Question? tower material

[?? fisherman]

Nice stainless work on that Skippy!

Key thing to remember here is to make sure you get a guy who has lots of expierience with stainless. Stainless is a whole different animal & an art in itself..... so if you go that route, hopefully your buddy is skilled enough to do it.

The unknown fisherman

[cvjarrod]

Stainless is a lot heavier. It's more stiff, and in a static world, you would be able to fabricate the tower at pretty close weights.

In the real world, you need to make the tubing thick enough to resist crushing and lateral forces present on a boat. The harder material is also more prone to cracking. That means you need to increase the wall thickness of your tubes to prevent this. If your stainless tower weighs the same as an aluminum tower, it's not going to last very long.

There's a reason that Viking, Cabo and Hatteras use only anodized aluminum in constructing ladders, towers, and hard top structures.

Can anyone else identify a high end builder that uses stainless exclusively?

After five years of doing nothing but spraying water on my anodized aluminum arch, I'm still waiting to see the "corrosion" everyone says is coming. So is my buddy who's had his tower for over 15 years.

If you are experiencing corrosion on an anodized aluminum structure after two years, you went with the low bidder and got what you paid for.

[Fishbones]

I saw Tom today at Pacific Yacht Towers and we were talking about costs of materials. He only uses U.S. made anodized aluminum,he knows alot of his competitors use the stuff from China. The stuff from China is $1.00 a foot cheaper than the U.S. made product,so you get what you pay for. A little soap and water to keep her clean,take an hour or two once a year and throw on a coat of wax for extra protection.

[lynndeva]

Originally Posted by cvjarrod

Stainless is a lot heavier. It's more stiff, and in a static world, you would be able to fabricate the tower at pretty close weights.

In the real world, you need to make the tubing thick enough to resist crushing and lateral forces present on a boat. The harder material is also more prone to cracking. That means you need to increase the wall thickness of your tubes to prevent this. If your stainless tower weighs the same as an aluminum tower, it's not going to last very long.

There's a reason that Viking, Cabo and Hatteras use only anodized aluminum in constructing ladders, towers, and hard top structures.

Can anyone else identify a high end builder that uses stainless exclusively?

After five years of doing nothing but spraying water on my anodized aluminum arch, I'm still waiting to see the "corrosion" everyone says is coming. So is my buddy who's had his tower for over 15 years.

If you are experiencing corrosion on an anodized aluminum structure after two years, you went with the low bidder and got what you paid for.

well I'm not going to say who did ours but they are mentioned and it wasn't the cheap stuff 3k+..and I baby my boat, I'm washing it down and cleaning during and after every use and every 2-3 days when I havn't used it...so dunno maybe it's because I keep my boat in a slip..still happy with it overall, but just one more thing to clean 24/7....

[Dirtguy]

Originally Posted by Fishnut

I used ss on my tower. It weighs very little more than the aluminum because of the fact of less wall thickness, and less dia. for as much or more strength.
I have fished it hard for the last 8 years with no cracks and very little maintenance.
Aluminum work hardens much faster then ss.

Nice work!

But tubing strength is a greater function of diameter than wall thickness. Stiffness and therefore "beam" are better handled with as much diameter as feasible. Unless you are going to brace it well with many diagonals.
Honestly, I haven't seen a really well braced and diagonally supported tower. Sometimes it is just not possible. Swoopy bends, arcs and supports only add cost. Lots of great towers on bigger boats in Cabo and PV. Where did they get their stuff?

DG

[Fishnut]

Obviously being just a dumba-- drywaller. I'm not a metalologist, but from practical use on my boat of my size with a weak pilot house as far as strenght, your boat should do fine with a ss tower.
If you see in the picture the pilothouse is 3 pieces of joined fiberglass bolted togeather (very weak).
I put a crossmember in the weight carrying footbed area. Me weighing 220plus and friends that weigh 250 to 300 lbs that ride up there for 4 to 5 hours at a time, I have had absolutely no problems in the 8 years that I have fished 2 to 300 hours a year. Needless to say it gets used alot.
When I went to have it built ...PYT and Rodgers didnt want to do it in SS said it was too much work and too much $$$... so far it's been great and NO maintenence.
Reference the ?? Fisherman's post above about the bow rails.Tell me how many high end boats have you seen with aluminum bow rails ???

