Rad-A-Cage Tower Removal

[Dano]

I'm looking into purchasing an Outback V. Due to my lake situation, I need to go through tunnels to get to a bigger lake for boarding.

The boat comes with a Rad-A-Cage tower that doesn't fold flat enough to make it through. I would need to take it off to fit and then reinstall it on the other side. There are other options such as the Monster tower that looks like it'll fold up nicely.

Which brings me to my questions: The new boat has the tower mounted to it and if I remove it there will be holes in the fiberglass. Does anyone make a nice stainless or brushed plate to cover up the holes? Can body shops patch up the holes?

What's the tower worth if I tell them to keep it?

Thanks,
Dano

[JoeTechie]

Any good boat repair shop should be able to patch the holes and make it look like they were never there.

If you do not have good relationship with your dealer or they are not close, look in the yellow pages for fiberglass repair.

I'm still confused though - are you saying that the 3 inches above the window that the rad-a-cage sticks up is too much ? Does everyone duck while you go through ? Are you traveling through gofer holes ? or drainage pipes ?

I'd be worried about the draft clearance in there if the height clearance is so low.!

-Joe

[Dano]

The tunnels actually ARE large drainage pipes! They look like large versions of the pipes they put under your driveway. So they're semi-circles when you drive through them. When you fold the tower down, the two back tower support tubes are the widest point and they rube going through.

You don't need to duck going through as long as you're seated.

Draft is ok, believe it or not. My 1990 Malibu Sunsetter makes it through with about 1100# of ballast. I measured about 26" draft on my boat. My Titan 1 tower makes it through collapsed.

I went out with the dealer for a test drive to verify the clearances. Since if it didn't fit, even without the tower, I wouldn't buy it. When we were talking the salesman said he sold a boat to someone that didn't want a tower so they took it off and left the mounts so they wouldn't have holes in the boat. But, you're right, shops do fiberglass repair so it shouldn't be a big deal. Someone else at the dealer should know of a place.