Budget wake tower review

[bmal000]

I want to put a budget tower on my old 18' Maxum boat. I will only keep it for another year or two, hope it increases the value, and will sell it with the boat...then put a better on on my new boat Been wakeboarding for two seasons. Looking at the Dragon Universal from Extreme Marine (check Ebay for pic $550 free ship), or roll cage style from DIY wake ($500 Pyramid Manufacturing, free ship, also on Ebay). Not a big fan of the roll cage style, but function over fashion works for me. Anybody use either, or heard about them.

[hco]

Go with the second one, function is definitely over looks, but not when it comes to re-sale on your boat.

[Brit Rider]

I disagree - Go with tower one. way more stylish and FAR better built. I have worked with both companies.

[harddock]

Try Joystick ,,,, a little more $$ but good looking tower

[GuitsBoy]

I would highly suggest saving teh coin up for teh 800 dollar DIY wake polished tower. Its a quality piece and looks a million times better. Do a DIY pylon if you need something right away then save up for the better looking tower later.

[Wakebrad]

Save that money for your next boat. A tower doesn't really help all that much until you're ready to try inverts. A better wake is more important than a tower.

With that said, #2 is far better. For me I think #1 would decrease the value of the boat. Thing looks like crap.

[Brit Rider]

Wakebrad, I know tower 2 looks better on face value but trust me... they suck ass! Quality is as shoddy as shoddy can get IMO. Poor design, engineering and awful finish. Welds are particularly bad.. I'm pretty sure my dog could do better

[get_sum]

if you go with DIY, order it directly from their website vice on Ebay. It will be a few dollars cheaper.

[leviwynnyk]

The first is pretty darn ugly, it just looks cheap. Get a monster tower.

[turbohoje]

i am looking for a tower for my boat. i dont know if this is a common situation, but i dont have that nice of a boat. its a 1980, and i didnt pay that much for it, but i dont plan to get a new one for a couple years.

at first, i was thinking it might add value to my boat to have the tower on it, but prbly less than i pay for the tower. not to mention the tower will cost me as much as the boat.

so my new thought is that i buy a universal tower, use it, then sell it off when the boat is sold (if i dont get what i want for it with the tower). that being said, i'm not sure what universal tower to get and what will hold its value the best. the very top one on this post was my first choice because of the price. the more i looked into it, i see that the width of the tower is determined by a pipe sliding inside another pipe then bolted. my guess is this could be flimsy to a small degree and allow the tower to rattle and skew.

the better model ($800 polished aluminum) has more pipe, but works off the same principal.

then looking at the monster, its a pivot on a u-joint, and they swear that their towers are sturdy and silent. knowning that i want to hang wakeboards and stuff on it, i'm leaning towards the monster, but am not sure if its worth the extra $300.

my guess is the resale of the monster tower will be much easier than the other no-name one. I happen to know the monster pipe is 2.5 and i imagine the bigger the pipe the better for hanging accessories.

does anybody have any input on this? i know there is a time and a place to buy the right stuff, but if i go with the cheaper tower, i can get a fancy new wakebaord.

thanks
Justin

[WakeMikey]

The tower will add resale value but not 100% of what you paid, same as anything. Only thing about Monster is that once you mount it to your boat, it is no longer adjustable. It is fixed at that width. It is a very nice tower.