Choice of Tower??

[cwsaltare88]

I\'m new to the list and new to wakeboarding and was wondering if I could get some advice on what type/brand of tower would be best for my boat. I recently purchased a 1988 Supra Saltare and wanted to add a tower this winter, although I\'m not sure what tower to go with. I really don\'t want to drop a ton of money on one but, I would like something that will work well and look good on the rig. I was looking at the Monster tower, anyone using that particular tower on a similar boat? Any suggestions would help.

Thanks,

cw

[Salty87]

i bought a tower for my saltare before monster towers were being made. if i had it to do over, i'd go with monster. they look great and they're collapsible. my tower works great but doesn't collapse.

i've seen monsters on sunsports but haven't seen one on a saltare yet. post a pic of whatever you go with.

[cwsaltare88]

Thanks for the advice, I appreciate any help I can get. The Monster tower doesn't look too difficult to install, the thing I'm concerned with is the thickness of the fiberglass on my boat. Do you think I will need to reinforce the mounting area on the boat with additional fiberglass?

What year is your Saltare? engine size?

I've got tons of questions for everyone, this chat board is great.

Thanks,
cw

[Salty87]

mine is an 87 (w/454 engine) and i honestly doubt the installer reinforced the fiberglass. since i didn't see what it looked like under the gunnels, i can't say for sure, but i probably would have reinforced them if i did it myself. but, like most diy'ers, i tend to over-do things. i can tell from having taken a quick peak that there are wooden backing plates to absorb stress.

i haven't noticed any flex at the deck and there are no spiderweb cracks anywhere near the tower legs. its really sturdy even with speakers and board racks full.

even if you have to slap some fiberglass in there, it doesn't have to look good. i'm so glad i got a tower, it's a whole new boat that's even roomier now.

[cwsaltare88]

I'm glad to hear that your boat is holding up well with the addition of a tower, that makes me feel better about installing one on my boat. I've read some pretty grim threads about guys having to make some extensive repairs after having problems (gelcoat/figerglass cracks) due to tower stresses, I will definately reinforce the deck before the install.

What kind of ballast system do you use? I was looking at some articles about installing an electronic system using fat sacs and pumps, is this something you would recommend trying? I've got more ideas than time or money, I'm going to end up with a kickin boat but no money for gas (it might help if I was actually good at wakeboarding though).

cw

[Salty87]

i don't ride as much as i used to and i don't bother with ballast anymore. i have sacs and used to use them, the boat does need weight for a great wake. my favorite was 500 on the playpen, and 500 on each side of the engine.

1 observation i made about fat sacs was that old floors don't like them. the stringers can take the weight but i found that the flooring now sags between stringers. my floor is kind of like a roller coaster with ups and downs. in my opinion, no actual basis in fact, is that the weight cracks the flooring between the stringers and that increases the deterioration of the wood.

i wish there were a center ski locker and a bigger rear locker to hide the sacs. i'm going to re-do the flooring and stringers sometime in the next 6 months and had toyed with the idea of under-floor ballast but i think i'll be lucky to just get the thing back together.

how long have you had yours? made any changes or modifications?

[cwsaltare88]

We got our boat around the first of August from a local boat dealer. I believe it was a trade in, the dealer we got it from normally does not deal with inboard style boats, they deal mostly with I/O and outboards (fishing rigs mostly). About a month after we bought it the transmission went south (had 430 hours, is this normal?) so, we took it back to the dealer. They worked on it for several weeks trying to fix it, finally after about 7 weeks of messing with it I told them to install a rebuilt tranny. They picked up all the labor and the parts for the old tranny that they had tried to fix. Needless to say I was getting very frustrated at this point but, I guess we've got a new (rebuilt) tranmission in the boat now.

I've also refinished most of the teak, hopefully I can get it all done again this winter; it makes a huge cosmetic difference. Oh, and a new bilge pump, which brings me to a question, how much water should the boat normally take on. After the new tranny install I seem to be taking on more water, the bilge runs more often?

BOAT-"Break Out Another Thousand": I'm learing this the hard way.

The last time we had it out was the first of November, the water is getting pretty chilly here in Missouri that time of year. I need to do a partial winterization soon, I can get away without having to do a fully one; it stay inside the heated garage.

I'm thinking about the ballast system install, I want to do a tower first though. I guess I'll have to assess the budget afterwards to see if I can squeeze the bassast in or wait till next year. I want to try my hand at wake surfing next season so I thought the ballast would help, do you think it is necessary?

cw

[Salty87]

i've had mine for about 4 years now, got it with 325 hours and it has 775 now. my tranny has been solid so far. that sucks that yours went out, these velvet drives are supposed to be fairly indestructable. don't hear of them going out too much....what was it doing? i've heard of people who's props spin in neutral or slip.

i learned the hard way at first too, sometimes there's not much you can do. i do most of my work but i can't rebuild a transmission. the dealer got me once, i can't even remember what the issue was but i remember the bill. i haven't been back since except for a few parts.

i'd like to find a way to get rid of some of the teak. a friend of mine just bought a sunsport and it doesn't have as much, looks good and less work. i pulled all of it off a few seasons ago, need to do it again.

go for the tower this off season if you can, it makes the boat feel so much bigger. only a new prop makes a bigger difference....ok, new stereo is pretty sweet too.

i've surfed behind mine, i think you'd need a ton of weight to really make a huge surfing wake. otherwise, it's pretty good as is. i usually have more people with me when we surf and just have them move around. there have also been a few tickets given out for reckless operation around here. 1 friend got a ticket, he had his ballast all in one corner so the cop said it was unsafe. bunch of crap.

[cwsaltare88]

The tranny had only one gear, forward. When it was put in reverse, it still went forward. It had no nuetral, either when the throttle was straight up or when the nuetral knob was pulled out, it just had forward gear. The dealer worked on it trying to fix it for several weeks, finally I said put a new tranny in. Unfortunately I was only able to get it back on the lake a few times after getting it back from the dealer before breaking down and winterizing it (just did that yesterday).

I try to do most everything myself as well, it helps that my father is a mechanic and has his own shop. It's the only place big enought that I can actaully get work done on the boat, plus he has all the tools. I have a two car tandem garage that I keep the boat in but, it only has about 3 or 4 inches of clearance on each side, I have to crawl through the boat to get to the back of the garage.

I want to remove the striping on the boat and polish it this winter (along with other projects), shouldn't be too hard just time consuming. I'm not sure how to get the stripes off, any ideas?

I know what you mean about the teak, it's something that takes a great deal of upkeep.

Where did you keep your ballast at the front of the boat, did you have it in one of the compartments or just sitting in the playpen area?

I'm ready for spring and it's not even Christmas yet, that's pretty sad.

cw

[Salty87]

for the front ballast, i just left the sac on the playpen. there's tons of room under those cushions, though. it seems like it wouldn't be too hard to make space....but, everything seems like it shouldn't be too hard!

i did my stripes this past year....check this thread.... http://supraboats.com/msgboard/read.php?TID=597

it wasn't hard but took a long time, i'm very glad i did it. the boat looks tons better now.

anyway, if you have any questions or problems i'll be checking back all winter.

i haven't had to winterize yet here and am hoping to get some lake time this friday (12/10). i'll probably drain the block after that, i don't fog as i'm too close to the lake to go all winter without getting out there.