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Me and my wife went to the Jacksonville Boat Show and almost ended up buying a Robalo 207 which is an all around Dual Console. Went back and looked at our 1997 dauntless 17ft, man this boat maybe is ahead of its time for an all around boat. And finally occurred to me that the motor has offshore sign in it. We really like to expand the water sports activity now that my boys are all grown up. Thus the wakeboard tower (maybe add a few rod holders on it)

I don't want to "upgrade" to another boat just for the wakeboard tower. I see newer Venturas pictures have wakeboards and so as other brands. Plenty same sized bay boats loaded with towers too in the boat show. Not sure if my boat has a reinforced gunwale.

Question now is, can I put a wake board tower to my 1997 Dauntless 17ft with minimal compromise?

Its hard to part ways with my small boat since its more than able to get out near shore and fish and do some wake boarding. Hope someone already made a successful attempt. If not, might as well enjoy it for the last time and sell it this coming summer.

Thanks

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If you are talking about the typical wake boarding tower with bazooka speakers and racks for four boards I would not put one on a small boat like the Dauntless 17 due to the added weight. Adding as much weight as a well constructed aluminum tubing would effect stability mostly due to the added weight aloft. It would need to be tall enough to be able to walk under the tower.

I would also be concerned with the problem of the scuppers sinking below the waterline with the extra weight.

The tower would interfere with fishing.

If your engine has sufficient power for wake boarding it should be OK for a tower.

Of course you'll never know unless you do it or find someone with a Dauntless 17 who has done it.

An alternative would be a removable tower to be used only when boarding or a much lighter tower designed for elevating the tow rope rather than for providing storage for the boards.

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Thanks for pointing out the issue with scuppers. This is on my project list. Went out 2 weeks ago with 4 adults and load of stuffs. Planing takes too much water into the bildge and it seems the side scupper rubbers aren't stopping water intake. Hydrofoil is heaven sent but still can't put too much weight on stern side.

I think I am asking this great little boat to do too much, however, there might be another family looking for a great starter boat this coming summer.

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Hello jackjax, if your looking for a better ski rope attachment for your Dauntless 17 take a look at this product.

http://turboswingus.com/

If your trying to store wake boards or water ski's then that will be a different project all together. You need to take great care in not upsetting your hulls center of gravity with overhead structures as butchdavis mentioned.

Happy boating...
Angel M.

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I would think the turboswing and some strategically placed bolt-on rod holders and wakeboard rack would meet the requirements without too much additional weight. I thought that Dauntless had a stainless steel rail surrounding the motor well that “accepted” a ski pylon (you could easily bolt on some rod holder on each side)