monster tower installed 1993 prostar 205

[ed heiser]

I bought this boat for my daughter and her kids (7) to use, at 75 my skiing days are done. She used to wakeboard as a teenager, and wants her kids to learn too, so a tower was a must.
The price of anything newish is way out of our budget, so I got a fixer upper and added a tower I found on CL for $500 that had an almost new bimini included.
I've added a few bimini tops, but this was my first tower installation. It's level, goes up and down with no extra holes in the boat, so this was a winner in my book. I did it myself while they were away, and it only took two days working carefully.
Perhaps not everyone's cup of tea, all towers look ungainly to me, but it will work for them.
I also did some basic maintenance, sewing and lots of cleaning and polishing, painted the trailer, new tires and rims, so for under $10K it's a nice boat, especially for kids to be on. They can be a bit messy you know.

[ed heiser]

[IMG][/IMG]

[Johnnyalki]

If you adopt me, you would get a lovely daughter-in-law and two wonderful granddaughters!

[d2jp]

I’m definitely not an expert on this subject, but I did install a tower myself on my ‘92 205. Mine included aluminum backing plates and fiber filled epoxy resin to bed-in those backing plates to provide ample support. My tower (a New Dimension) mounts on the sides of the gunnels which were pretty well reinforced to begin with. Just a word of caution looking at the tower mount on your boat, that area could be pretty thin and not designed for the stress of a tower. If you didn’t install backing plates I would consider adding those. Just my .02.
Beautiful boat and what a nice gift you’ve provided!

[bturner2]

You did well. Congratulations on your new boat. I'm sure your daughter and kids will have great memories with you on this fine purchase.

[ed heiser]

1993 prostar 205 tower installation

Thanks for your kind comments.
I'll have to pass on the adoption though, pretty big family already.
This did come with 3/16 inch thick aluminum backing plates, and the fiberglass is nice and thick there anyway.
I noticed the tower has a warning label to only tow one wakeboarder at a time, sounds like good advise to me.

[ed heiser]

This is a close up of the rear mount, it's very thick metal and quite strong. The plate under the fiberglass is the same size as the base.

[ed heiser]

I read about the side mounts catching on the trailer guide poles when launching or retrieving the boat, so on top seemed like a better idea.

[Strreamline]

Thats where my monster tower was installed on my 88 when I bought it. Very strong spot, i wouldn't be worried with the supplied backing plates.

[MIskiboat]

Generally, The rear mounts get pushed down by pull of wakeboard or tubes.
The front mounts are the ones that would be getting pulled “up”.
Hard side pulling would be a bit different.
Nice boat.

[etduc]

Generally, The rear mounts get pushed down by pull of wakeboard or tubes.
The front mounts are the ones that would be getting pulled “up”.
Hard side pulling would be a bit different.
Nice boat.

It's called, "rotational force." The plates, spread the load. Also, the drilled holes, should be chamfered. You can buy a special bit, or use a slightly larger bit, running slowly...backwards.

Just an FYI, for others.

Looks like, you have skills.

One of the, Great all time boats.

[ed heiser]

Chamfered holes

I used a new 1/2 inch drill bit turned gently and lightly by hand clockwise to chamfer the holes that I drilled out in stages from 1/8th inch to prevent cracks that can run, learned that the hard way long ago. I've used a phillips head screwdriver bit in the past, but the new drill bit makes a real clean cut.

[AZDave]

boat lost 2k in value with jungle gym

[jake]

boat lost 2k in value with jungle gym

Value of the boat is the fun and memories it will produce. So since they wakeboard, I’d say the value went up significantly.


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[sp00ky]

I would "glass" in the backing plates from the underside. Buy a fiberglass repair kit and glass in those plates and as far around it as you can. Fiberglass is easy if it doesn't have to be pretty.