22 ve tower anchor bolt question

[dswtige]

I bought a '06 22ve earlier this year and have really enjoyed it this past summer. It is a really nice boat for our family.

When I was cleaning it (getting everything ready for winter), I noticed the rear tower mounts have anchor bolts but no backing plate or nuts attached (see pic). Is this normal? I checked and the front tower mounts are anchored with a plate and nut. It does look like there is some kind of mounting plate fiberglass-ed into the boat, but it seems strange not to have a backing plate w/nut.

The tower has 4 speakers (supposedly dealer installed). I'm wondering if the installer pulled the hardware to install the speaker wire and didn't replace it.

[dingleberry]

I think I have read on here before that this is normal and correct. When the rider is pulled from the tower, the front legs want to be pulled up away from the deck, thus the extra backing plate and nut. The rear legs get pulled down into the deck and do not need the additional plate and nut. The glassed-in reinforcement is sufficient.

[chpthril]

Both the front and rear areas are reinforced for the tower. In the front, you have a nut and backing plate, as seen, because the tower legs have studs threaded into the foot of the tower, so there's no bolt heat to wrench on. The rear uses a 3/8" allen bolt that passes though the foot and is tightened from above. It threads into a tapped metal plate. This plate acts as the nut and backing plate.

I would recommend giving them all a little tightening though. 22 lb/ft is about right.

[dswtige]

Great, thanks for the information. Glad to know things are properly anchored. I'll check and tighten the hardware as recommended.