Bummer.Half an H tower,gear case,3 blade Dewald at the bottom of the Willamette.

[Entler]

I recently had some bad luck. After finally getting my boat combination sorted out over the past couple of years, I was able to obtain and 56.5 mph gps reading, and then I hit something. Like a log just below the surface. It ripped my Mercury Quicksilver H tower in half, taking my deep skeg gear case w 1:1 and Dewald 3blade to the bottom of the Willamette. If it wasn’t near 70ft deep where it dropped, I could possibly retrieve it and see if anything is salvageable.
when it happened, I near blew the motor with a free rev/throttle got squeezed as I was being thrown around the boat. In the process, took on **** near enough water to sink it. Slowly paddled my self around the bend to my cart, bailed it out, drained and inspected seeing only some cracks at the top of the transom where I had added an extension of 2” of wood and glass.
prior to the agony of defeat, I was feeling quite confident that with a little luck would be closing in on 60mph soon. Instead the thrills of victory have a cloud over them as dark as the sunless murk over the top of my expensive parts.

Which leads me to a question that been on my mind for awhile.
1. What are the advantages of using an aftermarket tower? Is it the adaptability? Weight? Strength?
2. Since we all have our motors tied down, what happens with the steel aftermarket tower when an incident like mine occurs?
3. What is the exact reason for tying the motor/tower down?

After seeing the damage, the first thing out of my old mans mouth was “why do you have it tied down?”.....I didn’t have a solid answer for him.

The 3/8” eye bolt tie downs took enough energy to bend them inwards. And the fact it ripped the tower in two only leads me to think that a motor could potentially find its way into the boat with you in extreme cases without restraints.

here’s a link to YouTube vid a Swan Island testing. I’ve got a few videos posted to my channel if interested.
unfortunately, when I did the damage, I didn’t have the GoPro running.
heres the audio from a different camera that was on the beach.
https://youtu.be/ZRiRWUpOtkI

swan island

https://youtu.be/T8feQn5v48I

[ZUL8TR]

In race circuit engines are tied down for safety. Without tie down a sudden slow down and the engine rotates forward and could wind up striking the driver . Also with variable throttle positions during a race the engine thrust on the transom gets loose and tight and desired static engine angle setting can change and affect performance. The tie down fixes these conditions, but as happened to you there are consequences. In your case you are playing in trafficked waters with greater chance of debris strikes. I have only seen one gear case broken off due to debris strike at all the races I have been at.

[Entler]

I was thinking something along those lines.
Thanks for the response ZUL8TR.

Now, what’s the scoop on aftermarket towers? What are the advantages? Is it for mixing and matching/adapting and custom heights?

[STEVE FRENCH]

I have the exact looking tower at home.......2005 MODIFIED NATIONALS Franklin, PA., Joel Wiegle was piloting my #1 25MOD/OMC on a Merc "H" tower with a just refreshed 16/21 30 H gearfoot and my best Floyd Hopkins prop ON MY Arltralite hydro... .I was in my Pavlik hydro with my #2 motor ......I think Joel was 2nd coming out of last turn when the rig went up in a cork screw and landed upside down in front of me.....Going around to finish I saw no prop , gearfoot or tower.

Waiting waist deep at the beach we rolled the rig to see the tower missing like yours from bottom bushing down. ....Did you notice how thin those early towers are ?!..

14 years later I have a standing offer for the dive school to bring it up.
I have spent several days dragging 2 large magnets from harbor freight behind my pontoon boat......The props are magnetic. Must be a blend of iron and stainless.
I did retrieve the upper half of the 2 piece driveshaft.

Maybe the rest is stuck in the shell of a turtle ?

I see you are running a Parker pipe so through tower exhaust not needed.

Here is a "H" length tower and Merc ABC gearfoot adapter I have for sale $300 + flight.

