Need Advice on Wakeboard Tower

[westtx]

Just received the factory tower, and I'm having trouble getting one of the bolts to line up. Its the driver-side bolt that you pull to fold the tower forward. The port side lines up fine. It looks like they may have welded the attachment point in the wrong place. The entire pipe may have been bent, but it seems unlikely. Any ideas? The side I'm having trouble with is attached first. The next post will have the "good" side. Thanks

[westtx]

Here is a pic from the side that lines up right

[Bitzco]

That looks factory messed up to me. I would try one thing though. The tower on my first Epic had a little trouble like that. If I bolted the "messed up side" on first and the good side last, I could get it to work with a little push on the messed up side of the tower. Yours looks more twisted than mine was though. Good luck.

[westtx]

Thanks for the advice -- can't get both bolts in no matter which one goes in first. I'll email the pics to Nichtern and see is they can ship me out a new pipe.

[toyotafreak]

That looks very much like GP faced with his. Read the entire wonderfully interesting story here: http://www.epicmarine.com/forum4/index.php?topic=77.0

The pictures are in the picture archive, and I'd be happy to dig them up if you'd like.

I believe he rented a drill or mill of some sort and just worked the holes straight.

BTW, the tower on my boat (described the the first post) is NOT like yours. But close. I still maintain the best way to go is to mount the bases first, square to eachother and then bring on the top after everything sets up.

GP went with splooge between the backing plates and gunnel, but opted for the rubber pads between base and gelcoat (where I chose splooge).

Any chance you could get a local shop to realign that one mating?

[westtx]

Thanks for the detail from the previous post. I'm going to turn this one over to a local dealer who put a nice tower on my other boat. Fortunately with the oil business here, there are lots of people who can weld and bend a pipe. My dealer is actually recommending that the hole on both pieces be filled and re-drilled. I'm going to print the post and take it to him -- you guys amaze me with the amount of work you do yourselves on these things...I barely have time to fill up the boat, pile the kids in the Tundra and get to the lake and back. Thanks again for the great advice. I'll post a picture when (if) we get it on and looking good

[westtx]

I talked with Bill at Toyota today. He said to take it to a local shop that could make the tower right and they would pick it up under warranty. Off to the pipe benders this weekend! Also, he said I got the last factory Epic 22 tower. If you have a V-Drive and need a tower, you should probably call quickly -- sounds like there aren't many left, but they're sure the best looking tower out there. As usual, Toyota stands behind whatever they sell.