AERIAL wakeboard tower?

[Hansolo99]

Re: AERIAL wakeboard tower?

When I installed my H20 tower I put a peice of plywood (I think it was 1/2 inch thick and about 8 inches long to cover a pretty large area and not have so much stress on the hull) and then put liquid nails between the wood and the fiberglass (this is on the inside of the boat so the brackets had a flat surface to adhere too and not the curved part of the hull) and bolted it all down about 85% so the glue would squeeze out. The next day I wrenched to tighten it up. That tower held up great and the extra insurance was well worth it.

 

[Nitro_boy]

Re: AERIAL wakeboard tower?

I don't have a wake tower but I have installed different things through the hull and I always use thin plate aluminum around 1/8 inch to thicker and as you tighten it will conform to the fiberglass and not pull through easily.

 

[WAVENBYE2]

Re: AERIAL wakeboard tower?

I like the H20 towers too!! Am thinking about it with the tower bimini top and speakers, with all 3 looks pretty cool, They also have an awsome picture gallery that you can look at with all types of boats, 4 pages of pics, I also like the style.
http://www.bigairpylons.com/Tower.htm?gclid=CNyoop7ZpJwCFRmbnAodTCXfkg

 

[yam 3]

Re: AERIAL wakeboard tower?

I bought a black ascent aerial tower. I did not like the mounts so I machined myself some rectangles out of 1/4" aluminium that attach to the outer hull with 4 counter sunk bolts and some big 4" X 8", 1/4 aluminium plates on the inside. The outer plates add about 1/4" to the overall thickness (made own rubber backers as well). The idea was to get the whole thing mounted to an aluminium sandwich. So far so good. You do need to keep an eye on the bolts at first, they will loosen.

 

[ledezmar]

Re: AERIAL wakeboard tower?

Just installed the aerial airborne on my boat and the aerial eclipse bimini. I havent towed anyone yet. I used the circular mounts that were provided. I noticed that some of you reinforced the backing with ply wood. Do you STRONGLY recommend that I reinforce it too? Just hearing everyone mention the reinforcement is making have doubts about not having one.

What do you guys recommened? reinforce?

here is a picture 2009 Q5 Tahoe with the tower and bimini...

 

[mddubya]

Re: AERIAL wakeboard tower?

I've got the H2O tower on my boat, its been on there for 3 years now and I love it. We've had no problems out of it whatsoever. No rattling or popping, and my oldest step-son weighed 265 when I first put it on. I pulled him all over the place and never had a minutes trouble. No cracking of the gelcoat at all.

 

[kca009]

Re: AERIAL wakeboard tower?

I was thinking about getting the Altitude wakeboard tower. It looks very similar to the arial but it seems to have better/stronger footplates. The arial only have 1 bolt in the mounting plate while the altitude uses 4 bolts. Other than that they look very similar. Here is a link with some pictures of the altitude so you can compare - www.wakeboardtowerandracks.com
Altitude is a smaller or newer company and i have not been able to find much information on it. Does anyone know anything about them or has anyone purchased one of their towers?
i like the idea of a 4 bolt footplate a lot better than a 1 bolt. Has anyone had problems with the arial tower footplates? altitude seems like a safer bet 4>1.

 

[tige z1]

wakeboard tower

wakeboard tower

i have an explosion tower on my 2008 tige z1 and i put 4 wetsounds speakers on my tower, does anyone know how i can stop my tower to shaking like its gonna break? i dont feel like 120 pounds of speakers should make the tower shake that much where it looks like its gonna break? some help please.

 

[wakecam]

Re: AERIAL wakeboard tower?

AERIAL wakeboard tower is made in china.

 

[newpz201]

Re: AERIAL wakeboard tower?

You are aware that Monster is made right here in the USA, so if someone is claiming they make Monster, they are incorrect.

Guys if you did some checking would see that moster towers are built in China also.

 

[Henry Shearon]

Re: AERIAL wakeboard tower?

I recently purchased and installed an Ariel tower, and have helped friends with them in the past. Generally they are fairly easy to self-install. I found mind on sanddollardeals.com (under the towable category), but I have a friend who found his on e-bay.

 

[95prostar]

Re: AERIAL wakeboard tower?

anybody have any pics of an aerial tower on a mastercraft prostar 190 or 205? i am going to order but i want to see first.

 

[Spinnaker]

Re: wakeboard tower

Re: wakeboard tower

i have an explosion tower on my 2008 tige z1 and i put 4 wetsounds speakers on my tower, does anyone know how i can stop my tower to shaking like its gonna break? i dont feel like 120 pounds of speakers should make the tower shake that much where it looks like its gonna break? some help please.

