Samson Sports "Blade" tower on 2009 MB B52 V23
 

Here are photos for anyone considering the Blade tower (http://samsonsports.com/wakeboard-to...keboard-towers), plus one of my original tower for comparison.

It seems very solid, and I love the "Typhoon" rotating racks (http://samsonsports.com/tower-access...keboard-racks/) that click into place and unlock by pulling a lever (though the boards will be slightly sticking out of the boat when the racks are rotated all the way in). It's great not having those front tower arms in the way, and my original tower was not nearly as solid.

I have the double-bimini option, and I used my existing PTM Edge mirror on the mirror arm that I got with the tower (I have bumped the back of my head on the mirror several times, but I'm getting better at avoiding it).

On the top is my (discontinued - argh!) Skireel ropewinder. Samson made a custom bimini cutout and a welded-on mount for the Skireel, at no extra cost). The new white nav light is on top of the Skireel (normally it's on top of the regular tow ball, which is still there in addition to the Skireel).

The installation was tricky for me (the video on their site should be better) - especially getting the exact mounting location, and there are a few tiny spots where the powder-coated paint was chipped off - I'll fix those with automotive touch-up paint. But it's definitely worth it for me.

I had a new cover (not shown) made by skiboatcovers.com, to accomodate the new tower legs. That also seems great, and only cost a bit more than I was quoted to get my old worn out cover refitted.

Looks great!

Looks fantastic!!!

What is that on top of the Bimini?

That's my Skireel ropewinder, which is no longer made. And on top of that is the white navigation light added by Samson (wired to my dash's Nav switch). The Skireel is very useful, because you can reel it in/out while someone is wakeboarding, to get the length exactly right.

I think I bought mine right as they were stopping making them, in early 2009. A top-down photo I found on the Internet is http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_n8Bop-yZb6...3_DSCN0492.JPG
(I'm no longer using the almuminum mount on my new tower, so all you see is the black plastic shell and the rope opening, not visible in that photo. And those wires in the photo are not protruding from it, other than a much shortened version of the remote cable - I now have the remote switch stuck to the bottom of the Skireel so it's easy to operate within the boat.)

That looks really good. MB should consider this as a factory tower...

That tower looks fantastic on that boat. Huge improvement over the factory tower.

Nice upgrade. Looks much better

Not a flame fan but WOW is that tower an improvement. Looks killer!

curious if you can see the mirror with ease ?

Yeah the flame design on the boat was definitely not my desire, but the dealer said I was saving about $5k by taking what they had in stock (bringing the cost within my planned budget). In retrospect with other issues that later appeared, I would have gladly paid more than $5k extra to order a new boat from the factory.

So I don't like the graphics, but at least I can always immediately tell which boat is mine...

I think I can see the mirror easily enough. It's not blocking my view when I don't need it, but with a slight glance up I can see everything behind the boat. The PTM Edge mirror is really nice since it gives such a wide view.

what brand of arm is it on?

Damn son! Looks saaweet! Favorite Samson tower. The mirror arm is a Samson also.

Yup, the mirror arm is made by Samson and came with the tower