GELCOAT CRACKS AROUND TOWER

HAS ANYONE HAD ANY PROBLEMS WITH GELCOAT CRACKS AROUNT THE MOUNTING PADS OF THE TOWER? WHERE IT MOUNTS TO THE BOAT. I FOUND CRACKS AROUND THE PADS OF THE TOWER ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BOAT. I DON'T HAVE ANY ADDED BALLAST. NO TOWER SPEAKERS SO EXTRA WEIGHT CANT BE A FACTOR AND IV NEVER TOWED ANYTHING BUT WAKEBOARDERS WITH THE TOWER. I THINK THE HEAVIEST PERSON IV EVER PULLED BEHIND MY BOAT WITH THE TOWER IS ABOUT 170 LBS SO IM REALLY CONCERNED WHY THIS HAPPENED. DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY INSIGHT. EVERY SINCE IT WAS NEW IV HAD ALOT OF PROBLEMS WITH GELCOAT CRACKS ON THIS BOAT. IM STARTING TO WORRY.

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I have some short ones, maybe 1-2 inches, that have been there since I got the boat with 33 hours on it. The tower was installed by dealer, not factory. Previous ownser indicated, and was confirmed by dealer, that these are just surfact cracks resulting from less-than-careful drilling of mounting holes. My body guy and my maintenance guy both were not too worried about it. They have not really grown.

Out of curiosity - do you trailer your boat a lot? I trailer mine all the time and I bet the tower really shakes around when on the road.

My bigger concern is the hull flex, but not much you can do on that either.

Dave

I VARY RARLY EVER TRAILER IT. I LIVE ON A LAKE SO ITS JUST FROM THE BOAT RAMP TO THE GARAGE MOST OF THE TIME. UNLESS I TAKE IT TO THE DEALER.

Inliner,
Any time something is bolted to a gel coated surface of a boat, it has the potential to cause gel coat cracking. Towers magnify this fact since they go through a repeated loading, unloading and shock cycle during an average run. This can cause the gel coat to crack. At Moomba, we continue to test different tower designs and mounting techniques to help minimize the potential, however the possibility still exists. Keep in mind that just cause the gel coat cracks, the laminate, which is the structure behind the gel coat, is not damaged.

Be glad it's just cosmetic. Here is a story about mounting hardware that is more than cosmetic. Years (decades) ago I was skiing with a guy who had just had a tripod pylon installed in his outboard runabout. Floor mounted pylon with support arms back to the flat surfaces on the outside edges of the boat. They were just bolted through the fiberglass with washers on the back. After a couple of turns he ripped out one of the mounting brackets (duhhh).

So he had the installer add a plywood backer about the size of the mounting pad, probably 3 inches in diameter. I was the first to ski behind the new and improved mounting. After about 5 turns I ripped the entire assmebly out of the boat. This included the mounting plate on the floor of the boat and all 12 screws securing it, as well as both support arms. This left about 5 inch diameter holes in the top of both sides of his boat.

We were in about 25 feet of water and the handle did not float. But the next day we went back with a hook anchor an dragged the bottom of the lake and found the stupid thing. He had it remounted again with significant reinforcement and it ultimately lasted for decades....

So I guess the moral of the story - be glad it is just gelcoat.

Dave

I have a crack in the gelcoat, where the windshield support mounts to the drivers console. I am having the dealer fix this under warranty. I just hope that I can't tell is was fixed. I don't feel that a brand new boat should do this, and hearing that it is just a cosmetic thing is unacceptable to me.

I couldn't agree more.

Does this correlate, or would anyone admit to, running with more than one wakeboarder, tuber or kneeboarder hooked to the tower?

I just read the 2005 LSV manual and they are real big on blower, then ignition - and only one rope off the tower. My son is 9 and we ran three kneeboards off my friends 198x Supra (which he loves and led to my Moomba) ski post. Are these towers really that muck more fragile? I would probably not run more than two, just to avoid someone catching a board in the head, but the kids really like kneeboarding together rather than taking turns. I know they are going to want hooked to the tower.

I just don’t think these kids are going to pull anything like a professional boarder does, and when they start getting that aggressive they are going to want the wake to themselves.

Any informed opinions? My dealer frequents my lake so he will know if I’ve been naughty.

Tx

SD2

I have one small crack right near the tower on my 03 LSV that's not too noticable. This really isn't an isolated event to Moomba's, my neighbor has an 03 Malibu that has a lot more cracks near his tower than my Mobius and I've ridden on a few Mastercrafts with cracks near the tower too, I'm not trying to say this is acceptable but it's not issolated to Moomba either.