[Entler]

That’s funny, I’ve already spent a few hours magnet fishing. No luck whatsoever for me. Actually it feels a lot like my dating results. You know, similar to throwing a hot dog down a hallway.
Then I started to study submergible drones. Unfortunately for me, between the current, depth and size of the Willamette, drones quickly fell off of my list.
Then I searched around a found these scuba divers that are cleaning up the submarine world, pulling vehicles and all sorts of garbage, guns, safes, atms, boats, and you name it. Hell they even dive the Willamette very often. Come to find out, after a phone call from the head dude that they were pulling a car not even a mile from us tomorrow. They’ve got all the trick stuff and latest and greatest gear combined with a passion for cleaning up the environment. He even hit me up to help volunteer. My problem was that I just could not get him fired up about my “tragedy” and that this illegal dumping of horribly toxic “mercury/quicksilver “. He said it’d be like winning to lottery, and it would be amazing luck to actually stumble across it.
oh well♂️

[Guest]

I recently had some bad luck. After finally getting my boat combination sorted out over the past couple of years, I was able to obtain and 56.5 mph gps reading, and then I hit something. Like a log just below the surface. It ripped my Mercury Quicksilver H tower in half, taking my deep skeg gear case w 1:1 and Dewald 3blade to the bottom of the Willamette. If it wasn’t near 70ft deep where it dropped, I could possibly retrieve it and see if anything is salvageable.
when it happened, I near blew the motor with a free rev/throttle got squeezed as I was being thrown around the boat. In the process, took on **** near enough water to sink it. Slowly paddled my self around the bend to my cart, bailed it out, drained and inspected seeing only some cracks at the top of the transom where I had added an extension of 2” of wood and glass.
prior to the agony of defeat, I was feeling quite confident that with a little luck would be closing in on 60mph soon. Instead the thrills of victory have a cloud over them as dark as the sunless murk over the top of my expensive parts.

Which leads me to a question that been on my mind for awhile.
1. What are the advantages of using an aftermarket tower? Is it the adaptability? Weight? Strength?
2. Since we all have our motors tied down, what happens with the steel aftermarket tower when an incident like mine occurs?
3. What is the exact reason for tying the motor/tower down?

After seeing the damage, the first thing out of my old mans mouth was “why do you have it tied down?”.....I didn’t have a solid answer for him.

The 3/8” eye bolt tie downs took enough energy to bend them inwards. And the fact it ripped the tower in two only leads me to think that a motor could potentially find its way into the boat with you in extreme cases without restraints.

here’s a link to YouTube vid a Swan Island testing. I’ve got a few videos posted to my channel if interested.
unfortunately, when I did the damage, I didn’t have the GoPro running.
heres the audio from a different camera that was on the beach.
https://youtu.be/ZRiRWUpOtkI

swan island

https://youtu.be/T8feQn5v48I

My put is to use the standard "B" tower housing in that your not running stacks. Your clamp bracket will suffice for the change.I have one if you want to go that route. Although the polished housings look nice the process removes vital material needed to maintain the strength of the unit. I tie the engines back on all our race boats. It is both a safety issue and helps with control. Running fast if you let off the throttle the unit will kick out and then getting back into the throttle the engine will slam down causing a possible tower failure.

[Entler]

How tall is a standard tower, out of curiosity?
With my H tower, I actually added a couple of inches last year, and honestly I think I could still add another inch.
Do you really think that polishing would compromise that much? I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s someone on this earth that might argue the opposite point. Kinda like with steel rods, the process of grinding, shot perming, on a molecular level, the grains aligning for strength.
But yes, removing material on an aluminum tower probably doesn’t exactly help the situation.
Luckily, I do have a tower and a foot as spares, but the both require work and some parts. Time/money......♂️

[mathrich]

River racers around here use a "shock cord" instead of a tie down. They are made of a heavy duty bungee so that the tower can swing up a little to absorb some of the impact while still preventing the motor from kicking up too far. Use 3-4 wraps. https://www.amazon.com/50-FT-Shock-C.../dp/B001P6A08A

Looks like fun, I'm on that stretch fairly often for pleasure boating.

[Entler]

Ahhh! That’s right I had another question that came to mind also.
How are guys able to run the Rogue River successfully? The CalOre racers,Boatnic and such. Maybe I’m wrong in thinking that those boats would occasionally hit stuff running the rapids.

