it looks too bad
View attachment 123656
View attachment 123657
And 1 more with the boot on

View attachment 123658

I think it turned out ok, we will see this summer if the whole ordeal was worth the effort. Thanks for all the advise.

JayHawk,

I'm looking into adding the same tower to my Sundeck. I want to try and get as close to the factory position as possible. I wonder if it'll be too tall where the optional watersports tower was installed. Looks like the Cuda is basically the same as what my Se Ray would have come with had the original owner upgraded.

I don't have my boat yet to look at (picking it up this Friday) but is it easy to get into the gunnels? I really didn't look at that on my test drive/inspection but it seems like geting a tool in there to crank down on a nut is going to be tough. I'm having a hard time finding someone to professionally install the tower. With the original boat, I would assume that the boat didn't come from the factory with it installed and the tower was installed at the dealership before delivery.

Thanks for any info!

-Chris

 

[JayhawkCurtis]

JayHawk,

I'm looking into adding the same tower to my Sundeck. I want to try and get as close to the factory position as possible. I wonder if it'll be too tall where the optional watersports tower was installed. Looks like the Cuda is basically the same as what my Se Ray would have come with had the original owner upgraded.

I don't have my boat yet to look at (picking it up this Friday) but is it easy to get into the gunnels? I really didn't look at that on my test drive/inspection but it seems like geting a tool in there to crank down on a nut is going to be tough. I'm having a hard time finding someone to professionally install the tower. With the original boat, I would assume that the boat didn't come from the factory with it installed and the tower was installed at the dealership before delivery.

Thanks for any info!

-Chris

Chris,

On the starboard side the front mount I accessed from the doors under the sink, then the aft mount I pulled the small round inspection cover by the door leading to the swim deck, a little tight, but I managed. On the port side, the front mount i stood on my head in the storage area behind the port side captains chair, then the aft mount I had to pull the back rest corner cushion. Took some time, but I managed to make it work. Good luck, The tower made a world of difference skiing behind the boat with the higher angle, even jerked my old arse out of the water on a slalom ski where I just was not able to get up with the original attachment point.

 

[JayhawkCurtis]

One more thing, if you store in-doors, make sure you have a 12' high door, I think the top of my tower is 11' 6" on the trailer. I never thought about that until I was ready to pull my boat out of the shop in the spring, and I thought boy this is going to be close, and it was.

 

[Chris Lovlecae]

Thanks, Jayhawk!

I did find a dealer willing to install the tower. They said the last quote they had was $1,800 to install. Took them 12 hours of labor. I was hoping to save the cash and do it myself. Besides a drill, drill bits, tape, and sockets/wrenches what else do I need to buy to properly prepare the holes?

 

[Chris Lovlecae]

View attachment 123297 View attachment 123298 Jayhawk, my tower is mounted a little lower in the boat so that the tower connects at a 90 degree angle vs the 45-60 on your boat. It spreads out the bars a bit. Here are some shots of mine View attachment 123297View attachment 123297 View attachment 123299View attachment 123298

ColoSR,

Where did you get the wire sleeve and mounting hardware to make, what I'm assuming is the wire for light/speakers, look professional and not just a naked wire running from the tower into the boat?

-Chris