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Old     (skongolf)      Join Date: Aug 2009       04-14-2010, 8:41 AM Reply   
Last september I bought an Aerial Airborne tower for my I/O ski boat on ebay from H2O sports warehouse and had a really good experience with them. Well the rubber washers that go between the tower and the boat have already started to crack and rot which I wasn't too happy about and the tower has totally faded. So I called Aerial direct to get some warranty info and the guy I talked to basically said sorry, there is nothing we can do we don't warranty things we don't sell, call the company you bought from. I said I had gotten the tower on ebay and you guys were the manufacturer so wouldnt you handle the warranty work. Again the guy said we don't warranty things that we do not sell directly call who you bought it from. The guy was basically not very helpful or willing to help at all. I was not looking to return the tower, I just wanted 4 new washers and a bolt that had broken.
Anyway, i finally find the place I bought it from on ebay and call them. I spoke to a guy named Pat, explained what happened and he asked for an order number. Well I did not have it with me and ebay does not keep info on purchases past 60 days. Pat basically said I can' pull up your record either but no problem email me what you need and i'll send it out. I emailed him at 4:00 and got a fedex shipping conf. at 4:45. Now to me that is customer service. Not so much from the manufacturer or distributor that I dealt with but Pat was awesome. Maybe this is a little bit of a rant, but just wanted to give them some props
Old     (wakereviews)      Join Date: Sep 2006       04-14-2010, 8:57 AM Reply   
the funny thing is that they are basically the same company.
Old     (skongolf)      Join Date: Aug 2009       04-14-2010, 9:10 AM Reply   
I realized that when I saw their phone numbers were 1 digit off.
Old     (johnny_gatsby)      Join Date: Sep 2009       04-14-2010, 9:44 AM Reply   
I bought the Aerial tower a couple of years ago. It is a nice looking tower and if you buy it on auction on ebay it is probably the cheapest tower you can buy. I was pretty happy with it. My boat was garaged stored so the tower seemed to age pretty well.

I don't know about the fading/discoloration of the tower, but the little rubber washers can be picked up at any hardware store for a few cents. On my boat, you could replace the rubber cushioning washers fairly easily. I imagine it could be difficult to get to on some boats.

I have heard that most of the these towers are made in China shipped over here to a bunch of different retail outfits. I am not surprised that there is very little customer service considering the price and the EBAY purchase.
Old     (gdavid)      Join Date: Feb 2010       04-14-2010, 10:48 AM Reply   
Aside from the cracked rubber washers and broken bolt how do you like the aerial airborne tower? I ask because I bought one off of ebay as well and have installed it but haven't been on the water to try it out yet. I like the appearance of it and it seems sturdy but I'm anxious to hear some feedback. There certainly are alot of them in pictures of i/o rigs on this site now.
Old     (skongolf)      Join Date: Aug 2009       04-14-2010, 11:43 AM Reply   
I like it alot, but definately make sure you locktite the small allen head screws on the legs of the tower that go over the Stainless fittings. I didn't the first two trips and had to keep retightening them. Now no issues with them coming loose. I recently had to tighten some of the bolts at the top of the tower and one started to crack on me so I ordered a new one. What finish did you get? I got the powder coated black one and it has faded pretty bad. Looks flat black now and I don't know if anything will bring it back, but the AZ sun I guess is brutal on that powder coating. Of course the guy at aerial told me I should have protected it with wax when I forst got it, but didn't even think about that. Other than that for $600 (What I paid for mine)you cant go wrong.
What boat are you putting it on? Reason I ask is that I have it on my Maxum I/O and it has a few Gelcoat cracks on the outside. I am probly gonna use some bigger backing plates soon to try and releive some of that stress.
Old     (gdavid)      Join Date: Feb 2010       04-14-2010, 12:22 PM Reply   
Mine is the powdercoated black as well. I keep it in a garage so I'm not too worried about fading and the rest of the boat isn't perfect either anyway. I put it on a 19' Sea Pro Citation which is not a very well made boat, the deck is well cored and stiff up front for the forward legs but it isn't cored and pretty thin where the rear legs attach. I'm backing up the rear legs with large plywood backings. I bought a towerbiminis brand over the top bimini on it that was originally made for a SAN tower, after some minor adjustments it fits the airborne tower very well.

One thing that I did a little differently is moved the front legs of the tower closer to centerline than the back to legs. This is going to prevent me from folding the tower down but I think it fits the boat a little better and should give it a little firmer base. My garage door is 12' high so I'm not concerned about the folding down and the boat is too old and cheap for me to worry much about resale but it could be remounted to allow it to fold if need be.
Old     (skongolf)      Join Date: Aug 2009       04-14-2010, 1:33 PM Reply   
The Bimini is next on my list since the stock one no longer fits. I just dont want to chop it up since it is pretty big and in really good shape. Just cant afford to get one from tower biminis right now. Post some pics of it if you can.
Old     (AIrwar209)      Join Date: Mar 2010       04-14-2010, 2:46 PM Reply   
+1 for H2O Sports. I have recently made purchases from them and have nothing but excellent things to say about their customer service. I have yet to test the product, as my rig is still all wrapped up, but I am confident that it will perform as expected.
Old     (ltwake)      Join Date: Apr 2010       04-19-2010, 5:42 PM Reply   
we supply all the tower to aerial. check it out. liantai.en.alibaba.com . if you need anything contact me at ltwakeboard@gmail.com

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