Tube pylon

[hattrick]

Has anyone figured out a way to retrofit a pylon such as the ones on the Malibu's which drop down below the sun deck? I know there have been discussions about it in the past and was just wondering if anyone has figured out a solution.....

[KSmith]

Your first two mistakes were calling it a Tube plyon and then using Malibu as a comparison rather than Supra.. for shame LOL

It has been studied by others, and a little bit by me, and it seems there is no real viable solution. Most of the proposed solutions, that haven't been made from what I can tell, don't seem much better than just removing it and bolting it back in place when needed (two bolts).

They are having the King of the Wake tour in Acworth this weekend. Atlanta Marine usually has a few Supras in the vendor tents, I intend to check one out pretty close so I'll try and make a point of inspecting the Supra drop down pylon and see how it works and report back.

[hattrick]

Your first two mistakes were calling it a Tube plyon and then using Malibu as a comparison rather than Supra.. for shame LOL

It has been studied by others, and a little bit by me, and it seems there is no real viable solution. Most of the proposed solutions, that haven't been made from what I can tell, don't seem much better than just removing it and bolting it back in place when needed (two bolts).

They are having the King of the Wake tour in Acworth this weekend. Atlanta Marine usually has a few Supras in the vendor tents, I intend to check one out pretty close so I'll try and make a point of inspecting the Supra drop down pylon and see how it works and report back.

Ok....Ok....thought I might get some flack for the reference to "The name which should not be spoken"....just wanted to see if you were paying attention!! lol :D

And what is the proper term for what I am referring to?

I have thought about removing it, but I am undecided if it will be worth the trouble each time I want to use it to put it all back together again. I would have to drill and tap a new hole in the existing frame in order to refasten the lid latch as it is presently threaded thru and into the pylon itself.

[kaneboats]

I believe it is known as the "nonretractable wakeboat ski pylon".

[Ian Brantford]

I have to wonder if it is practical to modify the existing pylon, rather than replacing the entire thing. Possibly the shaft could be cut midway and have a smaller-diameter insert fitted with two heights possible: one all the way down, and the other set about a foot higher, held with a pin. You could get fancy and have the pin controlled with a button on the top, but opening the engine compartment (with engine off) isn't that hard.

This would work in a similar fashion to a weightlifting rack.

[wolfeman131]

Ian,

My SeaDoo has a similar tow point as you describe above and I believe this is the best possible solution for what you (and others) want to accomplish.

[KSmith]

HatTrick,

Yup, as noted above, ski pylon would be the name of the beast :-)

I like Ian's idea, in fact is is Brilliant!! Not that I will necessarily put forth the effort, but if I were going to this would be on top of the list.

I have a 2010 Outback V and yes, that tab the engine cover latch mates to would need to be addressed somehow if the pylon were removed entirely. I would be a pain to remove/reinstall as needed it it were used much.

My pylon has only been used to hang wet life jackets off and to tow a fellow boater across the lake when his engine crapped out. BUT as I only got the boat late last year I forsee some slalom skiing and yes, dare I say it, tubing in the near furture :p

I'll check out the Supras while I am at the King of the Wake pro wakeboard tour this weekend in Acworth and report back how they have engineered those drop down pylons. They are just a lift, twist and drop, very nice. I also like the walkway under the starboard rear locker door on the Supras.

I did build my own walkway under the rear locker door, but the friggin hinges on the locker doors are so weak I couldn't put gas struts back on as the only angles available put a bit more pressure on the door and the dang hinges bent every time I tried to close them. So off went the gas struts and on came old school spring supports. Which the wife didn't bend the spring support before trying to close it last week and bent the hinges again... I have reinforced the hinges with very large fender washers, perhaps that will work, if not I see some brazing and/or welding in my near future to beef up the hinges.

[cab13367]

I looked into retrofitting the supra's retractable pylon when I first got my boat and it's not possible without some cutting and welding. We had a long discussion about this a while back and didn't really get anywhere. If someone figures out how to do this, there will be many of us interested.

Ksmith,

I also installed a walkway under the starboard rear locker - did u happen to see my post for reference? I did not have the issues you described. The link is below. I have since changed the black mat to a less dense and lighter material. I also am only using one long strut on the locker door instead of two as shown on the pic.

https://forum.moomba.com/showthread.php?t=3652&highlight=Transom+walk

[bergermaister]

I recall the discussion a while back - I had a buddy who was going to make me one as a prototype at his machine shop and if all went well, go into production with it. Unfortunately his biz went belly up a couple months after that.

My current boat cover is basically designed to go up over the pylon and is reinforced there as a contact point. Kind of acts as a high point so rain water won't pool on top of it. I'm thinking a flush pylon may cause some of your covers to not fit as tight?

[KSmith]

Cab,
Yeah I saw you thread and used it as inspiration. My boat has two cheapo hinges per locker door, yours looks to have a nice piano type hinge.

I started a similar route as yours, over engineered the hinge mechanism for the walkway, has issues with the shape of the locker, it is not a rectangle but tapers from the front to back. Anyway scrapped the side hinge and
gas struts on the walkway after I encountered hinge issues with the gas struts on the locker door. Ended up cutting the walkway in half length wise, put a piano hinge in it so I can lift the front or rear half to get gear inside.

Not as nice as yours but it works. I used starboard and bought a small sheet of seadek I put on it for traction. It works though...