All I can say is if your tower is shaking you're stuck with it. Just make sure all your hardware is always tight.

Most of the towers that are out there (Monster and Ariel) are made offshore. The manufacturing costs are absolutely peanuts. The towers that Ariel have are just branded by Ariel. Ariel pays a couple hundred bucks for a tower they sell for $1400.00. The Chinese manufacturer that makes them sell to many companies as T1, T2, T3 and so-on. I personally are not a fan of the construction of these towers as the joints are all slip joints held together with 1/4" set screws. They are flimsy. However, you will get what you pay for. There are other designs made offshore that are better. Buy locally made and you will pay.

 

[merykonil]

Re: AERIAL wakeboard tower?

Wake Board Towers
Water skiing, wakeboarding, wake surfing, wake skating, and barefoot waterskiing are the fastest growing sports on the water. What you remember about learning to water ski is definitely old school. Technology has changed dramatically so that newbies can learn and progress faster than ever by the incorporation of a wake board tower. Learniing "down low" where the rope used to be attached to the back of the boat or to a ski pylon has progressed to wake board tower height which averages about 7 feet of the water and is now going as high as 14 feet off the water. You can take advantage of this new technology by getting the insider secrets to wake board towers.

 

[fastest01r1]

Re: AERIAL wakeboard tower?

can anyone tell me how well the aerial tower holds up. does it flex a lot or is it strong? I just ordered the aerial assault tower for my Chaparral, and 4 speakers. I have been reading this and other sites and now kinda worried about cracking the gel coat on my boat if this tower is not strong. ANY HELP???

 

[ThreeMileBayWaker]

Re: AERIAL wakeboard tower?

can anyone tell me how well the aerial tower holds up. does it flex a lot or is it strong? I just ordered the aerial assault tower for my Chaparral, and 4 speakers. I have been reading this and other sites and now kinda worried about cracking the gel coat on my boat if this tower is not strong. ANY HELP???

When your tower arrives, look at the mounting feet first and foremost. The kit should come with beveled mounting feet to accommodate the boats natural curves. If your kit comes with flat feet and rocks on a high spot.. I'd send it right back. This will cause a lot of stress and crack your gel coat and a slew of other issues down the road. I don't know if the Ariel kit comes with them or not since its a universal kit, but from doing a lot of research this was one key feature I realized came in the higher end kits. The builders of these towers actually build their kits based on their own R&D and supply you the parts needed for your brand of boat. Not just a "one size" fits all jig.

Lower end kits use rubber gaskets to try and fill this void to keep their kits universal, but when it comes down to it the stress will still be there on the boats structure.

It probably won't crack when you tighten them down during the install, but over time I would be willing to assuring you that under normal usage the gel coat will start to crack under that mounting foot. Also when you drill the hole through the boat, you need to drill in reverse till you get through the gel coat.

You get what you pay for, just double check to see what your mounting feet look like before you keep the kit or not.

Watch the "how-to" from samson as they pretty much sum all of what I just said up.

http://samsonsports.com/how_to_install_wakeboard_tower.html

 

[fastest01r1]

Re: AERIAL wakeboard tower?

The tower does not come with different mounting feet, but I have a friend that works for a well known tower company who's mounting feet are the same. so he is getting me the spacers to use with my boat/tower. As for the Aerial tower, I dont think its a cheap tower... I have heard a few people say they are strong towers and supported them hanging on it with no flex. The tower runs around 1400$, witch is a lot for a universal tower from what I have found. If anyone has first hand use with this tower I would appreciate any opinions. If not I guess I will post what ever I find out in the next few weeks after installing it.
Thanks

 

[karlt5503]

Re: AERIAL wakeboard tower?

Just installed a TL tower on my boat. It looks just like the Altitude tower, same style, design, and the mounting plates/bolts are the same as well. Seems to be a pretty good quality tower, haven't had it out yet though. It has the 4 screws per mount as the others mentioned too. TL is out of OK and I found mine on ebay for around 700.

 

[jtbaggett]

Re: AERIAL wakeboard tower?

You can never go wrong with reinforcing. Don't have one yet, but I noticed you have a Tahoe. Does your Tahoe Bimini fit underneath the tower?

 

[splicer]

Re: AERIAL wakeboard tower?

You can never go wrong with reinforcing. Don't have one yet, but I noticed you have a Tahoe. Does your Tahoe Bimini fit underneath the tower?

Same question. I have an '08 Q6 that I want to put one on, and I'd like the bimini to work with it. Also, how thick was the hull where you mounted it? If it's 3/8" or thicker, then I don't think you need to reinforce, but it can't hurt.