Krypt Towers VS. Aerial Towers HELP!!!!!!!

Okay, I'm new to this board so try to be gentle. LOL! Anyways, I'm looking at adding a tower to my boat and I've narrowed it down quite a bit, but I'm having some problems finding the pics I need to finalize my decision. I've searched quite a bit on here and after spending a few hours, I thought I might just be able to flat out ask for help.

I was really sold on the Aerial Airborne first, but after seeing a rear pic of it, it just seemed REALLY wide along the back uprights, and with my boat only being an 18' long with and 7' beam, I thought it would look really disproportionate.



Is this just a bad pic of this tower? Does anyone have any other installed pics of this tower?

So I started looking at the Krypt towers. First I looked at the Swoop, and was able to find a few pics, but was unable to find a pic straight on from the back. This is about all I could find.



However, I think I saw a Krypt Pro Air while out at the lake this weekend but wasn't sure. I haven't found any of them installed with the back view. Anyone have anything out there?



Any help in this would GREATLY be appreciated. Also, what have peoples experiences been with both brands of towers. I've found some info on here, but it never hurts to have move info.

Thanks again for all your help! I love the site so far!

Doug, I have the Aerial on my boat, love it and the company. The pic you have of it from the rear is correct, the rear legs are out further than the front. I have a 5 year warranty on it, and each time they have an up-grade (i.e. quick release knobs)they send em to me. Their customer service people are very helpful, and super cool as well.

Thanks for the reply Wade. Is the width of your rear stance on your boat as pronounced as on the rear pic I have? I really like that tower, just can't get past the rear stance.

Also, for others that have the Krypt towers, is there a big difference in rigidity between the Pro Air with the double bar on the top as opposed to the Swoop with the single bar on top?

Thanks again!

Douglas, the resident "Mr. Boat Restorer" on here Robandrus put a Krypt tower on a Mastercraft he redid. Guy does awesome stuff to any boat he buys. I like you wanted to see pics of the Krypt tower from the back as well. There are other pics on here of it but here is the one you want. As you can see very nice stance. I think that Krypt really looks pretty damn good.

Wow, thanks! The more I see the Swoop, the more I like it. I'm still trying to find some pics of the Pro Air. I wonder how much of a difference that additional support makes, especially with me being a bigger boy (about 230#). Has he mentioned anything about the performance of the tower? Does it perform as well as it looks?

Thanks again, and if anyone has pics of the Pro Air let me see them. I think I've definately narrowed it down between the Swoop and Pro Air!

Thanks again!

I just purchased the Aerial Airborne and my wife and I had the same "issue" with it as you did. The rear being so much wider sucks but I loved the side profile and the tower itself gets good reviews. I picked up some Fusion tower pods so I'm hoping that by adding 4 speakers and a light bar to the tower, it will "fill" in the wide look of the back. I've got an 02' Moomba Outback with an 8' beem so I'm a bit wider than you. I'm installing it sometime in the next week - so I'll post a bunch of pics when I do.

I had the same tower choices as you did and couldn't find any more pics than you did. I liked the look of the Swoop as well (looks like the Tige tower) but the single bar and overall design mad me a tad nervous.

I'm hoping my Aerial looks good. That pic you posted freaks the hell out of me though.

My friend put an aerial tower on his boat, (17ft Glastron) and it looks great. It doesn't look too wide in the back like that picture shows. I'll see if I can dig up a pic.

Yeah Douglas I like the Krypt one alot as well. It looks so close to a Supra tower I have considered replacing my OEM one with it.

Here is a tower that I think is a far better looking design:

That one doesn't look that bad. The lower portion doesn't look that great though unless it really followed the lines of the boat it was on. The swoop one has that problem to though. There is a def. flaw in the design. Its mixing the straight angles of the lower section with the curves of the rest of it. Just doesn't flow. Just my opinion though.

I got a Liquid audio, which I really like. What kind of boat are you putting it on. I screwed up and measured the widest part on my boat, and didn't measure where the front feet were going, the tower was a little wide for my boat, so I had to so do modifying to the tower, ended up turning out great. my beam was like 76 inches..

After installing an Ichor, Boss & AirBoom, a couple things I'd look for in any tower I installed from here on.

- The tower with the least about of joints in it is usually a lot stronger. Especially the upper joints. The ones down below are necessary. And heim joints are the best because they spread the load across the surface evenly.

