Deck thickness for tower mounting

I recently purchased a tower for my Legacy that I will be installing myself. It should be here in a couple of weeks. My question is, does anyone know how thick the fiberglass is? It is recommended to reinforce the mounts if the thickness is less than 1/4". I know that when I will drill into it when I'm ready to install it I will be able to tell, but I want to avoid having everything ready to go, then drill into it and find that it's too thin, and have to scramble around to find something to reinforce it with. Does anyone know if it is definitely thick or not thick enough? Or should I just reinforce it no matter what to be on the safe side? Any input would be appreciated!

I just installed a vapor tower on my 98 outback and reinforced all 4 of the mounting points. If yours is anything like mine then it's not thick at all. Even if yours is more than 1/4" I still would just for the piece of mind. I ended up using 1/4" marine grade plywood boards and 1/2" steel plates over the boards that came with the tower. I think it's definitely worth it since you're already going to be in there. I also used lock tight on all of those bolts. Good luck!


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When I did my 89 Sunsport I made reinforcements out of 3/4 '' plywood . Go as big as your deck will allow . If I remember right mine were about 3 1/2 x 10. I covered them with fiberglass and then epoxied them to the under deck using the tower feet holes to hold them until dry. I also cut larger aluminum backing plates the idea is to spread the load to as large an area as possible. Make sure you chamfer the holes where they go through the gel-cote this will prevent spider cracks later. My only other advice is to measure everything multiple times before you drill .

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...Picture021.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...Picture020.jpg

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...Picture019.jpg

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Originally Posted by michael hunter

When I did my 89 Sunsport I made reinforcements out of 3/4 '' plywood . Go as big as your deck will allow . If I remember right mine were about 3 1/2 x 10. I covered them with fiberglass and then epoxied them to the under deck using the tower feet holes to hold them until dry. I also cut larger aluminum backing plates the idea is to spread the load to as large an area as possible. Make sure you chamfer the holes where they go through the gel-cote this will prevent spider cracks later. My only other advice is to measure everything multiple times before you drill .

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...Picture021.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...Picture020.jpg

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...Picture019.jpg

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...Picture013.jpg

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Awesome, that's a big help. Thanks a lot guys! I'll let y'all know how it goes.

I have a legacy also. It was thick enough on top but I still reinforced it anyway. I had to make it step down enough to get out of the curve of the fiberglass to get the back plates on but it turned out nice. It also seems super strong but I haven't had it out yet. http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/26/evegysed.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/26/y3uva9an.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/26/zy7e6y8u.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/26/yza6e6ar.jpg


Bam! Supra, what's that!

[QUOTE=MDVols;106351]I have a legacy also. It was thick enough on top but I still reinforced it anyway. I had to make it step down enough to get out of the curve of the fiberglass to get the back plates on but it turned out nice. It also seems super strong but I haven't had it out yet. [IMG]


Very cool, thanks for the info. Looks good. How did you get that side panel off? I'm pretty sure I can get to where I need to go through the speaker hole, but if not, I would need to take that panel off and I haven't quite figured that out yet. Haven't messed with it a whole lot though.

I'll just echo what others have said, I put a tower on my boat last year and Monster provided backing plates that were just the size of the feet, about 2 1/2" x 2". So I made up additional plates that were about 10" long, also aluminum. I was able to get a piece about 2" wide 1/4" thick and 4' long from Grainger or something, it wasn't expensive, and it was easy to work with, didn't require a machine shop to make the plates, and I feel MUCH better about the backing now, than I would have with the tiny factory plates. I used it all last year and it feels extremely solid, I couldn't be less worried about the feet.

What kind of tower did you get?

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Originally Posted by SquamInboards

I'll just echo what others have said, I put a tower on my boat last year and Monster provided backing plates that were just the size of the feet, about 2 1/2" x 2". So I made up additional plates that were about 10" long, also aluminum. I was able to get a piece about 2" wide 1/4" thick and 4' long from Grainger or something, it wasn't expensive, and it was easy to work with, didn't require a machine shop to make the plates, and I feel MUCH better about the backing now, than I would have with the tiny factory plates. I used it all last year and it feels extremely solid, I couldn't be less worried about the feet.

What kind of tower did you get?

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Thanks for the suggestion.

I decided on the Aerial Assault tower http://www.aerialwakeboarding.com/v/...assault-pa.asp

Pretty sharp looking tower and has good reviews. Went ahead and got the bimini top for it as well. Looking forward to it's arrival!

It is easy to get the side panels off, just pop those little buttons off and there are screws behind them. Take all those out and they come right off. The only reason I would take them off instead of just the speakers is because you are gonna have to scrape all the foam out wherever you put your back plates, and let me go ahead and say that it sucks! I recommend long sleeves and I used a little wood chisel and hit it on the end with a pair of Kleins or Sidecutters. To me that's the worst part, I couldn't imagine doing that through a speaker hole. Just my opinion though and good luck!

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Originally Posted by MDVols

It is easy to get the side panels off, just pop those little buttons off and there are screws behind them. Take all those out and they come right off. The only reason I would take them off instead of just the speakers is because you are gonna have to scrape all the foam out wherever you put your back plates, and let me go ahead and say that it sucks! I recommend long sleeves and I used a little wood chisel and hit it on the end with a pair of Kleins or Sidecutters. To me that's the worst part, I couldn't imagine doing that through a speaker hole. Just my opinion though and good luck!

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Very cool, thanks for the advice. I had no idea it was that easy, thought those buttons were cosmetic. If that's all there is to it
I'll take them off for sure. I also had no idea that there was foam up there. That would have been an unpleasant surprise.

JW, Was just gonna let you know I got to get out this weekend behind the boat and the new tower did not make a sound and there was not any sway at all it was pretty nice! So just take your time and reinforce your tower and you should be good.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/05/06/e6eve6y8.jpg


Bam! Supra, what's that!

[QUOTE=MDVols;106764]JW, Was just gonna let you know I got to get out this weekend behind the boat and the new tower did not make a sound and there was not any sway at all it was pretty nice! So just take your time and reinforce your tower and you should be good.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/05/06/e6eve6y8.jpg


Sounds Good! Will do, and thanks for the update. Hopefully it'll get here before the end of the month, I'm sure I'll keep y'all updated when it eventually gets here and I install it. Nice air!