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Illusion X tower boom


King Slalomn'

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Hey all, Brand new member here. I but my 2004 23XTI last summer after it sat at a dealer for a couple years. It has an illusion X tower on it and I am interested in added a boom to teach all the kids and their friends to ski. I was hoping I could get a boom to mount off the tower versus taking up all the interior space/preventing me from accessing storage that sold me on this boat in the first place. Have any of you hear of such a thing? I talked with the guys at barefoot international this am, and they said they are working on it, but not promising anything for this year or next.

The wife is definetly not interested in a boom that cuts off the walkway -

Help!

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Hey all, Brand new member here. I but my 2004 23XTI last summer after it sat at a dealer for a couple years. It has an illusion X tower on it and I am interested in added a boom to teach all the kids and their friends to ski. I was hoping I could get a boom to mount off the tower versus taking up all the interior space/preventing me from accessing storage that sold me on this boat in the first place. Have any of you hear of such a thing? I talked with the guys at barefoot international this am, and they said they are working on it, but not promising anything for this year or next.

The wife is definetly not interested in a boom that cuts off the walkway -

Help!

What you're looking for doesn't exist AFAIK, the Barefoot product that you say they're working on is the first that I've heard of even in development.

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Depending on how much you are willing to spend... :unsure: ...couldn't you get a tower mount boom, for say a Titan or some other tower, and have a machine shop make you a clamp to attach it to the Illusion?

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Depending on how much you are willing to spend... :unsure: ...couldn't you get a tower mount boom, for say a Titan or some other tower, and have a machine shop make you a clamp to attach it to the Illusion?

Thats what I am thinking I will have to do. I just wanted to make sure its not commercially available already, and that someone hasnt said its not a good idea due to stress on the cast tower etc. Seems to me that that tower should be able to handle it just fine. Its shouldnt be any more stress than a wakeboarder, but then I'm not an engineer.

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Depending on how much you are willing to spend... :unsure: ...couldn't you get a tower mount boom, for say a Titan or some other tower, and have a machine shop make you a clamp to attach it to the Illusion?

Thats what I am thinking I will have to do. I just wanted to make sure its not commercially available already, and that someone hasnt said its not a good idea due to stress on the cast tower etc. Seems to me that that tower should be able to handle it just fine. Its shouldnt be any more stress than a wakeboarder, but then I'm not an engineer.

I would say that the stress that a footer puts on a boom FAR EXCEEDS that of any wakeboarder that I've ever seen. The lateral forces that would push against the base would scare me a bit.

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The inherent design of a tower boom has always made me wonder at this. The tower was designed for forces pulling from the tow point that's at the top & centered, & most towers weren't designed for the forces that we're talking about with regard to a footer. Putting something on one side of it that loads as much force as a footer presents seems like a bad idea to me. I'm no engineer either, but it seems like a higher chance for creating a problem versus using a traditional boom off of the pylon.

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  • 2 years later...
The inherent design of a tower boom has always made me wonder at this. The tower was designed for forces pulling from the tow point that's at the top & centered, & most towers weren't designed for the forces that we're talking about with regard to a footer. Putting something on one side of it that loads as much force as a footer presents seems like a bad idea to me. I'm no engineer either, but it seems like a higher chance for creating a problem versus using a traditional boom off of the pylon.

I know BI has these tower booms out there now. Has anyone tried them?

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I'll throw in an opinion as well.

I have customer that got a BI tower boom for his RLXi and Titan tower, and after using it a short time when back to the standard pylon boom. The assembly and number of parts was just too much to setup and break down every time.

But, on the other hand I've been looking at a feasible tower boom design for a long time. The forces are not as large of an issue as one may think, as the boom itself is really holding the cable out from the boat. Aside from someone hanging on it, when skiing the boom itself is really in compression more than anything.

My largest issue is a design that would work with the popular Illusion Tower. Due to the tower being of a sand-cast design, it's upper mounting holes are hollow and a support from them (to hold the boom up) would likely cause fatigue cracks and a break in the tower "shell". The lower mount would be no problem for a deck plate could be fashioned to withstand the forces there easily. But again, an upper support that is both durable and easy to use has not allowed me to further contemplate it.

