Questions from a new guy.

Hi all,

I've been lurking on here for some time, trying to educate myself a little. and finally have a need to ask some questions.
Our family has been boating for many years with a family style I/O bowrider.
Due to some major back problems, I have been forced to sell my favorite toy, (600 HP sand rail), and we are upgrading our boat so my sons can get more into wake sports. Me, I'll just drive the boat...
I'm old enough to remember the Sanger Hydros, and have ridden a lot in a friends DX II. This boat impressed me. It did have the "Black Scorpion" engine, which I believe is 330 HP.
We are purchasing a 1998 Sanger DLX with the 315 HP EFI engine. The boat is in pristine condition and has less than 125 hours on it. It also belongs to a friend, and I am familiar with the maint. that has been performed and have ridden in and driven it, so I am very comfortable with the boat.
My question is regarding a tower.
No disrespect to any manufacturers out there, but I have done some fabricating of my own over the years, and am having a hard time seeing where the dollars are in some of these $2000.00 (+) towers.
Anybody out there with some good advice on a reasonably priced tower for this boat? Any photos? Attachment point info? I'm open to any and all feedback.
Our friends with the DX II have access to tubing benders and a certified TIG welder, and we are seriously considering building towers for both boats.

Thanks

sam8

(Message edited by sam8 on December 12, 2004)

most of your $2000 towers are custom towers, you give them your exact measurements and they will build the tower spacificly for your boat. The only up side ive heard about them is they are more stiff. About your best deal for a tower is a monster tower, it is sturdy and cheap. you can go to there web site and they have pictures of the finish product on mastercrafts i know, it has been a while since i have been on there so i can't remember if they have your model. also try doing a "wakeboard tower" search on a search engine.

OEM for Sangers are Proflight Swoop
http://www.wakeside.com/page/W/PROD/pro_flight_wakeboard_towers/pro_flight_swoop_tower
I have one on mine & it is a very nice tower and suits the lines of the DLX very well. Is 2k+ tho. Also some of the Sanger guys also use Trimetic tower, they like them also. Send Ty-one-on a PM to get the low down on them.

Thanks guys, I appreciate the tips. We are going to bring the boat home next weekend, it is going to be a long wait until the spring thaw..

I agree, most of these towers are complete rip offs. I built one 4 years ago, cost me 300 bucks in tubing and then labour. If your doing it yourself you should come in under 600 or 700 bucks.

However Monster tower makes one for 1000 bucks with free shipping. Don't kid yourself, they're a lot of work to build. Even though mine turned out great, I'd never do it again. Go with Monster...

I've seen a bunch of folks with the monster towers on the net, but never seen one up close. I do like the looks of the Pro Flight on the DLX.
Pat, we will take a look before we start bending up any tubing...
Changed my profile a bit.. (Yeah, I'm proud)

If you have the equipment and skill there is no reason you shouldn't do it yourself. Save the $$$ and get yourself PP or a ballast system. thats my .02

If I were in your position I would do one of 2 things. Either take the lazy route and buy a Monster (what I did with my last boat), or get the detail goodies from Raul (http://stores.ebay.com/Precision-Metal-Machining_W0QQsspagenameZstrkQ3amefsQ3amesstQQtZkm) and make my own. He sometimes has the feet and tow points available.

The Monster tower is great and really easy to install. I've installed three of them now and they take about three hours to install. http://monstertower.com/

dang, 3 hours, what is exactly the process of installing one of these things? i have a ski pole for now but a tower is a must have in my future. im thinking about a wakeair tower.

It could be done faster if the Beer brakes and BS,ing were cut back.

hah i gotcha. yeah most of my help only have one good hand the other is handicaped.

df

sorrry about that. Hey if you have access to the equipment, then do it yourself. my buddy did his for about 600 bucks. However the OEM is proflight and and your might be able to get the standard tower or the swoop tower. It might be hard to design your own swoop tower. There factory is in Merced, Ca. My buddy got a swoop tower for "he claims 1300$" but i think he paid about 1500$ out the door with tax and predrilled powder coated white and installed. Be sure to drill holes for the speaker wire if you do it yourself

df? that isn't a comment in my voc.

J.

I can't tell you what a big project this can be. When I built mine, towers didn't fold down very well and I needed mine to fit in my garage. To this day it's still the best design I've seen for folding down.

I never built mine to save money, it ended up costing around 1800 bucks. That included the pipe, bending, labour, and building a model for the welders to copy. It took the shop about 4 days to complete it. If you're doing it by yourself, it's going to take some time. I guess it all depends on what it looks like though. A monster tower design won't take you as long as what a MC zero flex or flight control will take. If you don't need it to fold, that will take much less time as well.

Here are a bunch of pics I took of mine

Thanks for the tips, guys.
Pat, you did a nice job.
We are still contemplating this project. I would probably start by building a mock-up out of exhaust tubing to use as a pattern.

sam8