How long do custom towers take?? Problem

A buddy of mine ordered a custom tower for his boat, which I have a common interest in. Tower was ordered 5 weeks ago and a 50% deposit was taken at the time of order. Tower was promised in 3-4 weeks by mfg. After a few calls around the three and four week period, still no tower. It is now week 5, no call, nothing.

I don't want to name any names yet because I have yet to talk to them personally and I do have an interest in this tower. I am just wondering what other people's experiences were with time and deposit on these things. Thanks in advance.

5 weeks is too long, especially when the summer is 1/2 over. I ordered a custom tower last year they said 3-4 weeks. It took 4 weeks. It is frustrating. When you call I would recommend talking to a manager or the owner. Get specific info, is it done, when is it going to be shipped, etc. After 3 weeks I called them every 2 or 3 days. Hope that is helpful.

Absolutely Chip. Thanks. The biggest problem is not knowing what to expect. We all just hope people hold to their word, but that is not the case thus far. Another unfortunate aspect was not ordering locally, at least I could have driven down there and got the damn thing and painted it on my own.

I just picked my boat up from WAKEAIR a couple hours ago it took them 4 1/2 weeks.They tried to get it before the 3 day weekend but no big deal.It looks great and I am very happy with the outcome get to try it out tom.

Try to understand that all of us in the market do like 80% of our annual business in the mid spring to late summer months, so anything custom will be a much longer delay than the other months. Call in Nov-Mar and delivery would be much quicker, and you can work some deals in the off months as well.

Great question and let me tell you my recent experience of today. I ordered my tower the middle of April and it just came in last Friday!! So how's 4 months stand with you? Not very well with me. Then when I show up to drop my boat off they inform me that it's going to cost me an additional $200 because the price went up! Huh? We had an agreement of the original price. What do you think I should do? Hold the dealer to the original price or pay the extra because the price went up to them? Also, have you guys ever seen a little black round piece of plastic as the swivel for the rope? I've only seen the nice big aluminum swivel like you see on ski pylons. This has a small plastic one with a bolt sticking out the top. Does this sound right?? Help me out with some feedback. Thanks guys!

Kraig i wouldnt pay a dime over what the qouted price was, especially if they were working on your tower then...did you give them a deposit then? And did you get a reciept??

Yo Kraig, that is not cool. The tower my friend ordered was recieved a day before the six week mark. It was promised to ship by Brian at Wakeair in 3 to 4 weeks. We called numerous times and were always told different stuff and this and that. Brian is a decent guy, but my inpression was that we were getting the run around. So really they had 800 bucks up front for 6 weeks and said numerous times they would call etc.. We were the ones calling. I understand that it is the busy season but telling a customer one thing and doing another is not good business, especially when you have their cash.

To be fair, the tower is very well made, has a great paint job, a nice machined aluminum rope swivel, burley stainless hardware with heim joint connections, and looks very good. The welds are uniform and overall is a very good piece, I work in the metal mfg industry, so I can tell quality mfg. Brian should just give longer lead times during his busy season, and Wakeair will not piss off their customers. Because the tower is well made, it was worth the extra 2 week wait, but expect delays up front and you will be a happier person. I recently ordered an alternator from a CC boat dealer. He called me when it shipped, and it only cost 180 bucks, I would pay a bit extra to buy a boat from people like that.

Unfortunately I would say you are getting a very bad deal. 12 weeks???? If you gave a deposit I would have considered cancelling if it was on a ccredit card, just tell them you recieved no merchandise. Now that you have the tower, you are a bit put out. You may want to call around and see if you can buy an aluminum swivel if that is what you really want. The wakeair swivel is very nice, as was all the hardware. There are numerous tower companies and you could probably upgrade that swivel. I would definately name some names because that what these boards are about. Relate good and bad experiences, it is your right as a consumer and wakeboarder. With anything, as an industry grows, lots of people try to cash in, but not all of them are honest. I believe Wakeair just flaked a bit, but they have a great product and other folks have had good experiences with them. Whoever made your tower does not sound honest at all. Let us know more details.

Tim, if you got the 'Pro-Comp' tower.. keep a close eye on the bolts that join the legs to the main part of the tower. I had a Wake-air tower on my Bayliner and those bolts would rattle loose after just a few miles of driving. At the end of last year one of the bolts sheared off inside the leg. it was a pain to get out. It was only one side that would do this so it might have been a fluke.
other then that the tower was solid, I was happy with it.

B-

Warning to all, most towers are made out of aluminum, and the bolts which mount them are stainless steel. Steel, when in contact with aluminum, WILL eventually seize to it, making it impossible to get your bolt out, which is the cause of most sheared bolts. Remedy: put some anti-seize in the hole and on the bolt before you put it in, you can get it from a hardware store. It will keep it from seizing and being a big PITA.

Tom, Great advice..'cept, wake-air towers are made out of stainless.. the whole tower! Yes, they're heavy.

B-

Wakeair uses steel, like Barry says. Thanks for the advice Barry. As we have installed this tower ourselves we are gonna keep a close eye on all the bolts, not a bad thing to do on any tower as a loose connection could work your fiberglass like crazy and lead to a costly repair. Tightening tower bolts as a routine thing before hitting the lake.

The Wakeair tower was surprisingly light for steel, but seems pretty rigid and very solid. I don't want to guess the weight, but it was not too too bad. This one is the Sport with the breakable rear legs. I will definately keep an eye on those, luckily we can store it without breaking them, but got it just because it's a good idea if you ever want to put it in a garage or cover it.

Tom is correct though. Aluminum and steel like to stick to each other. Wakeair uses all steel, which has many merits, it's a nice tower, no doubt.

Wow an all steel tower, the must add some serious weight.

It's under 100 lbs for sure. I would say between 70-80 lbs overall. It is rigid though