Which Tower for 99 SS VLX?

[jasonba1]

thanks for the comments on the boat guys

[jwl019]

Picked up the Monster MTK tower/bimini this evening, and will install it next week hopefully. I will take some pics of the boat tomorrow and post some before shots and then get some with the tower once installed.

[alxmlr789]

Are you installing it yourself? Take a look under the gunwales on yor boat, it may be different because of the Vdrive, but underneath both of mine, there is a fiberglassed piece of PVC that our wires run through. Apparently this posed a huge problem for getting it installed, but the dealer got it done regardless. Ill take a few pictures for you of how they cut through the PVC when I get my boat back on Thursday. Dying to see the Bimini on there!

[jwl019]

Glad you brought that up, and I have noticed it but only on the port side (not both). What I was thinking about doing was setting the tower on the top to see where the base plates would go, and then removing that section of pvc/fiberglass and moving wires out if the way, I will most likely remove a larger portion than needed to make sure I have plenty of room to keep the wires out of the way of the drill. I am debating on installing

myself or whether to let someone else do it. I am confident that after I get over the fear of drilling a hole in my perfectly good boat (even though on top), that I can do it.

Next question, did your step pads interfere at all and if so how was that remedied? I am thinking about ordering some seadek step pads if I need to cover up the original holes.

Pics of the problem area would be great!

Thanks

[alxmlr789]

Glad you brought that up, and I have noticed it but only on the port side (not both). What I was thinking about doing was setting the tower on the top to see where the base plates would go, and then removing that section of pvc/fiberglass and moving wires out if the way, I will most likely remove a larger portion than needed to make sure I have plenty of room to keep the wires out of the way of the drill. I am debating on installing

myself or whether to let someone else do it. I am confident that after I get over the fear of drilling a hole in my perfectly good boat (even though on top), that I can do it.

Next question, did your step pads interfere at all and if so how was that remedied? I am thinking about ordering some seadek step pads if I need to cover up the original holes.

Pics of the problem area would be great!

Thanks

As soon as i get my SS back from the fiberglass shop (damn HDS leak!!) I will snap a few pics of the area, mine had the PVC on both sides.

Next. No, the tower mounts perfectly around the step pads (even with the chrome trim around the pad). You will have about an inch on both sides (between the trim and the tower feet). Looks great when the step pads are in between the tower legs.

Here are some pics of how the tower is mounted around the step pads

[alxmlr789]

Here's also a few pics of how far the tower folds down. It sits PERFECTLY on top of the dash, I can still fully drive the boat with no interference with the way this tower collapses.

Keep in mind, you HAVE to install the tower with the legs on either side of the step pad (or completely behind the step pad) for the tower to fold inside the windshield like this, if you mount it in front of the step pads, it will lay on top of the windshield and not collapse very far down.

[jwl019]

Ready to see pics of yours with the bimini on now, just curious where mounting there will put the front edge of the bimini. I want to make sure mine will cover up to at least the top edge of the windshield trim if not the whole dash area.

[alxmlr789]

Ready to see pics of yours with the bimini on now, just curious where mounting there will put the front edge of the bimini. I want to make sure mine will cover up to at least the top edge of the windshield trim if not the whole dash area.

Probably won't have a bimini on til the end of the summer. We've got a lot of other things to buy first. lol.

[jwl019]

Probably won't have a bimini on til the end of the summer. We've got a lot of other things to buy first. lol.

I played around with the tower with bimini on it last night, I set the tower in a ladder and blocked the legs up to where it was almost level to get a dimension to where the front edge of the bimini will cover and came up with 4' (at least really close to it considering the method used) from the front edge of the front mounting bracket, maybe that will give you a visual of what your bimini will cover before you install one to see if it will get you close to where you would want it.

[alxmlr789]

I played around with the tower with bimini on it last night, I set the tower in a ladder and blocked the legs up to where it was almost level to get a dimension to where the front edge of the bimini will cover and came up with 4' (at least really close to it considering the method used) from the front edge of the front mounting bracket, maybe that will give you a visual of what your bimini will cover before you install one to see if it will get you close to where you would want it.

Awesome! Thanks. I just got my boat back yesterday, PM me your cell number and I'll snap some pictures of that PVC.