Tower weight limit for wakeboarding?

[jkendall79]

A buddy of mine wants to learn how to wakeboard, but he's 6'2 and weighs about 280lbs. I have a 2007 outback DD with the 1 5/8 tower, and I'm nervous about overloading it and getting stress cracks. If anyone has any advice on this I'd appreciate it.

[jmvotto]

Stick with the pylon until he gets the hang of getting up and out. That is where most of the stress will occur and as a beginner it should not matter that much from either spot.

My .02

[cab13367]

Below is a pic of what it looks like underneath the front tower legs, or at least it does on my boat. It would take quite a bit of force to produce stress cracks, regardless of what diameter tower you have. Your buddy would not be able to hang on enough to create that kind of force, and I would think that a good wakeboarder edging hard either towards or away from the wake would create more forced than trying to pull your buddy up. I would have to assume that they design the towers for well over a 280 lb rider. If you are that concerned, I would e-mail SC and get their reassurance, or call your dealer.

If it were me, I would just make sure all the hardware is snug and then go for it.

Al
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg276/cab13367/IMG_0886.jpg

[K_E_N]

Pull him from the tower. Sure a beginner often pulls and fights with the boat, but humans typically aren't strong enough to cause stress cracks in the fiberglass. Those cracks come from time and repeated stress. Also, pulling a beginner from the tower makes it easier on them. The tower pulls them up and forward, unlike the pylon which just pulls them forward through the water. Put the rope at its shortest length to capitalize on that feature of the tower.

[Scott456]

I would pull him from the pylon until he gets the hang of getting up on it then switch to the tower. It's not going to make that much of a difference and will help reduce the chance of stress cracks. I experienced stress cracks within the first 2 years! Of course, Moomba is great and took care of it under warranty!! Thanks Moomba!

[tarkus70]

I have used the tower for people who are bigger. No problems at all with it.

[Limishowman3]

Well I have pulled two riders, one weighing at or over 300lbs and the other 200+lbs. Both were skiers and were real good at it. I felt there was more stress on the motor then on the tower. Took a lot of rpm's to get them two fellas up. Also that black material in the picture above around on the fiberglass where the tower frame is bolted in. It looks like the stuff I saw on the discovery channel one time. They were testing to c if they painted that stuff on a cinder block building, and detonate a bomb next to c how strong it would hold up. The structure didnt even crumble. Like the cinder block was blown to pieces but the black stuff held the frame together. Also they said it was cheap, so it may be it. just my .03