Electrically Powered Towers and Tower Height?

[rrmidden]

We have a 2015 212X, and we love the boat, I really can't think of anything I would change. However, last summer we bought a vacation home on a chain of lakes in northern Wisconsin that has two lower bridges. In order to get under these bridges we have to lower our tower. Which is a pain, I have the parts to replace the screw knobs with quick release pins, which will make things easier. However, leading up to the upcoming Boat Show in Milwaukee, I started looking a few boats...

It seems several similar boats are coming standard with a powered tower (Regal 2100 RX for Example) some boats have a powered tower option (Chaparral/Vortex), so although we have had no intention of replacing our boat, the convenience of a powered tower may change our mind. But there is one other major caveat, I'm 6'-6" tall, and I have room to walk under the 2015 back-swept tower of our Yamaha 212X. I know I don't even get the same clearance in the updated forward-swept Yamaha towers. (I have a taller friend with a Mastercraft that always complains about hitting his head on the tower, so I don't want to constantly be in fear of knocking my head.)

So, my questions are: Does anyone have one of the Chaparral/Vortex Boats with a powered tower, if so what is the height clearance with the tower? Does anyone have any other boats or know of other boats that I should be looking at with a powered tower and at least 6'-6" of headroom clearance? Does anyone know if Yamaha is considering adding a powered tower to future boats?

 

[Julian]

I think I might have been on those lakes! Went under one of the bridges and forgot that I had my anchor light (with flag attached) out.....it didn't snap, but bounced off each of the wooden girders and scared the crap out of us, then fell out and dropped into the water! We were able to retrieve it thankfully.

Your other option is to add a power lift to your existing tower. I've not heard of anyone doing this, but it can't be that hard....(famous last words!) I assume its just a winch motor.

 

[Jameson Clark]

I considered some boats with power folding towers when I was boat shopping. Pretty cool and fancy but we really fell in love with our 212x and with the forward swept style tower, they are so simple to put up and down, it didn't become a factor.

 

[rrmidden]

I think I might have been on those lakes! Went under one of the bridges and forgot that I had my anchor light (with flag attached) out.....it didn't snap, but bounced off each of the wooden girders and scared the crap out of us, then fell out and dropped into the water! We were able to retrieve it thankfully.

Your other option is to add a power lift to your existing tower. I've not heard of anyone doing this, but it can't be that hard....(famous last words!) I assume its just a winch motor.

This is on the Sugar Camp Chain near Eagle River. The 2015 212X has the older style tubular, back-swept tower with the side plates/brackets, so I don't think there is any way to add power to the existing tower, I'm guessing there is an aftermarket powered tower, but that also sounds like more trouble than it's worth.

 

[rrmidden]

I considered some boats with power folding towers when I was boat shopping. Pretty cool and fancy but we really fell in love with our 212x and with the forward swept style tower, they are so simple to put up and down, it didn't become a factor.

I think we're going to run into a similar problem, albeit with our existing boat. I'm guessing we aren't going to like any new boat as much as our existing boat, except for the convenience of the powered tower, but we're going to take a look and see what we find. But we may just settle for the inconvenience of having to put the tower up and down anytime we want to head out on the other lakes. At least, our place is on the largest lake on the chain, so we have almost 750 acres of water to play on without having to drop the tower.

 

[Betik]

When I read the tittle I started wondering what it would happen .... if AR240 had power towers and every time @swatski hit wave an electric discharge would occur while the tower was resting on his buck cocks for most of the 2017 crossing.
I know completely irrelevant to the thread, but I cannot help my finger from typing on this low voltage keyboard.

 

[Mainah]

I think I might have been on those lakes! Went under one of the bridges and forgot that I had my anchor light (with flag attached) out.....it didn't snap, but bounced off each of the wooden girders and scared the crap out of us, then fell out and dropped into the water! We were able to retrieve it thankfully.

Your other option is to add a power lift to your existing tower. I've not heard of anyone doing this, but it can't be that hard....(famous last words!) I assume its just a winch motor.

Could be linear stroke actuators. Should not be too hard to install on our ls/xe 242s in that case.

 

[zipper]

Could be linear stroke actuators. Should not be too hard to install on our ls/xe 242s in that case.

I can see the gears turning now.

 

[Hilario Perez]

If you decide to sell your tower I would like to know and be the 1st one to bid on it if you do decide to sell or keep me in mind thank you

 

[Mainah]

I can see the gears turning now.

The late model foward swept towers have a stop cable. Install and sync 12v linear stroke actuators on both sides and connect the actuator shaft to those cables. Wiring to power and three pole rocker switch is dead simple. The hardest part would be mounting the actuator. I don’t currently have a personal need to do this. As an added bonus it would be a safety mechanism to prevent something like what happened to @swatski as the stop cable would not have any slack.

 

[seanmclean]

I don't have much of a use case for it either, but would enable easy one-person lowering of a tower with speakers installed. I can one-man the tower by myself in factory configuration, but not with the speakers on.

 

[swatski]

Don't the new 242Xs have a strut for lowering the tower? Not powered but I believe it still helps a bunch.

