Wake Tower Safety Mod.

[Whickety]

Would rather not risk the collapse of my tower. New to me 2015 AR240.
1/2" x 2 1/4" 316 stainless shoulder bolt Ebay. 1/2 " I.D. nylon washers Amazon.
3/8" Stainless nylock nut, amazon
1. Measure 9 7/8" from the back of the tower where it meets the boat. Measure 1" up...the width of the masking tape.
2. Center punch and drill 1/2" hole through tower and structural support. (scary yes...start with a small bit and gradually work up to 1/2")
3. Chamfer the edges of all holes slightly with a 3/4" drill bit.
4. Insert shoulder bolt with a few nylon washers on either end, along with a 3/8" stainless washer and nut. Torque it to just snug...It's not going anywhere. The length of the shoulder portion of the bolt is 2 1/4" and it works perfectly as a pin extending about 1/8" out of the hole.
Disclaimer: This is "my" solution for a possible failure of the stock Yamaha hardware. There has been a known case of the stock bolt/nut combo stripping out and failing while underway, and collapsing the tower on its occupants. This fix may fail, like I said it's the way I get peace of mind. Yamaha should address the issue as some sort of recall IMHO.

 

[h2oskierfl95]

You can never be too safe. This is the first I am hearing about this issue.

 

[jthackman]

i think your ltd has the larger bimini? those have a lock pin already.
the smaller ar towers just have a rear screw knob holding all the tower weight..

 

[Neutron]

You can never be too safe. This is the first I am hearing about this issue.

There is no issue. A member here had stripped out/crossed threads which caused his tower failure in pretty rough conditions.
Most forward swept tower manufacturers use rear screw type locks.
If an owner isn't carefully when screwing in you can obviously damage the threads.
I have 100% confidence in the factory system as it was designed. Hell I hang from my tower knowing it won't come down.
There it periodic maintenance checks on the tower bolts. I check mine on occasion and they are always tight.
adding extra safety measures is totally up to each owner, not saying it's wrong. Let's not assume there is a major issue where there isn't one

 

[Whickety]

I'm a torque wrench kinda guy...meaning bolts and threads have known engineered tensile/sheer strength/stretch at certain torque specs. Can't put a torque wrench on a hand "knob" style bolt. For me, I don't worry about it now, as I said in the original post. I don't think this is a major issue, but I think a safety recall from Yamaha with an adapter for the hand knob for a 1/2 inch drive, or a different bolt setup altogether, either of which could allow the use of a torque wrench would have been in order. IMHO