Wiring though wakeboard tower

[pat8839]

I have run into a problem. I am trying to run wires for my new white anchor light on top of my wakeboard tower but I cannot for the life of me find any way to get the wires through. I spent HOURS trying to suck various fishing line and other string through the tower leg with my shop vac but with no luck. I bought fish tape but the stuff I bought was too thick to even get started. Maybe there is a thinner version out there...

Can someone please help?!

 

[Hogger]

Re: Wiring though wakeboard tower

When I read the title, I was thinking the shop vac method, but I guess not. Did you try tying the string or fishing line to something like a little puff ball, or piece of fabric? That way there is a little more mass for it to suck through.

 

[Marada92]

Re: Wiring though wakeboard tower

I did it with a piece of wire.... had someone fish it through from the top hole and once it was to the lower hole just reached in with a pair of needle nose pliers and pulled it out, then tied and taped my electrical wire to it and pulled it through. took a few tries but I got it. If you are still trying the string and shop vac thing... fish the string from the top(if you arent doing that already that is) and let gravity and the vacuum do the work. I tried the string deal first but with the burrs inside the tower from where I drilled the holes just kept getting hung up. Good luck!

 

[pat8839]

Re: Wiring though wakeboard tower

I tried a couple different thickness fishing lines with toilet paper or small bit of sandwhich bag taped to it. None worked :-(
Marada what type of wire did you use? I am bound and determined to get this thing done this weekend!

Thanks guys!

 

[sickwilly]

Re: Wiring though wakeboard tower

can you show us a picture of where you are trying to wire -- or what kind of tower?

 

[Marada92]

Re: Wiring though wakeboard tower

I actually found some old piece off of something I dont even remember... How big of a hole are you working with? I saw one of the fish tapes you were referring to this weekend which leads me to believe its not a very big hole if you couldn't get it in the hole at all. Try to find something that's a single strand... A wire hanger for example but a little less stiff. You will need something you can force down through the tube that is flexible enough to bend itself around the corners yet stiff enough not to just start balling up if it binds on something. I'll do some checking and see if I can find something that might work for you. If your working with a small hole you may be able to open it up a size with a step bit to help you out some. And like sickwilly asked... What kind of tower are we talking about here?

 

[Marada92]

Re: Wiring though wakeboard tower

Mechanics wire is what I'm referring to... You can get it in different gauges. Hardware store should have it. If you have or no someone with a Mig welder you can try a piece of welding wire also. Just need to get creative. That vacuum idea only works if the inside of the tube is perfectly smooth or you got one heck of a vacuum and can seal up every place for it to suck air from. If you do finally get it be careful pulling the wire through... It's very easy to strip the insulation off the wire on sharp edges... Last thing you need is a short in a wire that's causing you this much trouble to pull!

 

[Hogger]

Re: Wiring though wakeboard tower

What about a solid core wire from Radio Shack/Home Depot/Lowes? Like a 14 gauge single wire. More rigid than braided wire.

I can't remember where exactly I saw it, I want to say in the Home Depot electrical area, but they had wound up solid aluminum about 1/8" dia. I want to say they use it as a grounding wire maybe.

Just a couple more ideas.

 

[pat8839]

Re: Wiring though wakeboard tower

Thanks for the ideas guys! Sorry I should have put my tower pics on here. It is an Aerial Airborne tower. The difficult part is on the top where the rope ties (this is where the light mounts) the hole for the wiring is about as big as your pinkie finger and at the base of this mount there is a 90* turn into the actual hallow pipe...

 

[pat8839]

Re: Wiring though wakeboard tower

Here is my boat with tower, I don't think it worked in the previous post

 

[sickwilly]

Re: Wiring though wakeboard tower

I would start with a lot of string through the opening where the 360 degree light will attach. I would then remove one of the stabilizing bolts along the top tube and try to suck the string first out of that bolt hole. That bolt, too, is an obstacle to stop your progress.