- No joints on the sides. You will find that you hit them on docks, trailer guides, other boats, etc. and frequently will start cracks in the gelcoat.

- Use the largest bottom plates you can to help spread the load on the glass. I've also been thinking it would be a good idea to fab a top plate too, maybe out of billet or carbon fiber. Then sandwich the hull between the two plates, and the tower foot on top. Most of these boats were never built to have a tower on them, and with 230 lb guys loading them up, I'd want that load spread across the widest surface I can.

Some people buy towers for the looks. I need a tower that is strong, because it will have 100 lbs in speakers & foils on it, plus my big butt haulin it around.

How about this one?

Chris,

What brand is that on the Interceptor above?

Thanks!

I spoke with Ken over at Bullet Lines today. Nice enough guy but doesn't have any pics of the Pro Air. You would think that distributers would want detailed pictures of their products installed? Maybe I'm wrong. Anyways, He said the taper on the rear uprights is adjustable, but I don't see how that can be? The bend at the top corner would have to be adjustable in order to adjust the taper of the uprights wouldn't it?

This is getting frustrating. I'm about to say hell with it and just get the Monster. Atleast I'll know what it looks like installed. LOL!

what you think about this tower
www.tricktowers.com

I like that. I actually looked at those a while back, but the $1150 then the $300 for the option to make it collapse and the $250 shipping put it a bit outta my price range. Good looking tower though!

Douglas,

What boat (and year) are you putting a tower on?

2008 Searay 175 Sport...Yah, I know it's not a "wake" boat, but I didn't realize how much I'd enjoy wakeboarding until after I bought this boat. So I'll be using this one for a few more years.

One good suggestion - get a custom built tower, NOTHING universal, I highly recommend Wakeair towers and have installed over 100 with no complaints.

If you do decide to go custom, here are a few shots of our custom N2 on a Searay (slightly larger boat).

More pics can be seen http://www.fluidconcepts.net/photos/index.php/N2%20Wakeboard%20Tower/SeaRay.

wow, i like that a lot. Do you have to have the boat in the shop to make a tower for a boat or do you have measurement forms? If measurement forms, hit me up... would like to add that to our site.

I also have a 2004 sea ray 180 almost the same boat as your and also like the krypt and arial towers so please post pics once you get yours on thanks

The tower shown on the interceptor is a Winch wakeboard tower but they are not available again until spring.

Chris,

Do you have any other pics of the Winch? Side angles and from the front and back? Also, will that tower collapse and do you have any pics of it collasped?

Thanks!

Doug

I like that N2 alot also. But I think it's a little outta my price range. Sweet tower though!

Ian - If we don't already have the measurements in house, then we can provide a measurement form. It's a fairly simple process. Email sent.

Douglas - we would be happy to give you a quote. I think you'll find our prices are very competitive...even up against these universals.

I just wanted to bump this up to the top since I've updated..

I installed my Aerial Airborne tower this weekend with some friends. The install was straight forward. Took us about 6 hours but that was a beer break and one minor issue not really related to the tower.

The question about this thread was bout the rear bars and how wide they are. First, as I look at the picture I wonder what the hell they were doing when they installed that. The rear bars slide into the main H section but are NOT pre-drilled. Meaning, you drill all of the holes for the WIDTH based on your boat. Mine does not sit out like that at all. The rears are probably 5" wider than the front which is typical of all towers. I made my own plywood backing plates to help the stress on the gel coat, this worked great too.

Aerial should REALLY install this on another boat and narrow up that rear for the pictures. I *ALMOST* passed on this tower 100% due to that rear picture. I'm sure glad I didnt. The tower is great, fits great and is SOLID. If anyone is thinking about buying one - do it up. Looks nice.

[IMG]http://i28.tinypic.com/2n1x8on.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i27.tinypic.com/2zyk8pj.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i32.tinypic.com/2qck1er.jpg[/IMG]

Proof of said sturdiness!
[IMG]http://i29.tinypic.com/wioc3a.jpg[/IMG]

Great product. Happy with it.

Douglas,

Have you looked at the Big Air Vapor Tower?

http://www.bigairpylons.com/VaporTower.htm

http://www.bigairpylons.com/VaporTowerMorePics.htm

I'm thinking of getting this one for my 18 footer.

These are a few pics from their website... Of course, I couldn't find one from the rear.

Found some new pics of the Winch Tower. I think I like the Winch better...