Tower knuckles

Well, I just finished recovering from a doozy. Got home from work, hummed and hawed with the wife about going to the lake, we end up deciding to go and get about 90 minutes of boating in, drag the kids on the tube, etc.

In just a bit of a rush to get going, but remembered everything, or so we thought. Got through the neighbourhood and hit the highway. As we get up to speed I watch it happen in slow motion - the front legs of my tower pick up and fall backwards. Didn't really feel anything, and I couldn't believe it.

Pulled over, nothing appears broken (I was fearing the worse and thought maybe the shock would cause the two fixed feet to break or the hull to crack.

The tower landed on the vinyl backrest at the side of the rear couch seat (the way it sits when folded down), one side just rubs but the other sits right on top. Tore the vinyl clean and caused about a 6 inch gash. But that was the only damage.

The cause? After pulling out of the garage and raising the tower, I clean forgot to install the knuckle-bolts into the front two legs.

Did a temp fix on the gash in the vinyl with white silicon - it's large but my temp fix is clean and looks okay until I decide how to fix it properly, and keeps the water out too (the silicon will just peel right off if/when I need it).

So yeah, never forget to lock down your tower! Whew!

Re: Tower knuckles

I remember back in the 70's when vinyl was the standard for automotive seats and some recliners. They used to make a past that would go on and another piece of "magic" vinyl that would go on top. Somehow this fused the two ripped parts together when the "magic" piece was removed. I think it was a no heat liquid vinyl repair kit.

Re: Tower knuckles

Yeah, I've seen vinyl repair kits around. The color in question is white, so I think it might be easy to fix, and I think I still can, I just need to remove the silicon. The silicon will let me not worry about it for another few weeks while we squeeze in some more time at the lake. If I'm wrong and the silicon wrecks the repair, then it's good that I've learned this before wrecking a brand new boat!

Re: Tower knuckles

You can still get vinyl repair kits at an auto parts store.