"who's got a Monster tower"

I have been looking at towers and have started to lean toward the Monster tower. Can any of you out there that have one give me some feed back. I have a 1989 Mastercraft Tristar. I'm really excited to get all of our toys out of the boat. We have two kneeboards, two wakeboards, and will be buying a wake surf soon. In a year we will be adding one more kids wakeboard.

When I buy my tower I will also need a mirror any preferences (I have the original mirror that came with my boat)?

Thanks for your feedback in advance.

I put one on my old boat. Its a quality product and easy to install

Check my profile, I had a tristar with a monster tower on it.

holy boat progression Rob

Rob
Looks nice...I might have to convince my wife of getting speakers.

would you suggest to run wire for future speakers when you install the tower?

I love mine on my 87 Supra SunSport. Should be in my profile. Your old mirror will work fine. No need to wire the tower until you buy the stereo equip. Just finished my budget stereo.

I had one on my old Sanger(see profile)

Great customer service,and great products!

Duuude. I just put a Monster on my 89 Tristar a few weeks ago. Solid as a rock! You'll love it!

Monster Tower makes a excellent tower. But make sure you check and retighten the bolts frequently with all the beating it takes the bolts start to loosen. We had the upper section crack due to a weldment defect, but only a email was needed to have a replacement part on its way! Top notch warranty!

I put a Monster MT2 on my '07 Chaparral 220 last year. I didn't try to install it myself, I let a local dealer do it so it was done right and they would take the liability for any damage to the boat or the tower. It was well worth the price. The tower looks good but I've had lots of issues. First of all it creaks alot with a heavy pull (>200 lbs) and shakes alot in chop. I've tried to tighten the allen nuts at the joints to the point of stripping out the aluminum and it STILL pops and creaks. Secondly, and my biggest disappointment, is the issues with the bimini. A bimini is a must with my three kids under 10yrs. I haven't heard of situation yet where a stock bimini fit under, over, or in-between the MT2. Which really SUCKS since Monster has yet to come up with an after market option?! I ended up engineering a system for mine which lets the front arch bar of the bimini drop 2 feet to clear the front legs of the tower and then re-extends to almost original height. It works OK but I have to drop it and then re-extend it everytime. If I knew how much trouble the whole project would have been, I would have paid the extra $1,200 for the factory tower and been done with it! The third problem I've had with Monster is their "warranty". So far I've tried to return two defective board racks where the chrome blistered in the first 6 months and two broken tower clamps. They won't take back anything. My advice...if you have a boat newer than 2000, go with the factory tower. If it's an old boat with no other option, roll the dice.

Monster makes a nice tower but it is one size fits most. I have friends in the business and they offer both Titan and Monster they prefer the titan tower its a little beefier and it is custom fit to your boat. I think they still offer free shipping while monster charges so it was like $200 more for the titan when it is all said and done.

I liked the Monster on my 1995 Ski Nautique but the top corners did need to be tightened every other outing. I do cut wide and hard so my towers take a hard side load. The instructions indicate that you can do one or two pins in each top corner, do two in each corner and crank them down. Great customer service (or at least they did while it was owned Bill Bierbower). Not sure if Bill is still running the show. Order the finish to match your windshield trim.



ps Dont trailer with boards on the tower, they were just there for the picture.

(Message edited by mikeski on May 10, 2009)

This is great feed back. Nick have you had any problem with noise or vibration when you are riding.

I'm a wake boarder who ways around 225 and I'm the biggest that goes behind the boat. The torque on the tower make me a little nervous because I do cut hard to try to get as much out of my wake as I can.

Nick did you get your speakers and racks from Monster? Nick do you weigh your boat down with fat sacs, how much weight do you add if you do?

I have a monster tower as well. My biggest gripe is the inability to keep the tower from swaying left to right when I have riders loading the line. This season I spent 1/2 a day and 75 bucks to get the corner joists welded by a professional welder. With the corners welded I LOVE the towers strength and rigidy.

There is no doubt their customer service is amazing, I just wish they had a way to fix the sway without the consumer having to find a reputable aluminum welder.