On the other hand....

I'd like to see a "boom mount" option from Malibu. It would be vertical sleeve mounted behind the driver's seat, extending from floor to gunnel, and therefore would need to be finished off in glass or upholstery. (The easiest design would be a large version of the direct drive pylon mount, simply above the floor instead of below) With a quick release pin and using a boom with a 90 degree bend that slid down into the tube, you would have a perfect driver side boom and cable to the front. All the issues are addressed. Strength, durability, ease of use, forward of the spray, and out of the middle of the boat. The compromise would be designing the ice chest around it or in place of it.

Peter :)

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I'll throw in an opinion as well.

I have customer that got a BI tower boom for his RLXi and Titan tower, and after using it a short time when back to the standard pylon boom. The assembly and number of parts was just too much to setup and break down every time.

But, on the other hand I've been looking at a feasible tower boom design for a long time. The forces are not as large of an issue as one may think, as the boom itself is really holding the cable out from the boat. Aside from someone hanging on it, when skiing the boom itself is really in compression more than anything.

My largest issue is a design that would work with the popular Illusion Tower. Due to the tower being of a sand-cast design, it's upper mounting holes are hollow and a support from them (to hold the boom up) would likely cause fatigue cracks and a break in the tower "shell". The lower mount would be no problem for a deck plate could be fashioned to withstand the forces there easily. But again, an upper support that is both durable and easy to use has not allowed me to further contemplate it.

On the other hand....

I'd like to see a "boom mount" option from Malibu. It would be vertical sleeve mounted behind the driver's seat, extending from floor to gunnel, and therefore would need to be finished off in glass or upholstery. (The easiest design would be a large version of the direct drive pylon mount, simply above the floor instead of below) With a quick release pin and using a boom with a 90 degree bend that slid down into the tube, you would have a perfect driver side boom and cable to the front. All the issues are addressed. Strength, durability, ease of use, forward of the spray, and out of the middle of the boat. The compromise would be designing the ice chest around it or in place of it.

Peter :)

How are you dealing with the downward forces since you are not resting on the gunnel? How about another cable from the boom to the tower?

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Yeah, the pieces & parts to that tower boom were what made me think "no way".

I still like your idea of coming up with a forward mounted boom, ahead of the windshield. That was your idea, right?

That was one of my original ideas, sort of copying what Ski Pro did with their powered and telescoping integral boom. In real use though the boom is too far ahead of the tracking fins on a Malibu, and driving becomes an issue. Not for the inexperienced.

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I'll throw in an opinion as well.

On the other hand....

I'd like to see a "boom mount" option from Malibu. It would be vertical sleeve mounted behind the driver's seat, extending from floor to gunnel, and therefore would need to be finished off in glass or upholstery. (The easiest design would be a large version of the direct drive pylon mount, simply above the floor instead of below) With a quick release pin and using a boom with a 90 degree bend that slid down into the tube, you would have a perfect driver side boom and cable to the front. All the issues are addressed. Strength, durability, ease of use, forward of the spray, and out of the middle of the boat. The compromise would be designing the ice chest around it or in place of it.

Peter :)

How are you dealing with the downward forces since you are not resting on the gunnel? How about another cable from the boom to the tower?

My current idea is to have it rest on the gunnel, but it wouldn't really matter since the boom would not have a flexible joint between lateral and vertical. Any forces down on the skier end of the boom would be transmitted to an inward direction at the bottom of the "sleeve", which could handle the load easily as it would be 'glassed to the floor, sidewall and gunnel. With the shorter windshields of the current models this would work fine, as compared to the long windshield wings of the older models and spray issues.

For temporary docking, etc, you could release the cable and simply swing it back 90 degrees, and it would be "stored" along the top of the gunnel. When done for the day you would remove it completely.

Peter

Edited by SmoothWaterMan
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