2006 Mastercraft 245 w/ Samson Blade Tower
 

This past winter I recently decided to purchase a tower for my 2006 Mastercraft 245. The original tower that would of come with this boat is discontinued so I researched all my options and a variety of brands. The Mastercraft ZFT-3 (2007-2010 model) tower is definitely an awesome look but it was hard to justify the price and be limited to 4 boards unless I were to install the Z-5 cargo rack. It also seemed to have a lot of mixed reviews.

I ended up calling Scott at Samson Sports and he had never built a tower for this model boat before, but he knew of an X-45 locally that he could take measurements from. I ultimately went with the Samson blade tower and am extremely happy with it. The tower is rock solid and it lowers with ease if I never needed to take it down. It has room for 4 sets of board racks. The visibility of not having front tower legs is definitely a huge plus with the two point tower. It came prewired for tower speakers as well easy installation in the future.

They sent me a variety of powder coat samples and I ended up choosing a white base with tiny blue and gold specs in it. The specs are very faint, but it gives it a slight shimmer in the sunlight. I chose a Captain Navy Sunbrella Bimini to tie everything together color wise. Samson was able to make the bimini a little bit larger for me as well.

I also found some Mastercraft clamping board racks on ebay and Samon Towers was able to retrofit it to their swivel board racks. I’d like to use the boat this summer and decide what additional type of board rack I’d be more likely to use before buying another one…whether it be 2 surf boards, 2 wakeboards, or a combo etc.

I had the tower shipped to Dockside Marine close to Lake Conroe and they installed the tower for me with no issues. The service there has always been top notch in my experience. A big thanks to Scott at Samson Sports and the service team at Dockside Marine!

I know this thread is not complete by WW standards without proper pictures of it in the water, so I will post those as soon as I can get on the lake.:D

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didn't think id ever like that type of tower on an MC but that looks hot. Well done! BTW love the platform

Very nice! Not what I expected to see or say when I read the title.

Looks great ! Nice colour choice too, nice work !

Scott does great work.. We used to be a dealer for them... Sampson is one of the best built towers we installed... How was your experience with Dockside?... Heard both +-.......We live on LC on the Willis side.. See yall out there...

I appreciate the compliments and I'm excited about this summer! Yes I agree Scott does great work and easy to work with. I spent a lot of time debating on whether to pick this tower for this boat or not as it gives it a completely different look than other X45s, and he was patient with my million questions. I've had nothing but good experiences with Dockside. I had them do my ballast system as well and it turned out awesome! I'll try to take some pictures of it soon and post them.

Man, i have yet to see a boat that doesn't look great with the Samson Blade tower. Nice work!

Finally took some water shots this past weekend!

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Wow... I don't like a lot of mastercrafts, but WOW, that boat looks amazing with that tower

Boat looks great. What brand is the aluminum trailer?

Very nicely done. Love the tower on that boat.

I appreciate the compliments! The trailer is from Horizon Trailers out of the Galveston area I believe. The original owner didn't order the boat with a trailer and kept it in a slip on lake Houston, but decided to have a custom trailer made at a later time. Its simple but functional and less to worry about long term.

Seriously sexy boat. Looks 10 times better than the newer models with the hump in the back.

How do you pull a rider with that bimini though? Doesn't look like there is space for the line.

Looks awesome!

Very well done!!!!!!!!!

I was also in this category before I saw this beauty! Very nice!!!



Rope goes over bimini

it doesn't rub on the bimini?

All the pictures are taken from a pretty low angle so you can't really see the top of the bimini, but there is a "LED lighted rope saver / tow ball / anchor light" that sticks above the bimini.

By the time the rope is extended to the rider the angle is such that it won't rub...and once the boat starts moving the angle from normal bow rise makes it clear even more.

got ya

I'm digging it. It changes the attitude of the boat. I like the way it turned out.