Tower moves a ton while trailering.....

[2009operator]

Just got back from my yearly trek to AZ to go ride and I noticed that this time that my tower moves quite a bit while pulling. This is probably cause of all the horrible back roads we took to get there faster.

My main concern is it causing small spider cracks in the gel coat that end up looking like crap.

Any ideas......you guys have the same problems at all?

[Jeff W]

Just got back from my yearly trek to AZ to go ride and I noticed that this time that my tower moves quite a bit while pulling. This is probably cause of all the horrible back roads we took to get there faster.

My main concern is it causing small spider cracks in the gel coat that end up looking like crap.

Any ideas......you guys have the same problems at all?

I have an aftermarket tower - but some options are to add a larger backing plate to the tower and really crank down the bolts that connect the tower to the boat and use blue loctite.

[moombadaze]

got heavy speakers up there? maybe remove them

[Razzman]

What boat do you have? Stock tower? What's on the tower when towing?

I ask as we don't exactly have some of the best roads in Cali either and i hardly notice mine move at all.

[2009operator]

I have an 07 Outback, stock tower. I have a bimini and a set of tower speakers (four total). Never have noticed a problem going to local lake only on long hauls and we take several of them a year to AZ and Powell.

[Razzman]

All towers move, some worse than others. I've seen some that will move side to side 8-10 inches. It's normal when you have a mass that sticks up like for inertia to take hold. For anyone to make one that doesn't flex at all would be either too heavy for the boat or extremely ugly! The four speakers aren't helping any though being way above the center of gravity as they are. You might look into some type of quick release mount for them. As said check all the mounting bolts and backing plates as well.

[2009operator]

Checked the bolts they are tight.....just searching for any type of quick release mounts....or just deal with it might have looked worse than I thought after driving a thousand miles!

[Ian Brantford]

got heavy speakers up there? maybe remove them

Yep. My tower does not visibly move. My friend has the same XLV as me but with tower speakers, and his tower wobbles quite a bit when going over bumps. It's kind of scary driving behind him on the highway.

[mmandley]

When i had my KMT's up on the tower last summer i didn't really notice to much tower wobble while driving. Now when in the water with the board up in the racks, ohh man that tower would move and wobble a lot. I had it looked at by AWS because i was pretty worried. They said its engineered to wobble and as long as the bolts are tight there's not much you can do.

Just keep the tower as light as possible.

[deerfield]

I have an 07 Outback, stock tower. I have a bimini and a set of tower speakers (four total). Never have noticed a problem going to local lake only on long hauls and we take several of them a year to AZ and Powell.

2009 - You need to get under the deck and check the backing plates. Two things: 1) make sure the factory correctly placed the plates so the bolts actually go through them and 2) make sure that the nuts are tight. I have the exact setup ('07 Outback w/ factory tower) as you, without the speakers. - Deerfield