How to Inspect Wakeboard Tower, T-Top and Bimini Hardware

You cannot see cracks through salt and grime. Wash the frame with mild soap and water, rinse, and dry it. Monster Tower recommends rinsing after every outing, especially in salt water, because salt can pit aluminum and start corrosion. Avoid chlorine or phosphorus cleaners, scouring pads and powders on the frame; Monster Tower says they can etch it.

With a flashlight and magnifier, go over each weld, bend and joint. Sport Fishing Magazine's checklist singles out cracks around T-top welds and says to repair them before they grow or the frame breaks. Look for:

• Hairline lines in the metal or the coating, especially at welds and where legs meet bases
• Paint or powder coat that bubbles, flakes or shows white powder underneath (corrosion)
• Dents, kinks or bends in the tubing, often from a garage door, a bridge or a dropped tower
• Cracks around holes that were drilled for wiring or accessories

Look closely at each foot or base plate and the fiberglass around it:

• Star-shaped or spider cracks in the gelcoat radiating from a base mean the deck is flexing there.
• Gaps or failed sealant under a base let water into the deck core.
• Push the frame firmly fore and aft and side to side by hand (do not hang on it). The bases should not shift, creak or rock.

Monster Tower notes the more accessories you load on a tower, the more stress reaches the boat, and that most gelcoat damage comes from abuse. Small gelcoat cracks can be repaired (see the gelcoat guide), but find and fix the cause first.

Most towers and T-tops are through-bolted with backing plates under the deck or console to spread the load. Monster Tower supplies backing plates with its towers and recommends reinforcing thin decks, and Salt Water Sportsman says installers through-bolt with backing plates wherever they can reach. Open hatches, side panels or the console door to reach underneath and check:

• Every plate is present, flat and not cracked or bent
• Nuts are tight with washers, and threads show past the nut
• No rust streaks, water stains or wet, soft or crumbling core around the bolts (a sign water is getting in)
• Wood or plywood reinforcement is not dark, soft or rotten

Where no one could reach underneath, installers sometimes use screws bedded in adhesive sealant. Check these from above: a screw that spins without tightening, or a loose base, needs a pro.

Check the top-section and base hardware for tightness, as Monster Tower recommends, including quick-release knobs. Tighten with hand tools, to the torque in your manual if it gives one. Do not crank bolts down until the base dents the deck: crushing the fiberglass or core weakens it. After checking, draw a thin paint-pen line across each nut and its base; if a line breaks later, that nut has moved.

Stainless bolts in aluminum frames can seize and corrode where they touch, especially in salt water. Salt Water Sportsman's tower builder says anti-seize is required whenever stainless is threaded into aluminum and recommends treating fasteners regularly, or the connections lock up and have to be replaced. Look for white powder or swelling around bolts. When you remove and reinstall a bolt, clean the threads and apply a thin film of anti-seize or the compound your maker specifies. Replace rusted, bent or stretched bolts with the same size and grade.

For folding or powered towers, lower and raise the tower with a helper, following the manual. Check:

• Hinge pivots and pivot bolts for wear, slop or cracks around the holes
• Locking pins, cams and knobs: they must fully engage and stay locked
• Gas struts, springs or actuators: the tower should not drop fast or feel much heavier than before
• Rod-end (Heim) joints at the bases: Monster Tower suggests spraying them with a light corrosion inhibitor after saltwater use

Before towing anyone, confirm the tower is fully up and locked.

Inspect the tow point or swivel for wear, sharp edges or grooves that can cut a rope, a swivel that binds, and loose knobs or pins. Check that the rope attaches only where the tower maker says to. See the tow rope and watersports gear guide for the rope itself.

Board racks, speakers, lights, electronics, rod holders and even a bimini add weight and leverage, and everything high up gets whipped around in waves. Use only racks and mounts made for your tower's tube size and shape, and stay within the weight and quantity limits the tower or accessory maker publishes. Do not drill new holes in tower tubing except where the maker allows it (Monster Tower, for example, specifies where wiring holes may go relative to the welds). Check every clamp, rack and speaker bracket for tightness, cracks and corrosion, and make sure wiring is secured and not chafing at the tube entries.

On a T-top or hardtop, check the antenna and radar mounts, light fixtures, outrigger bases and rod holders. Sport Fishing Magazine and Salt Water Sportsman both stress solid backing under heavy accessory bases. Look for loose screws, cracked mounting pads and water stains on the underside of a hardtop.

Inspect deck hinges, jaw slides, eye straps and their screws for cracks or loose fasteners; check straps and buckles for UV damage. Monster Tower rates its own over-the-top biminis for use up to about 45 mph and says to fold and stow them above that, in strong wind, and always for trailering; check your bimini maker's rating. See the canvas and vinyl care guide for the fabric.

Before trailering, fold and strap the bimini (Monster Tower calls open biminis on the highway one of the most common causes of damage), remove loose boards and gear, and fold a folding tower if your manual calls for it. Know your total height for garages, storage buildings and bridges.

Log the date, any loose hardware you tightened, and photos of any cracks in BoatMend. Comparing photos over time shows whether a hairline crack is growing.