Here’s another little chunk I’ve been chewing on that may be worthy of another thread.
Between 3D scanning and printing or maybe there’s some way to get original wood patterns back to use, I’d like to think that we could get the cost down enough to reinvigorate the sport by making Quicksilver towers and gear cases again. Maybe I’m delusional, but the sport as a whole has been on the decline for quite some time and with little hopes for the future. I grew up on drag racing and was a drag race announcer in the Pacific NW for many years along with racing.
And if one was to apply to outboard racing what has occurred in drag racing I’d bet money that there would be a spike in involvement. What happened in drag racing was a healthy aftermarket and support for old stuff. As far as TopFuel and Funny Car, nowadays,it’s become unobtainable for the average dude and is saturated in corporate money making it loose appeal. Don’t get me wrong, it’s absolutely amazing to see,hear, and feel, but couldn’t care less about it the way I did back in the 70’s and 80’s.Instead, over the years has been a surge in the Nostalgia Top Fuel and Funny cars. The way things were....(kinda). There’s easily twice the amount of cars at an event compared to the big show.
What’s this have to do with boats? God only knows, because I sure don’t! But I’d like to think that if a new Quicksilver tower and gear case completely outfitted at a reasonable price ready to accept one of the dime a dozen Mercs laying around, that the vintage racing would go crazy nation wide. Just my two cents.

[mathrich]

Hitting does happen sometimes when racing. Mostly when trying to take a shortcut.

There is a new CNC 55h lower being made in GP, not sure about any 2cyl stuff.

[Entler]

I even had thought about a CNC tower. I bet those are pricey new! Bad ass though I’m sure.

[MadProps]

I use the heavy black rubber bungees to tie down here on the west coast and there is a gear case now in reproduction, here is the first or second one completed
http://johnsoldmercurysite.com/phpBB...hp?f=7&t=18459

[Entler]

Holy socks that thing is nice looking! Quite aways out of my league(not that that takes much). That foot is the bigger style case. I have/had the a/b foot. Honestly, not totally sure of what the actual differences are, but I’d be inclined to think it just bigger.

[runabout333]

If you want a billet tower,, look at the Machined Components advertising on this site.

[mercguy]

I even had thought about a CNC tower. I bet those are pricey new! Bad ass though I’m sure.

The best CNC towers are made about 15mins away from you in Canby......Machined Components LLC

[Entler]

For 2cyl motors? Any rough idea on how many virgins I’ll need to sacrifice to acquire one if I decided to go down that road?

[Yellowjacket]

The reason for tying down the tower is so the motor won't kick up when you slow down at the end of the straight. If you didn't have it tied down it would kick up and you wouldn't slow down, aside from the fact that the boat would be unstable and could spin out if you were turning some when you cut back on the throttle. Remember that racing motors use full butterflies (that is, the throttle plates don't have holes in them like the fishing motors do) so that when you chop the throttle the prop and motor acts like a brake big time. Without full butterflies it wouldn't be as much of an issue, but for any serious racing you have to tie down the motor.

[Entler]

Ahhh yes! That’s a topic that’s been on my mind for a couple of years.
Soooo, my 8’ , 3 point was built in the 60’s(educated guesswork). I raced it with Intercity Racing Commission for a couple of years back in the 90’s w a poor running KG7. I weighed quite a bit less back then. We air trapped it and whatnot back then, and tried a couple brass 2blades also. Fast forward to a couple of years ago when I began playing with the boat again. Started to cheat with a MK28 to overcome the movable anchor behind the wheel and also bought a few props thanks to Ebay. The past few years has been me working through a now kinda unstable boat. To keep the long story short, I think it’s been a combo of things. Me being 50lbs heavier, more horsepower, and in particular a 3blade prop. If I go about driving it half ass, the boat has a slight tendency to give a bow steering sensation from my weight but I believe that if and when I’d get out of the throttle, that 3blade would amplify that sensation even more. I’m glade that the prop was described as a brake and the more prop the more brake would be my guess. At any rate, thanks to everyone who replies! Sometimes even the basic science needs a reaffirmation to get things straight in ones head.