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[Julian]

Don't the new 242Xs have a strut for lowering the tower? Not powered but I believe it still helps a bunch.

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2016s don't.

 

[swatski]

2016s don't.

Found it!
https://jetboaters.net/threads/folded-my-tower-yesterday-and-found-this.15100/

Yesterday I was trying to figure out where the wires come down for the wetsounds sounds bar so I had some help from @sstegh and @ar240owner and we decided to fold the tower. I was shocked to see these gas struts! Did the 2016 boats have these?

View attachment 62925

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[PJ73]

I was going to spend a couple long weekends up on the chain, but now I'm reconsidering. Is it a lot of bridges or just a couple? What's the bridge height minimum we need to look at with the 212x's? I have the newer swept forward tower, still heavy but is is different from yours coming down? What about adding a gas strut if space is available?

 

[rrmidden]

I was going to spend a couple long weekends up on the chain, but now I'm reconsidering. Is it a lot of bridges or just a couple? What's the bridge height minimum we need to look at with the 212x's? I have the newer swept forward tower, still heavy but is is different from yours coming down? What about adding a gas strut if space is available?

There's two bridges on that chain, one between Dam and Sand Lake and one to get to Chain Lake (the last lake in the chain), both going across Hwy D. The boat launch is on Sand Lake, so to get to Dam Lake where our house is, we have to put the tower down. We haven't gone to Chain Lake yet. Not sure what the exact clearance under the bridge between Dam and Sand, but I talked to a couple of other people and they say, some years they can get under without lowering their tower, other years (like last year) pretty much everyone with a tower or pontoon bimini needs to put them down.

The 2015 212X has the older style tower, so I'm no help with the new towers. For us it isn't really the weight, it's the 6 screw knobs, the biggest problem is the knobs don't just screw together the brackets themselves are also threaded, so it's a lot of unscrewing to get the tower lowered.

Before buying this place, we always boated on the Minocqua Chain and all of the bridges are tall enough that I haven't seen anyway ever need to take their tower/bimini down. Unless you want to go to Jerome Lake, which is this tiny little 20 acre lake, with basically just a bunch of piers from the subdivision above. But most people aren't even aware that lake exists, let alone could find it on the Chain. There's also the Eagle River Chain, haven't been on that since I was a kid, so couldn't tell you much about it. I've been going to that area for almost 40 years, so let me know if you need any other advice!

 

[MidnightRider]

There's two bridges on that chain, one between Dam and Sand Lake and one to get to Chain Lake (the last lake in the chain), both going across Hwy D. The boat launch is on Sand Lake, so to get to Dam Lake where our house is, we have to put the tower down. We haven't gone to Chain Lake yet. Not sure what the exact clearance under the bridge between Dam and Sand, but I talked to a couple of other people and they say, some years they can get under without lowering their tower, other years (like last year) pretty much everyone with a tower or pontoon bimini needs to put them down.

The 2015 212X has the older style tower, so I'm no help with the new towers. For us it isn't really the weight, it's the 6 screw knobs, the biggest problem is the knobs don't just screw together the brackets themselves are also threaded, so it's a lot of unscrewing to get the tower lowered.

Before buying this place, we always boated on the Minocqua Chain and all of the bridges are tall enough that I haven't seen anyway ever need to take their tower/bimini down. Unless you want to go to Jerome Lake, which is this tiny little 20 acre lake, with basically just a bunch of piers from the subdivision above. But most people aren't even aware that lake exists, let alone could find it on the Chain. There's also the Eagle River Chain, haven't been on that since I was a kid, so couldn't tell you much about it. I've been going to that area for almost 40 years, so let me know if you need any other advice!

I'm not familiar with that tower so was kind of wondering what the big deal is but SIX screw knobs!?... now I understand your angst over this, that would be a real PIA to deal with everytime. Forward swept tower on my 212x takes 2 people but its only 2 pins to pull.

 

[rrmidden]

I'm not familiar with that tower so was kind of wondering what the big deal is but SIX screw knobs!?... now I understand your angst over this, that would be a real PIA to deal with everytime. Forward swept tower on my 212x takes 2 people but its only 2 pins to pull.

Not my boat, but same model, you can see two knobs on the lower part of the middle bracket and one on the top, then the upper part of the tower hinges just forward of the mirror.

What kind of height do you have between the deck and the tower? I thought I heard that it's less than this older style tower, but maybe I just need to upgrade to a newer 212x...

 

[MidnightRider]

Not my boat, but same model, you can see two knobs on the lower part of the middle bracket and one on the top, then the upper part of the tower hinges just forward of the mirror.

What kind of height do you have between the deck and the tower? I thought I heard that it's less than this older style tower, but maybe I just need to upgrade to a newer 212x...

Yamaha specs have the 2017 212x "in water bridge height clearance" at 7'3".

 

[rrmidden]

Yamaha specs have the 2017 212x "in water bridge height clearance" at 7'3".

I'm more curious about the headroom height inside the boat, I have over 6'-6" in the 2015 212X, but I heard the newer towers have less headroom. It's one dimension that I've never seen for any boat, but it's pretty important for tall people like myself.