***WARNING*** 2015-18 YAMAHA “AR” BOAT OWNERS WITH FORWARD SWEPT WAKEBOARD TOWERS

[Dan Ruehl]

Can you post pictures of what failed?

 

[blacksapphirez]

Insurance and make sure they put the 242 S tower base on it!

I would have been beyond pissed. a freaking tower, a metal structure, FELL on someone... and this is how they react... unreal.

 

[Bill D]

Sorry to hear this @swatski. In my opinion, this is complete BS from Yamaha. In the marina at the sands, we found multiple occurrences of similar failures beginning to happen.

At the very least, they should be restoring your boat under warranty so you can unload it. More appropriately they should be issuing a statement to prevent it from happening to someone else until they issue a recall.

 

[4wheeldeal]

I can see this happening.

I actually had mine back at the dealer because I could not get the one side screwed back in properly. When I first lowered the tower the bolt was extremely hard to get out, obviously somewhat cross-threaded. My tower was about an inch and a quarter wider then the mount, I had to force the tower down to ensure that it was seated before installing the bolt. Took two of us minimum.

As for the analysis of different parts yes having done those reports in Automotive a DFMEA or possibly in this case assembly error a PFMEA would should this issue and show the possible severity and occurance of it. I highly doubt anybody outside of automotive or anything road non road going does these. We sure didn't in marine manufacturing when I designed crew boats and fireboats.

Should this have been part of the PDI? I would think so and unless they checked it during the PDI then the dealer is still responsible for it. I did not see raising and lower the tower in my pre-delivery inspection sheet and we did not raise or lower the tower when my boat was delivered.

 

[DBamaC]

Every company of any size occasionally produces products that have defects either of design or of manufacture. What's important is how the companies handle those situations. Unfortunately, Yamaha is doing what most companies seem to do these days...ignore the issue until it becomes so well documented that it has to be addressed. BMW Motorcycles is doing the same thing right now with their current generation boxer engine after the documented cases of failures became too obvious to ignore. I'm afraid what needs to be done is for the owners of models with this tower design to become organized and as a group.

 

[kyle]

So is this still an issue if you are checking them every trip and they are tight? I may be misunderstanding, but the issue was because of rough seas and vibration the knobs began loosening themselves adn eventually pulled out because they were stripped correct? I've been checking mine every trip but want to make sure that is sufficient. If they are tight I'm good?​

 

[ScarabMike]

Agreed. Just like Scarab blaming BRP for their carbon seal issues.

Every company of any size occasionally produces products that have defects either of design or of manufacture. What's important is how the companies handle those situations. Unfortunately, Yamaha is doing what most companies seem to do these days...ignore the issue until it becomes so well documented that it has to be addressed. BMW Motorcycles is doing the same thing right now with their current generation boxer engine after the documented cases of failures became too obvious to ignore. I'm afraid what needs to be done is for the owners of models with this tower design to become organized and as a group.

 

[swatski]

Can you post pictures of what failed?

Sure. Basically, the bolts pull out of the aluminum base; see broken internal/female thread debris littering the stern:







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[jcyamaharider]

It is beyond me why they didn't do a cross pin like the 242X / 212X tower. This is a poor design. Look at the leverage point and how much forward weight there is for just 2 threaded connections. Sorry to read this @swatski

 

[Eric Ballard]

Lawyers clearly got involved in creating the response you got from Yamaha. I really like the new tower and it is a major reason I tell people when I talk about upgrading. Time will tell when the 2019's come out, if the tower system is redesigned then you will know...

 

[adrianp89]

So I am looking at buying an AR. This won't deter me in anyways but I'd at least like to work on prevention. Would using lock tight work? Can you bolt it in from the other side using a nut? Or maybe just buy a SX and have the dealer throw in a tower.

On a side note - mentioning legal action usually gets someone engaged. Years ago my best friend was driving down a major road at night and hit a Wal-Mart shopping cart. The Wal-Mart was probably about 2 miles down the road. He wrote a letter to them asking for damages to be paid or legal action will be taken. Took a few months but Wal-Mart paid out. I guess 5k was probably cheaper than what they would have paid a lawyer to fight it.

