Gold Coast start-up launches ‘world-first’ carbonfibre game tower

Element Composites, which is claiming a world first with the 100 per cent carbonfibre construction, will build its new towers at Coomera-based The Boat Works, offering game towers that are lighter and stronger than aluminium and stainless steel, but use elliptical frames for improved aerodynamics.

The new business recognises that game boat owners are now going to extremes to strip weight – even using propellers made from titanium rather than stainless steel – to improve boat speed.

The first tower to come out of Element Composites is for a refit of the 19-year-old, 40-foot Black Watch game boat Back in Black.

According to Element Composites, the 8.0-metre tower built for Back in Black would weigh about 70 per cent less than an equivalent built out of aluminium, which for this size boat could add as much as a tonne to the displacement.

Back in Black’s carbonfibre tower is the tallest ever for a Black Watch game boat. 

Element Composites is an offshoot of superyacht refit specialists Ocean Degree Total Yacht Services, run by directors Levi Duncan and Josh Duke-Yong.

According to Duncan, clients in search of game towers said they wanted their towers to be durable and practical, as well as eye-catching.

“The carbon fibre tower is totally unique and a real head-turner,” Duncan said.

The new game tower is the result of two years of research and development, with the venture drawing on hand-picked specialists sourced from the automotive and marine industries.

The towers will be built using what Element Composites says are “new generation” epoxy resins that won’t corrode, fade or discolour as well as being formed in a vacuum infusion process.

For the Black Watch, Element Composites fabricated all component parts of the tower, including hardtops for the console, buggy floor and top, from a composite integration carbon fibre.

Element Composites will travel to the US soon for the 2022 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show where the new game towers will be introduced to the US market.

After the show, Duncan will visit around 30 US-based game boat makers before heading to North Carolina to meet with other interested parties.

“Florida is the epicentre of game boat building,” Duncan said. “We’ve already had a lot of interest and several enquiries from Back in Black’s social media which has tracked the refit and the preliminary work on its tower. 

“Once owners and boat builders see how superior our carbon fibre towers are, and how easily they can be packed and transported to the US, we’re hopeful we’ll be shipping a lot of them stateside.”