Towing with tower?

Ok guys so I just got my new tower on my boat. If I fold it down it looks like it will sit on the sun pad. So Question 1. Do i tow down or up?
Questions 2. What do I use to that the tower wont rip up the seats?

We towed our boat 1500 miles each way, 3000 total to florida and left it up the whole time, speakers (we did have covers), racks, and tower were all fine.... unless you've got some sorta cabin cruiser and you want make it under overpasses i wouldn't worry.

when my friend folds their Titan tower they just use a swim noodle on the one part that makes contact, seems to work for them

Tow it up if your not going along distance. Towels work well to guard against the gel coat when is folded down.

The only bad thing about towing with it up is bugs all over everything. But clean up is pretty easy. And me and my friends tow around alot of ag fields so lots of bugs.

I tow long distance with the tower down. There is a lot of wind drag with it up. Just protect the areas where it rests.
You can make a brace to hold it while you tow so it doesn't rest on anything.

^^there isnt enough drag to make that much of a difference compared to the tow vehicle and boat combined.

Art when u refer to a brace do you mean like the brace that holds the bimini when towing?

It can be a chunk of 2X4 that supports the tower just above whatever it might normally rest on. Almost anything, every tower and boat are different. The idea is to put the weight load onto the floor, or distributed over a wider area of upolstered area.

I dont really see what the problem is with towing with the tower up. If it is designed to go 50+ mph on the water bouncing around on waves while having as much tension on it that a wakeboarder will create (maybe not going 50+ lol), going 65mph down the highway shouldnt cause any problem at all. I would think that resting it on the sunpad and taking the chance of hitting a bump and causing the tower to jump around would cause more damage. I tow with mine up 400 miles round trip to the lake almost every other weekend.

Dirty- I have to concur

Up, our tower is hinged at the top as well so the front legs would be loose with it down... come to think of it, I've never personally seen anyone tow with it down. Not saying it doesn't happen but everyone I've ever encountered leaves it up.

I agree with Art - the wind drag is significant enough to justify putting it down for long tows, especially at $4/gal. As an example, my truck will stay in OD on flat ground with the tower down, but hunts with it up.

Towels and cheap lifejackets work well to protect the seats and gelcoat where it rests. Tie it down too so it doesn't bounce.

Trace you seriously tow with your tower down? Got any pics of the event?

Funny guy.

I don't do it often, but I have a couple times on trips over 100 mi. I actually see people around here doing it fairly often, though.

Thanks but I was being serious, how do you do it. Do you secure the tower down etc.. I've never seen anyone tow with a tower down unless it was shrinkwrapped.

I tow long distance with the tower down. Use my bumpers between the tower and the boat seat above the v-drive without the seat cushion. Works just fine, no strapping down needed. Less bugs to clean, less wind resistance - makes 1-2 mpg difference. Can't find any pictures, sorry.

I allways tow with it up and the bimini also up. Is that OK??

PS should I get a F450 I need to tow a 17` glasstron with a 4 cyl. and a ice chest in it

LOL my friend has a f350 super duty deisel to tow his 17 foot glastron with a 4 cyl in it LMFAO. i swear you cant even see the boat behind the truck

tow with it up. wind drag

HECK NO do not tow with the bimini up!!! it will destroy it at highway speeds.

Wind drag.....I don't think so, Bimini up no way!

i would think that if you angle the bimini the right way it would act as a wing, creating uplift and making the boat liighter. hahaha. if they would only hold up to this kind of abuse that would be great

I towed my boat 3500 miles last summer. Half with tower up and half with it down. The gas mileage improved significantly when the tower was down. Towing while tower up I got on average according to my onboard trip computer around 10 (rarely 11) miles to the gallon at 65mph. Towing with it down for the second half I got consistently 13-14 mpg at 65 mph. The motor didn't need to pull as much RPM's with tower down with out a doubt! I taped a piece of 1 x 8 to the tower and then taped a lot of towels underneath it with duct tape so it didn't hurt the vinyl. Also once it was down I screwed it in place with the tower leg clamp so there was no bouncing. It saved on the bug clean up as well which was a real pain. I wrapped it in saran wrap and that helped but it tore apart after awhile. On long trips I always tow with tower down now as it is a real gas saver. Across town I don't worry about it.

Convinced yet, comedians?

When we use to tow long ways we put serain (sp) wrap on the tower and boxes when you get there peel it off and all the chit is clean. Free way speeds aren't going to hurt the tower or anything on it Period!!

I was told by new dimension to tow it with the tower up, so that is what I do. I have seen no difference in towing beofre and after the tower install.

No not even close to being convinced...even if I'm driving and seeing these results I'd think something was up with the gas I was putting in or something. I just don't think a 2" bar or however thick they are is going to make a differance.

Think what you want but I know my results. Also it took a total of 8 gas fillups to do the trip. That is 8 different gas stations in eight different locations across the country all with same results. A tower with speakers and wakeboard racks has a lot of winddrag as they stick up so high above the car. I may do a similar trip again this summer and will do the same experiment.

Yea, I'm not trying to dog you...I'm just surprised that it would make a diffrance. My tower doesn't really fold down anyway so I guess either way it doesn't matter to me. If you do it again def. share your results!

One thing to consider is the way that the tower comes down. I know that mine completely disconnects from the front feet when I fold it down. With it down, and only attached to the rear feet, there is a lot more side to side movement in the tower than with it up and fully connected. This would seem to put more stress than with all four feet attached. But again, that only applies to my tower design.

I always tow with the tower up.

definately tower down for towing. A pair of aero roofbars can add 10% to the fuel used, a tower will create more drag and so will harm your fuel consumption. Over here in the UK we are currently paying the equivalent of $10 per gallon so anything to reduce consumption wins for me...

If your worried about dirt or bugs put some plastic wrap around the tower and take it off when you get where your going.

I would never tow with it down.

Or just bring a spray bottle with soap/water in it and spray it down and wipe off. Probably would take less time than wrapping the whole thing, then taking it off when you get to the lake!

I wonder if the difference in towing with the tower up or down is also due to how much stuff you have on your tower. A lot of guys just have a tower, no accessories, and maybe towing with that up won't make much difference.
But I have 4 big speakers & a bimini & it's gotta be a TON of drag towing it at 60 or 70 mph.

Yea i think it is going to use tons more gas with more obsticles on the tower