On my Monster I have four wakeboards, pair of KMT6 tower speakers (20lbs ea maybe) and a bimini top attached to mine. Gotta be close to 80lbs hanging from it. Still no noise in chop. It sways a little on really rough days if it's weighted this heavily.
Last edited by 87SunSportMikeyD; 02-24-2011 at 01:27 PM.
--WakeMikeys 1987 Supra SunSport--
Thread - https://forum.supraboats.com/showthread.php?t=3630
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I have the Aerial Airborne on my Sun Sport and I love it. I think the joints look very professional and even though you do have to tighten them once in a while, it's really easy to do if you buy bolts with knobs on the ends of them. I did this halfway through the season and it was a great addition. I bought my own last summer, and since then Aerial has started selling their own-knobbed bolts on their website. This eliminates the need for allan wrenches.
I have two speakers on mine and I've had four wakeboards on the racks at one point and the thing is super solid. It's also nice to be able to fold it down flat for shore station storage or garages.
here's mine...
https://forum.supraboats.com/album.p...pictureid=1306
I had an aerial assault tower on my last boat and it sucked bad. Wobbled side to side bad. Sucked so bad I sold it and bought a supra. Good thing! The set screws had to be tightened twice a day. Had a lot of weight on it with a light bar, a pair of pro 80's, a pair of pro 60's and a bimmini. Really didn't like the way the universal mount worked. There are two 2" round mounts that bolt to the outside of the hull (on the sides). Crownlines have thick glass and I reinforced behind the glass with 1'2" ply. You could still see the side flex. Even got two small stress cracks in the gelcoat(yes I reamed the holes well). The only good things I can say about aerial is they are cheap, look good and they do have good product support. I really don't know about the other towers though. If I were looking for an aftermarket tower I'd look for one that has a larger mounting flange on the sides.
I ran a canadian home made job for the last 2 years. It only rattled on the washers that were not locked down. After I siliconed them in place I never heard another sound.
I have seen guys build these things out of 2" electrical conduit, and even PVC pipe. They claim they worked just fine.
I think we all think they are under a lot more stress than they really are. I like to over engineer things a LOT more than needed. I have seen factory towers that the welds break off after only a couple years. I wonder if we are holding the bar too high for what we think a factory unit is like?
I have my eye on a cheap Chinese brand. Not because I cant afford something more expensive, I just am not convinced I the other ones offer more for the money.
Well stress cracks can be easily avoided by anyone by making simple backing plates out of plywood. Doesn't even need to be marine grade. We made ours 9" x 5". Pics in my sig gallery under Monster Tower Install
--WakeMikeys 1987 Supra SunSport--
Thread - https://forum.supraboats.com/showthread.php?t=3630
Photo Gallery - http://photos.wakeboarder.com/showga.../35518/cat/500
Videos - http://www.vimeo.com/user2034462/videos
Follow me on Twitter @WakeMikey
one word. LOCTITE! a little of there blue compound on the threads of the bolts and i promise they wont get loose.
Mine is a krypt tower. its got 2.5 inch fat tubeing and so far ive had for almost 2 years with out any issues.. no stress cracks.. no loosing of bolts.. seems pretty solid to me with out any noise unless its banging off some serious july forth wakes from entirly to many people on one lake!