[Dirtguy]

Originally Posted by Fishnut

Obviously being just a dumba-- drywaller. I'm not a metalologist, but from practical use on my boat of my size with a weak pilot house as far as strenght, your boat should do fine with a ss tower.
Reference the ?? Fisherman's post above about the bow rails.Tell me how many high end boats have you seen with aluminum bow rails ???

I'm going to do an AL bow rail soon. Why? I have an AL tower and I'm going to integrate the rail with the tower of the same material. I can get a larger dia for the same cost and that equates to a stronger rail. And I can TIG AL better than SS.

DG

[kerncat]

I'll toss in one little but often overlooked factor...it you go with aluminum (either powder coated or annodized) make sure you don't just bolt stuff to it with stainless bolts...it needs to have something to isolate the aluminum tubing from the fasteners...if you don't you will have electrolysis at the fastener location and it can weaken the structure and really cause a cosmetic issue...I had a t top on my 23 Mako some years ago with a great powder coated tower...problem was that everything (electronics box, fittings for the top, rod holders, antenna mounts, etc) had been bolted on with stainless fasteners and no isolation of the metals..it ate under the powder coating and it popped off in big chunks..taking part of the tubing with it..costs a bit more to do it right but well worth it in the long run...

[Fishbones]

Everyone has an idea on what is better, Hell do it yourself with PVC pipe and fittings.Saw some show where they stripped the padding on a roll bar on a truck that was made out of PVC. So if it is strong enough for a roll bar it must be good enough for a T-top

[One_Leg]

Titanium.

[skipopotamous]

Originally Posted by cvjarrod

Stainless is a lot heavier. It's more stiff, and in a static world, you would be able to fabricate the tower at pretty close weights.

In the real world, you need to make the tubing thick enough to resist crushing and lateral forces present on a boat. The harder material is also more prone to cracking. That means you need to increase the wall thickness of your tubes to prevent this. If your stainless tower weighs the same as an aluminum tower, it's not going to last very long.

There's a reason that Viking, Cabo and Hatteras use only anodized aluminum in constructing ladders, towers, and hard top structures.

Can anyone else identify a high end builder that uses stainless exclusively?

After five years of doing nothing but spraying water on my anodized aluminum arch, I'm still waiting to see the "corrosion" everyone says is coming. So is my buddy who's had his tower for over 15 years.

If you are experiencing corrosion on an anodized aluminum structure after two years, you went with the low bidder and got what you paid for.

Going to chime in on this one....

(you get what you pay for). I was warned by two of the TOP THREE tower builders that the corrosion would come. I asked about stainless. Two of the three said noway to building an arch out oF SS the third said he could do it but the ''PRICE WOULD ALMOST BE DOUBLED DUE TO LABOR COSTS''.

Curiosity got the best of me and i asked why.

Aluminum is soft and easy to bend and weld. There's no finishing work on the aluminum. No buffing or polishing required.

When fabricating with aluminum there's a lot of room for error on the fabricator end. You could fill a huge gap without blinking an eye. Try filling a 1/4'' gap with stainless.

The minute you break the coating on the aluminum the "corrosion has already started.

CVJARROD ask any tower fabricator how long they will stand behind their product with regards to "corrosion" and get back to me.

Call C-Fab, with regards to this issue IMO their the best tower fabricators for BIG BOY BOATS with deep pockets.

[Weazel]

Originally Posted by One_Leg

Titanium.

6AL4V would be killer. Grade 2 would be awesome since it's easily welded but the tower would cost more than the boat!