Hey question for all you guys. i have the option of picking up a phat budde tower but the problem is it doesnt have the mounting hardware which is like a ball joint that fits in a saddle dealio. instead i was wondering if it was feasable to just take it and weld some plates to the bottom and attach it accordinly with the under plate ect. i had a proflight tower on my last boat and that was how it was mounted and seemed to be fine? does that sound like it would be an issue? i called up phat budde and they told me $500 bucks just for the mounting hardware?!!!! i thought that sounded crazy. what do you guys think?
ok well heres my deal. both the samson tower and the phat budde are like 2,500 to 2,700. i can get this tower with no hardware for 500 bucks? can i possibly go wrong here?
Sam - Yes you can go wrong. Phat Towers are made to fit a specific boat, they are not stiff and the board racks don't work well. for just a few more $$$ you can get a better tower that will fit your boat. http://www.monstertower.com/monster_tower.htm
im not a big fan of the monster tower look. i like the phat budde look. ive got other buddies that said they like the tower alot. anyone else here have any experiance with one?
has anyone had plates welded to the end of a tower? most wakeboard towers seem like that is how they are mounted with round plates and backing plates as well. just curious if anyone has done this?
I have a Samson/Phat Budde tower. It was on the boat when I got it. I update the mounting feet from the old 1 1/2" round style that was on it to much bigger plates and added better reinforcements inside the hull. Samson hooked me up with all the new parts at a very reasonable cost. It works great and doesn't sway/shake or rattle any more thatn any other towers that I have seen. The board built-in board racks work OK and are great when you add standard fork ons as you can hold up to 8 boards. As for just welding plates on, that would probably work but it seems like alot of work when a call to Samson would probably yield better results..........
ok. fabrication done. tower is on. going out today to ride behind it. i put huge plates behind it cause i figured bigger is better. here are some pics let me know what you think. it went from just round tube to what it is now.
Wow. Impressive job for a DIY! Somebody has had some experience and access to a fab shop. It is not easy making those plates and bending them so clean.
BTW, those screws are fine IMO as long as they bolt thru to a backing plate. I've seen plenty of towers mounted that way and they were fine(most Nautiques are mounted just like that).
the screws are 1/4" stainless. they look small in the picture. they are actually pretty big. my old pro flight on my supreme had even smaller screws. they go through a huge backing plate. thanks for the input guys.