07 SV211 Tower Crack: Weld or Replace?

[jhoffy22]

Hey everyone,

I have a pretty severe blowout/stress fracture on the tower of my 2007 SV211 Team Edition. (Pics attached below).

Has anyone experienced anything like this on their tower? If so, were you able to have a fabricator sleeve and weld it to fix it, or did you end up having to replace the tower altogether? Appreciate any advice!

[Rednucleus]

Wow - that's quite a failure! What was the cause?

[Scooter G]

I am assuming that tube is bent also?
Does the tube disconnect from the horizontal piece? Not familiar with that tower.
They will probably want to straighten and sleeve it (put another piece of tubing over it). A good shop with someone that knows their way around a TIG can handle this.
Most of the work will probably need to be done with the tower on for alignment issues (from experience). Tower may need to be pulled for the final tacking.
I would look for someone in a one or 2 man shop that has some seasons behind them.
Doable, and way less $ than a new tower. If they do both sides, it will look almost factory vs "what happened to your tower".
Good luck.

[jhoffy22]

Wow - that's quite a failure! What was the cause?

My guess is that water got into the tower over the winter and then froze and expanded, causing it to crack. I'm not really sure what else could have caused it. We don't pull tubers or anything from the tower.

[NautiqueJeff]

That's definitely freeze damage.

If you have it repaired, drill small holes at the base of the tower so that water can drain. There was actually a recall on some boats for this exact thing.

If you are interested in having a Roswell Aviator tower installed, we can do that for you at Silver Cove Marine. We did one on another 211 that was damaged, and it turned out very nice.

https://www.silvercovemarine.com/pos...autique-sv-211

[jhoffy22]

I am assuming that tube is bent also?
Does the tube disconnect from the horizontal piece? Not familiar with that tower.
They will probably want to straighten and sleeve it (put another piece of tubing over it). A good shop with someone that knows their way around a TIG can handle this.
Most of the work will probably need to be done with the tower on for alignment issues (from experience). Tower may need to be pulled for the final tacking.
I would look for someone in a one or 2 man shop that has some seasons behind them.
Doable, and way less $ than a new tower. If they do both sides, it will look almost factory vs "what happened to your tower".
Good luck.

Yes, it disconnects. It's threaded in at the bottom.

[jhoffy22]

That's definitely freeze damage.

If you have it repaired, drill small holes at the base of the tower so that water can drain. There was actually a recall on some boats for this exact thing.

If you are interested in having a Roswell Aviator tower installed, we can do that for you at Silver Cove Marine. We did one on another 211 that was damaged, and it turned out very nice.

https://www.silvercovemarine.com/pos...autique-sv-211

I emailed about an upholstery quote. Might be interested in the Roswell retrofit too - that looks nice.

[Scooter G]

Agreed, that Roswell tower is Beast.
Maybe if you plan on keeping the boat for many more moons.

[Rednucleus]

The power of freezing water never ceases to amaze me!

[MN Ryan]

That terrifies me! NautiqueJeff could you be a little more precise about where holes should be drilled!
If it were mine, I'd have it welded.

[srock]

I concur because I had the same freeze damage and then saw a post calling out the manufacturer's notice on where to drill a hole at the base. I had it welded, and it looks perfect. Do a little search or check on Roswell's site.

[NautiqueJeff]

This is the recall I was thinking of. Doesn't look like it applied to that tower, but the procedure to put in the holes is likely similar.

https://www.planetnautique.com/vb5/f...or-fct3-towers

[Jonny Quest]

I’m no expert in aluminum welding, but d@mn, those are some nasty looking welds.