Above It All

By Heather Maxwell

(originally published Sportfishing Report August 2005)

So I am lying on the beach last summer. It’s a hazy, hot day with a gentle swell rolling on the beach. The kind of day you expect to see dolphin in the green room.

I got my cooler, sunscreen, book and chair. I always take a little plastic shovel to dig with in the sand. So I’m sitting and I’m digging and I’m baking and probably thinking about work. On the horizon I see a dot. Check the position of the sun and I realize that it’s not time for the fleet but perhaps they had a banner day. I continue to bake; the dot continues to get bigger.

That dot turned out to be the famed Pelican of the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center. And whilst I baked away I was entertained by the sight of Capt. Arch Bracher sighting cobia off the hardtop while his mate shot baits with precision from the bow deck. Now, I don’t begin to know how Arch managed to keep his feet stuck up on that top any more than I would attempt to estimate the feelings of his dock partners when he got home and most likely threw out some yellowfin, dolphin a couple flags flying and on top - beautiful, brown cobia.

The point of this article is neither Arch’s choice of deck shoes nor the distinction of my tan lines. The point of this article is what’s the deal with towers? Why add a tower to the design of a boat and, while I’m thinking about it, why not?

Well, a little talk on the dock reveals a lot and the truth about towers, at least around Oregon Inlet, is if you got the money and you don’t mind the weight go for it! A tower, after all, is a beautiful addition to any boat. Done right, a tower extends the lines of a boat’s design. Shiny and clean a tower is like chrome on a Harley. It also gives you extra room to hang burgees. A tower also provides an elevation for spotting fish, which is paramount off Florida but loses some of its gusto moving up the coast. Some even say that a tower can also be construed as a testament of manhood, or perhaps, the lack there of.

Done wrong, a tower can be a true mess. Potential owners must keep in mind that a tower’s second job, the first being to help sight fish, is to pit. Maintenance can be a nightmare and the first rule of thumb is to never get behind on bright work. Secondly, if the lines of the tower aren’t just right, it’ll give your eye a hiccup. “A tower has to look like it is part of the boat, not an afterthought. We take more time to "dial in" a tower than it takes to add all the bracing” explains Tim Daly of Bausch American Towers. “If you don't set the tower with the way the boat sits you will end up with something that people will notice on the boat. Ideally you don't want people to notice the tower at all, it should become part of the boat.” So, if you can afford the weight and the expense and the maintenance, a tower may be for you. Here’s a little bit of Tower 101 to help you on your way...

A tower starts as a wish and a prayer. Whether it’s a tower for a big sportfish or platform for a cobia boat it all begins with dreams and decisions. Then comes a drawing. “We still sketch the towers out” says Wayne Umphlett of Harbor Welding in Wanchese. “We draw it out and then run it back past the owner or builder for approval. Some of the larger tower companies like Bausch American use a CAD program.” For comparison’s sake there are still plenty of boat builders that draw their boat plans on plywood. And there are plenty who save the stress of marrying horse power, weight and hull design with a naval architect and a Computer Aided Design program. Industry standards vary a bit with the boat design but most towers match the lines of the cabin face - in Dare County it’s 40 to 45 degrees. The back legs go about 10 degrees. On the average a boat’s hardtop runs about 6 feet 6 inches above the deck line. From there the tower steps tell the tale - approximately 13 inches between steps and prices vary with the builder but for the most part towers are base priced by the number of steps. And then there’s the “other stuff”. The “other stuff” can jack up the price. “Other stuff” includes lights, sunshades (hard or soft) recessed teaser reels, and speakers...just about anything you want. It was PipeWelders of Fort Lauderdale, Florida that revolutionized “other stuff”, in particular, their hardtops which were built with all the recessed necessities and top-of-the-line electronics became, for a while, a “must have”.

Apart from the basic design to the boat, the plan of the tower is up to the builder or owner. Some towers have center steps, others simply the steps up the aft corners. Some steps reach the covering boards, others begin on the bridge. The number of rod holders on the belly rail is up to the man paying the bill. A double rail looks good under the hardtop, but depending on taste and whether you’ll have isinglass or EZ2CY, a single rail works just fine.

Whatever the size, whatever accoutrements are added to the “must have” list, all towers start life exactly the same way. A drawing and a shot of aluminum. “We use aluminum alloy (grade) 6463 T6” says Daly. “Tower legs vary in diameter depending on the size and speed of the boat. Generally now with speeds exceeding the 40 knot barrier we have upgraded our tower legs from 2" schedule 40 pipe to 2-1/2" and even 3" schedule 40 pipe.” The pipe is joined with a TIG welder. Basically, at the joint a welder holds a filler rod and blasts it to the point where it melts and joins the pieces. Okay, I know that’s a little elementary but the whole concept of welding aluminum is simple. Heat it up, melt it down. Even I have welded in my time, although it was an ARC welder which is a different thing altogether; it’s simple.

The trick is a pretty weld. I could certainly put a tower together given the time but I am sure that dripping aluminum, pits from a jumping filler rod and some angles that aren’t quite right wouldn’t be acceptable to the average tower buyer. “Welding is an art.” Says Umphlett, and I am sure anyone who has tried it would agree. And just like Matisse and Monet a welder leaves his mark. “I can tell you who built a tower around these parts,” adds Umphlett “just by looking at the welds.”

Straight linear shots of aluminum are cut, at times, and bent or rolled at other times. “When the rod is pushed through a bender the anodize stretches” explains Umphlett. “That’s where the burnished layer comes from.” On the other hand, pushing the rod through a roller produces a sweeping bow that stays bright a shiny.

Boots are made in-house by the welder. A boot basically supports the tower by attaching the main legs to the house of the boat. Short with an extreme sweeping angle, a boot works as a necessity depending on the design of the tower; if need be the boot is attached to the tower leg as additional support. If the tower legs run all the way to the bow deck, boots are added between the leg and the cabin face to support the legs on their way to the hardtop. Should the forward legs attached to the cabin face, there is no additional support needed and there are no boots added.

One thing that holds true for all towers is that when you have a tower then you must have controls and electronics high above the hardtop. One of the least favorite jobs of tower builders is stuffing all that wiring down the tower legs. At two+ inches in diameter, the main tower legs envelop steering, throttle controls and wiring to all of the electronics one might jam into a boat these days. There’s not much you can control from the tower that you can’t control from the bridge. To that end, Bausch American’s sister company Integrated Marine Systems provides installation and integration of all marine electronics. The partnership of two companies - one expert in tower building and the other expert in electronics – is smart, it makes tower building extremely simple for the buyer and the builder.

Bausch American is also a spin off of Florida custom boat builder American Custom Yachts. A comfort level that none of our Dare County builders has yet to experience – Viking Yachts has also brought all of it’s bright work under one roof. “It is important to be a complete service facility and offer one place where customers can go and know that we have the ability to handle all their needs” explains Daly. And I am sure Drew McDowell of Viking’s Palm Beach Towers, Inc. would agree. With Viking’s designers working hand in hand with their own tower company this leader in production boats has been able to take customer service to the next level.

So, is a tower for you? When deciding there are a few things to keep in mind. Omie Tillett’s rule of thumb on Carolina boats of the 52 to 58 foot range is that 1400 pounds will knock you back about a knot. Towers on that size boat don’t normally reach that much weight - 600 pounds or so, but that could be a 1/2 knot of speed you’re not willing to lose. The other thing is cost. Simply put, towers ain’t cheap. But most things of beauty usually are not.

When you’re up on that hardtop spottin’ cobia you may decide that a tower is right up your alley. Or you might call Pelican and find out what kind of deck shoes he wears.