1988 Supra Mariah - Tower questions and picture request

All,

I have been lurking the forums for the past three or four weeks, and have found tons of helpful knowledge and information on here. Thanks! I just picked up an 88 Mariah last night from a family friend and plan on giving her a facelift. I am interested in installing an Aerial Freeride tower. I like the New Dimension Towers, but I really like the forward raked looked of the Aerial Freeride tower. Does anyone have any experience in dealing with Aerial or their products? I am curious to hear about the quality of their products and your dealings with them. Just trying to do my homework before I pull the trigger on anything.

I am also looking for pictures of anyone that may own a Mariah with a tower installed in it. Anything you have would be great! I will start a build/rebuild thread once I get my project underway. Currently waterproofing the basement at home, so the boat project is still a week or two out.


Thank you in advance,

Luke

This is a Monster Tower MT2 with their bimini cover. Attachment 15121Attachment 15122

Boat looks sharp! Thank you.

I have an 88 Supra Mariah with the Freeride Aerial Tower.Attachment 15336Attachment 15337Attachment 15338

flipz how did you support the gunnels under the tower legs?

I have a Big Air Cuda tower on my Comp, it is supposed to be a forward sweeping tower but I liked the traditional look better for my boat. I like the fact that there is 1 solid bolt at each attach point instead of 4 smaller bolts. (less holes in your boat) I backed the mounts up with 3/4 board and made them 3x as long as the metal backing plates and as wide as I could, then installed metal backing plates.

Attachment 15339

Quote:

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Originally Posted by michael hunter

flipz how did you support the gunnels under the tower legs?

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I actually bought the boat with the tower already installed. I am working on the upholstery now so I have the speakers out and I took some pictures. looks like 3/4" wood backing plates were used.Attachment 15366Attachment 15366

flipz96, I would definetly love to see a thread about your boat with pictures. It looks super clean, the tower and wrap make it look like a modern boat. Would like to read about the Wake shape, you seem to load it with ballast etc.
Cheers

I have the Aerial Airborne on my Sunsport. The company was easy to deal with and I didn't have any issues. It's a solid tower for the money and we've enjoyed it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sdc77

flipz96, I would definetly love to see a thread about your boat with pictures. It looks super clean, the tower and wrap make it look like a modern boat. Would like to read about the Wake shape, you seem to load it with ballast etc.
Cheers

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Thanks! I'm in the process of pulling the cap off and doing a full stringer restore. I have some pictures that I sent off for upholstery quotes that I'll attach. The best quote I found so far is $2900. Seems a bit pricey being that my upholstery isn't that bad. . My set up is 1100# on the surf side of the engine box and 350 in the bow. It puts up a pretty decent clean wave. Attachment 15371Attachment 15372Attachment 15373Attachment 15374

Here is a video of the wake that I am getting.http://youtu.be/5LzbwAMnRcQ

Quote:

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Originally Posted by flipz96

Here is a video of the wake that I am getting.http://youtu.be/5LzbwAMnRcQ

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Im glad to see this can be done behind the Mariah, I was skeptical at first for sure! Can't wait to try this behind my boat.

Do you just use fat sacs? Also, are those Kicker speakers? KM654LCW? They have the LED light ring inside? That's what I am looking to buy

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lmnelson86

Im glad to see this can be done behind the Mariah, I was skeptical at first for sure! Can't wait to try this behind my boat.

Do you just use fat sacs? Also, are those Kicker speakers? KM654LCW? They have the LED light ring inside? That's what I am looking to buy

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Yeah...I have two 400 lb fly high fat sacs, a 350 lb aerial bag (which I wanted to try since they were so much cheaper), and 150 qt igloo cooler. I don't like the aerial bag so much. I had to rig up my tsunami pump to get them to work with it. I'm going to stick with the fat sacs going forward. The cooler is nice because it fits right next to the engine box and its easy to fill and empty and I keep all my ballast and pumps in it when storing away. I might have to buy more ballast since I no longer have the permanent ballast stuck under my floors (soaked foam).

The speakers I have are six 6.5"polk audio 651dbs and 2 infinity 6.5" (not sure the model since it was put in by the po) in the tower. and 12" pioneer sub (not marine grade but was also put in by the po) under the helm. Overall... its not a bad set up for what it is, but I will be upgrading sometime in the future once I get done with the necessities.

Did you do the installation yourself? How hard was it to access the mounting points?

Do you perhaps have flotation certificate for your boat. If so, I would like to ask for a copy as my boat does not have one. I own a '89 Supra Mariah.