 

[blacksapphirez]

For this issue, there is no doubt that there is a major design flaw in the AR tower design.
but whats also missing is, a quality at the process. people just don't give a damn. I see it all day long at my work.

 

[swatski]

So is this still an issue if you are checking them every trip and they are tight? I may be misunderstanding, but the issue was because of rough seas and vibration the knobs began loosening themselves adn eventually pulled out because they were stripped correct? I've been checking mine every trip but want to make sure that is sufficient. If they are tight I'm good?​

The knobs were checked and tightened within an hour of the collapse. We were passing in very rough waters.
No damage to fiberglass around the mounts - all internal locking mechanism failure - that's what worries me, and hence the warning.

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[BoaterGuy]

Is there a count of how many actual boats this has affected so far?

Also, on a side note, couldn't this fall on the dealer as the towers come collapsed from the factory and the dealer is the one who probably cross threaded the knob during their assembly?

 

[BigN8]

Wow, this is really screwed up (no pun intended). I have 3 words........oil cooler bolts. For those of us that fought and wasted our time with these pieces of shit, I was never so pissed at Yamaha than that. I never touched that bolt, yet it failed miserably and I had to freakin deal with it. If it had not been for this forum I could have had catastrophic failure at some point.

 

[Neutron]

This is extremely disappointed with Yamaha. I expected at the least a longer investigation

 

[McMark]

Yamaha will just add another warning sticker. "WARNING: Not for offshore excursions"

 

[KXCam22]

Sorry to hear about this. Hope you are ok. Biggest problem is the complete loss of confidence in your boat. This sounds like the dodge caravan rear latch thing. Cam.

 

[haknslash]

I can see this happening.

I actually had mine back at the dealer because I could not get the one side screwed back in properly. When I first lowered the tower the bolt was extremely hard to get out, obviously somewhat cross-threaded. My tower was about an inch and a quarter wider then the mount, I had to force the tower down to ensure that it was seated before installing the bolt. Took two of us minimum.

Mine is the exact same way. It's slightly wider than the base so on my boat the starboard side I always have to pull the tower towards me (sitting inside the boat) before the bolt can line up to be screwed in.

Pretty disappointed in how #Yamaha is handling this. I've never been overly impressed with the design of this tower in terms of the base and locking. Now I'm going to feel nervous at the sight of a wake boat on the lake. Between the Quality Control issues that seem to get worse each new year and now a serious safety possibly life threatening issue and they want to pass fit off as user error. Um how about go back to XTP and have them design a better/safer tower? If there is a possible life threatening issue then a recall is in order IMHO. This is some BS by Yamaha. Time to step up or we will certainly be rethinking our next boat purchase not being another Yamaha.

It is beyond me why they didn't do a cross pin like the 242X / 212X tower. This is a poor design. Look at the leverage point and how much forward weight there is for just 2 threaded connections. Sorry to read this @swatski

This x's a million. The tower is stout. It's the lame ass design of the threaded bolts at the rear of the base that is the issue. Had these AR style tower come with a better (thicker/beefier) base and side locking pin like the majority of nice towers out there on OEM boat this wouldn't be an issue.

 

[swatski]

This is extremely disappointed with Yamaha. I expected at the least a longer investigation

I agree.

The circumstances of this accident are notable for rough crossing conditions. However, the type of catastrophic failure I experienced should never have occurred under ANY circumstances. Not to mention, in a new boat.

Notably, no damage to fiberglass hull (around the tower mounts) clearly indicates a failure of the internal lock bolt mechanism of the tower, findings corroborated by Yamaha technical rep - per verbal communication with Yamaha customer service.

Is it possible the “AR” towers have a particular design flaw that makes them vulnerable to catastrophic failure?

Things can happen when passing in rough waters and I certainly am prepared to take responsibility, within reason. But NOT like that. Should an airplane loose a wing when it hits turbulence?

For my part, in the aftermath of the accident, I made significant effort to collect and deliver ALL PARTS of the tower and the mounting mechanism to Yamaha for their diagnostic investigation. I also provided photographs of the damage taken on site showing presence of extensive debris: broken aluminum threads apparently stripped from the (internal/female) part of the locking mechanism. I am certainly not trying to hide anything.

I find Yamaha judgement that AR tower failure was due to operator’s error to be irresponsible, and worrisome.

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