Support for folded tower

[YoungRZ4]

I apologize in advance, as this will probably be a long winded post. Our dock is unique in that it has a flat roof with stairs up onto it, which is pretty cool to sit on and jump off of. But it has a low ceiling over the boat slips as a result. Our RZ4 with the e-series tower up is for sure too tall to go onto a lift with the tower up. It seems to me that it would be bad to leave the tower folded with all the stress on the front hinges for long periods of time, so I'm trying to figure out a way to support the lowered tower. I built a stand that sets inside the boat and supports the tower from underneath but when I went to test it, it was obvious that there was no way to get our cover to work with the stand. I only have 2 weeks to get something that will work figured out, so if anybody has any ideas or experiences with this I would greatly appreciate help

[dj2]

I leave my tower folded all winter with the cover on without a support.

[retox1]

My garage ceiling is too low to keep my tower up so i hang it from the ceiling with a piece of wire to a hook. Keeps the weight off the hinges and i can still get my cover on.

[PaceWithGrace]

The tower folds back into the boat, right? And you would lower it after putting on the cover? Could you place something like a 2x4 across the gunwales, on top of the cover, for the tower to lie on?

If I misunderstand, could you post a photo of how the cover works with the tower down?

[YoungRZ4]

Thanks for the replies, the tower does fold back into the boat. Your hanging method retox is kind of along the lines I am thinking now, I could hang a piece of unistrut or a 2x4 a few inches below the ceiling and run some straps from that to hang the tower. That would probably be the most convenient way. I don't have a picture with the tower down but from these poorly taken pictures you can see the cover height compared to how the tower would swing down and you can see the stand that I had built. The issue with that stand is that the speaker cans hang a good 6 inches below the bar at that height, and the height I made that stand is about as high as you could push the cover up.

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[JLG]

I always left my e series tower folded over in garage and never had an issue even with the weight of the 4 rev8 speakers. I did put terry cloths or beach towels in between the bars just behind the hinged part to prevent the top leg from damaging the bottom. Just lower it slowly and you will see where I'm talking about, as it will rub the bottom bar badly if not protected.

There was a post sometime back about a guy using a pvc home built stand to hold his up an inch or so. It was a simpler design then what you posted and set right underneath the light area.

[YoungRZ4]

JLG, i see what you mean about the upper and lower bars hitting when lowered all the way. I had wondered if i could do something like what it you did, but i'm hesitant to just set the top bar on the bottom because our cove tends to be high traffic on the weekends and our dock does a lot of rocking around.. I had read the post about the home built pvc stand, it partially inspired mine, but as with mine it would not work with the cover. I think my best option is to hang the tower like retox1 does his.

[mwaite09]

young RZ, nice Raptor, I have the same one in blue. are you on the ford raptor forum also?

[Duncan]

Your hanging method retox is kind of along the lines I am thinking now, I could hang a piece of unistrut or a 2x4 a few inches below the ceiling and run some straps from that to hang the tower.

Connecting the folded tower to the boat house structure may induce more stress or torque on the tower hinges if the lift moves semi-independently from the boat house.

[Duncan]

I had read the post about the home built pvc stand, it partially inspired mine, but as with mine it would not work with the cover.

Consider cutting two holes (or however many needed) in the cover along with an oversized flap with velcro to seal it up when the stand is not in place.

[jmhatchett]

What if you put some of these ideas together... After the cover is on get the 2x4 or a 2x6 and run it across the gunwales and then to that you can attach a version of a PVC stand to hold the weight off of the tower supports and the boat and tower will be self supported not relying on the roof or ceiling of the boat house (you know in case the lift slowly dropped your tower wouldn't rip off of the boat or do any damage or anything.) I might even measure and put two PVC style stands one on each side of the tower speakers and have it rubber lined so no tower scratches would occur.

Then just get two big hooks and mount them on the wall of the boat house and when you are ready to go just hang the "tower Brace" up on the wall and get to boating!

[YoungRZ4]

mwaite, it is a sweet Raptor unfortunately i can't claim it, it's a friends truck that he was nice enough to let me borrow that day. The lift when raised I believe will lock with the dock preventing the boat from bouncing around separately. But I have seen lifts drop out on boats while the owners are not around like jmhatchett mentioned. I like your ideas for the gunwale support, I hadn't wrapped my mind around that approach until now. I may set up both a hanging support and a gunwale support. That way we can use the hanging one when we are at the lake but not out on the boat at the moment, and use the gunwale one when we are not at the lake.

[Maddoxse]

I recently purchased a 2008 22 Ve and talked to Tige dealer here about folding the e series tower. I have a lift that is going to require it once the Lake level comes back up.

He suggested notching a 2 x 4 and covering with a carpet remnant to make the brace for the tower when folded. He said adding a couple of inches from where it lays would avoid metal fatigue on joints.

He also said you should never tow your Tige with the tower down.