Leaderboard

Cause they responded fast and also answered questions quickly....had decking to match what I already have and according to other threads I have seen, are lower cost than the other 2 big names yet same quality. Guess we will see, I have not gotten the pricing back from them yet since the mylar templates I sent them are still enroute.

Is that what you got out of that? I know things are different in Texas but no judgement you just keep doing you LOL

Anyone ever heard of Wakecraft boats? Don't know if they are new or just new to me. One of the pictures shows Calabria boats in the background maybe a spin off from that company? https://sacramento.craigslist.org/boa/d/wakecraft-zr-series/6535238570.html

LOL. Shots fired! haha

The threaded 2" x 1/2" bolts are the only thing that holds the spacer & racks on - bolt simply passes through the rack & spacer (neither are threaded). You back that bolt out of the tapped hole in the tower - everything is completely disconnected from the tower. My plan is to put the bimini up without the racks on. The bimini has 4 1.5" holes cut & hemmed exactly where the tapped holes are & the spacers go - 1/2" extra clearance in the bimini holes for buffer. Once the bimini is up, I place the spacers up there one at a a time in each opening, put the rack on top of that & feed the bolt through both the rack/spacer and into the threaded hole in the tower to secure everything. I'll thread the bolts loose one at a time & then tighten down once they are all in. If I every need/want to take the top down - I just remove the bolts and the spacers/racks are disconnected. I just need to hold onto the spacer & rack when I pull the bolt out to make sure they don't slide down the side of the bimini and into the water I'll take pics of it all once I get my boat back from the dealer - pics will probably make it a little clearer.

The risers are just 1" diameter aluminum drilled out 1/2" in center, angle cut to match tower drop, and a 1" weather-resistant EPDM rubber sealing washer (-20 to 212 deg. rated) on either side. I have a 2" long stainless steel 1/2" diameter bolt that passes through the rack, washers & risers into a 1/2" tap on the tower. You can see the "button" head of the bolt in at least 1 of the pics - allen head indention. I also had to drill out the rack slightly to pass the 1/2" bolt, but the drill out will also prevent any sliding of the rack which I wanted. I checked the cross bar clearance like 4 time before I tapped the tower. Nothing like a little pucker factor drilling 4 1/2" holes in a perfectly good tower! I too ended up going wider than planned. The tow rope won't be an issue for surfing. I expect I might have an issue wake boarding with boards up there, but I mostly surf & made the compromise. If I went out another 4" I probably could have completely resolved the wake boarding issue, but the tower really starts dropping off fast on that part of the tower. I doubt you'll have an issue with the tow rope in your setup given the height of your mounts. Definitely like the functionality you put into yours. I was trying to make mine as low profile as possible, but I had to take the tow rope limitation as a potential trade off to do it.

I'm in the process of mounting 2 of Piper's rack up top on my Gladiator tower. I've got 4 speakers and lights all mounted on the tower now, so out of room under. Plus I'm 6'4" and I bump my head from time to time on my inside speakers ... would hate to catch my melon on a board. Boards will be up top with socks on. Here's a couple shots of the base install. I went with bigger bolts (1/2" diameter) since I'm offsetting the mount points on just the back side of the racks. Since those pics were taken, I've powder coated the racks and spacer mounts black to match the tower. I also just got the bimini back with 4 holes hemmed to allow the spacer mounts to pass through. My boat is at the dealer right now getting my tracking trued up after a rudder replacement. Once I get it back, I'll mount every thing and post some pics of the final install. Top quality racks ... can't wait to get them some use!