If you can get the string out that bolt hole, attach a small bolt or fish weight to it, tie a small loop, and feed it back in with a bent coat hanger. All you will have to do is push that string about a foot to the side and it will drop down the tube that attaches to the cross bars because of the weight and gravity. You can then fish it out of the bottom of that tube with a coat hanger.

Worst case scenario, you only need one guy, six beers, and to unbolt two of the tubes.

Why you are at this, why not go ahead and add speaker? Nothing better than those Aerial speaker playing good tunes while floating behind the boat?

 

[pat8839]

Re: Wiring though wakeboard tower

that's a great idea! I never even considered taking those bolts out but that would be really easy to do.
I would like to add speakers but then my bimini definitely would not fit...well and honestly I am concerned about the added weight on the tower and the increased sway of the tower that may come from that. Sick you have speakers right?

 

[sickwilly]

Re: Wiring though wakeboard tower

I do, I have the single can's from Aerial. I have the Assault, and really like the look of it, but it can make a little noise on the local, more windy and crowded lake. I hear the one you have is more solid.

Pictures of mine are in this thread: http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=463147

I have had a couple head bumps on the speakers and even considered having them oriented above the bar, versus under it, but the wife did not like that idea. You could do that and still use your bimini.

In terms of the speakers, we really don't crank them up for the boarders. However, they do get sound out behind the boat when floating in a cove. That is where they really shine (at least for use -- I know to each his own).

 

[pat8839]

Re: Wiring though wakeboard tower

Are they ok to be mounted above the tower? I don't know that I have ever seen them that way. I just figured gravity would MAKE them hang under the tower...Do you have an extra amp just for the tower speakers?

 

[sickwilly]

Re: Wiring though wakeboard tower

I added an extra amp just for the speakers and for two new speakers in the front of my boat. My bow (19 ft Stingray) had no speakers. I am not sure which I like better, the tower ones or the front ones.

I added a 200w amp. No new battery, but I do carry a jump starter just in case.

Gravity does not determine where the speakers hang. You bolt them up real tight and they don't move. You would also have the option of tucking them into the side bars right below the top.

 

[sickwilly]

Re: Wiring though wakeboard tower

I went to their gallery, and there is one Sea Ray with them mounted up. Check it out, about half way down:

http://www.aerialwakeboarding.com/v/vspfiles/wakeboard-model/airborne.asp

Definitely and option if you ever wanted to add them.

With my 360 degree light, I found the best place to wire it in was back port side of my boat. However, consider where you want to bring the wires in if you were to ever add speakers, because you would not want to bring wires through the side of the boat in two places. The 360 degree light needs very little current, so you can run that wife really long and have not decrease in the lights output.

 

[pat8839]

Re: Wiring though wakeboard tower

Thanks for sharing that! I can't figure out why my boat pic won't show up...I doubt the speakers would fit in the corners where the bimini is a bit lower...where were you saying the other option to mount them would be? I'm a bit confused...

 

[sickwilly]

Re: Wiring though wakeboard tower

I looked at the assault gallery and one of the boats in there has the speakers on the front tubes. The boat is a 1989 Celebrity, about 3/4th the way down. How about the outrageous way the 3rd boat down, a Cobat added the speakers. They must really like attention.

http://www.aerialwakeboarding.com/v/vspfiles/wakeboard-model/assault.asp

 

[pat8839]

Re: Wiring though wakeboard tower

how did the tower not fall off holding 8 speakers wow! Guess mine should be ok if I add just 2 haha. I do see where they mounted speakers on the side bars, that may be an option I should consider. Which speakers do you have? There are so many choices!

 

[sickwilly]

Re: Wiring though wakeboard tower

Just the most basic ones from Aerial, single cans. They have polk db series speakers in them, which I totally replaced all my speakers in the boat with, so they match. It sounds good, but I can't **** off the fishermen, or anything -- not that I want to.

Polk just happened to make the only marine rated 4 inch I could find, which is the size I needed to add two speakers to the front of the boat.

It looks pretty good with all of them matching the tower speakers.