Well I just read all 328 posts on this... Im going to apologize now if I jump around between thoughts as there are a ton of views here Im trying to organize..
I wholeheartedly agree Yamaha should be responsible for fixing the design flaw.. If the X design incorporates a release pin, why didnt they stick with that for all vessels? Cost savings? Cutting corners?? Hmmmmmm...... not at the cost of boater safety...
The warning sticker pic earlier caught my attention... I come from a world of warnings, cautions and notes which all reflect different levels of incurred damage or at the very least a potential hazard existing... "you should prolly tighten these at some point" tells me there have been issues along the same lines in the past and the designer may well have been aware of a potential failure if the bolts do come loose... The warning basically covers Yamaha should these bolts come loose.. "we told you to check it!!"
@swatski I am in no way, shape, or form saying you didnt tighten the bolts... I am 100% convinced you did tighten the bolts and had no reason to doubt they werent tight. From the pix to bimini, they look to be seated properly and im sure everyone here would have proceeded on just as you did...
Some other valid points Ive thought of while reading...
1. Was the yammy rep that came out a certified technician? Was he qualified to be looking at potential metal failure? Was he an "expert" at crossthreading?
2. Is there a running torque value to the threaded inserts? Running torque is a slight tapering of the insert at the end to provide a ceratain amount of "locking" of the threads.. A bolt ran thru should stop at a certain point and become more difficult to turn until the bolt is properly seated. From the videos early on of the 7 turns to tight, dont show any running torque as they can be ran all the way up and down with very minimal, if any, pressure applied to the handle. This leads me to believe there is ZERO countermeasure to vibration with this design. With no lock feature, metal on metal will never hold up over time... YAMAHA DESIGN FLAW
3. How deep the insert was seated compared to others pictures... Yours are clearly deeper than others...BUT... they still shouldve allowed more than 2 turns from loose to tight... which leads me into the crossthread notion...
4. Cross thread tendency- From the other posts ive read, this design has a tendency to crossthread which will allow it to seem tight but not be. Not a fault of the user...ANY USER.. From what Ive gathered, these towers dont sit right on the boat especially if you have to push or pull any part of it to get the bolt to line up.... TOWER MANUFACTURE DEFECT. The only thing that I can see is if, in the past, you did notice you had quite a few turns to tight and all of a sudden you only had 2... But unless you are looking for that specifically, most people may not notice it... Tight is tight unless you come from a world of turning wrenches.. A simple Nylok threading inside the insert would suffice for a while but would eventually degrade over time for those who constantly lower the tower to stuff in a garage. Even a simple note in the manual saying "put a small dab of silicone sealant on the threads prior to tightening bolts" would work....
5. The spring on the handle itself... When I first looked, I thought , "hey is spring loaded.. thatll add a little tension to the handle to help it from backing out.." but alas it realistically serves no safety purpose other than losing it overboard... YAMAHA DESIGN FLAW.. garbage
6. Safety Cable.... uhhhh... what safety?? helps hold the tower upon gentle stowing of the tower.. WTF? Lemme break it down... Yamaha puts a clear warning on the bolts to keep them tight, but doesnt install a 2 safety measure incase thier bolt does come loose due to an unsafetied metal on metal fastening system? Interesting... Take that to the bank... YAMAHA SAFETY DESIGN FLAW. I agree with the gas powered shock or some kind or retractable inertia reel cable would be better that a loose hanging cable.
On to your fix...That will last a while but heres what I came up with. By removing threads, youve effectively decreased the surface contact area of the bolt thus the holding power. If the insert gives way, it wont matter how many threads you have.. The whole thing will come out. I know you needed to just to clean up the cross thread but still takes away from the holding power. By removing the rubber grommet and drastically changing the location of the bolt shoulder, you may or may not run the risk of "shanking" out the bolt. If this isnt intended for those who must put the tower up and down all the time, adding some sort of thread locker would aid in it not backing out under vibration....
Sorry is this is somewhat direct.. Im not pointing fingers at anyone other that the Yamaha design team.. They obviously have a problem on thier hands but it looks like they are sitting on them...