I have absolutely no noise or vibration. Last weekend I pulled a buddy that weighs much more than 225 with no problems at all. I bought two MT board racks from Monster. All of my audio equipment I wanted to see in person before I bought it, so that was through other dealers.

Last year I used 2 Launch Pad Recliners (540's) next to the engine and jammed as many people as I could into the boat. For this season I upgraded to the Fly High 750 lbs fat sacs. Well worth the extra money. I know the boat can handle more weight easily, but there are only so many people I can trust driving when it sits that low in the water...

Here is with 1080 lbs of ballast and 8 people and my buddy Tim riding last season.

My MT1 does not sway, vibrate when 220lb rider cuts hard. It does need to be tightened every few times out, but I have to raise and lower the tower every time to get it under the boat lift canopy so that is to be expected. Also have two racks and just got the mirror. I love mine no issues. See profile pic.

If you're shopping for a cheap aftermarket tower you should be looking at Titan Series 1. It's custom built for your boat. No flex or vibration. Up and down in 30 seconds. I wouldn't even consider adding a "universal" tower to a ski boat. Personally, when looking at used boats, if it's got a Monster tower(or any other universal tower) I basically think to myself "wow, they sure ruined that boat" and look elsewhere.

I added a Titan Series 2 tower to my boat a few years ago and love it. I had the tower 1 week after I gave them dimensions. Perfect Fit. No joints to worry about.

Monsters are money! I have had one for 4 years now and nothing to complain about but a solid pull. Check out my profile for a shot of a 91 tristar with the monster on it.

John
www.waterskis.com

Titan does not fold flat! Only one set of feet are hinged but you'd never get that in a garage or under a boat lift. Depending upon your application these can be deciding factors.

Titans do fold flat... All 4 feet are hinged... How flat the front hoop folds depends on how close you put the feet to the windshield. If they're right next to it, it won't fold down as flat over the windshield. If you space them forward further (mine are about 6 inches from the base of the windshield), it folds down pretty flat. Because of the curve on the front hoop, my tow point is about even with the windshield. The rear hoop folds to the rear, and is completely flat, below the windshield.

Sorry if I offended anyone with a Monster Tower, but you'll always be better off with a custom tower over a universal tower, especially when there's such a small price difference to get into a Titan tower.

I installed the MT1 on my boat. A few things I really like.

1. It doesn't flex or rattle
2. Because it will fit any boat, you can pick & choose where you want to drill into your boat. This allows you to place the tower without interrupting the placement of any existing snap on covers (if you have them)
3. If folds down below the windshield if you mount it strategically. This has allowed me to use the original trailer-cover, that was custom fit to my boat, over top the folded down tower.
4. Customer service has been great, when I emailed them about some blistering chrome on my board racks, they responded immediately with an offer to replace them.

Charlie do you have a pic of the Titan folding flat? No offense at all just friendly discussion. Sorry if my post was not accurate.

I looked at the titan and am a little nervous that it doesn't fold flat because my cover on my lift sits pretty low and I will need to drop the tower down to get the boat on.

Have most of you with the Monster put the tower on yourself?

I snapped a few pics of the tower up and down.

As a frame of reference, my mirror sticks up exactly 8" above the windshield, and the tallest part of the hoop is about 2-3" below that. So, the tower is slightly higher than the windsheild, about 5-6" above. If you moved the tower feet forward by a couple more inches it would end up being less. If you have a slalom boat you will clear a 7' garage door no problem. I have at least 6-8" of clearance. The boats that might end up too tall would be the deeper v-drive boats that sit a lot taller on the trailer to start with. An option on these boats would be to fold the front hoop forward instead of onto the windshield, and drop the tongue of the trailer down lower when you wheel it into the garage.

The Titan series 1 and 2 are the stiffest towers on the market. The triangulated front hoop allows no side to side movement, and the large front to rear spread allows no front to rear flex. They collapse with removing one bolt out from below the tow spool, and you can have it up or down within about 30 seconds. I wouldn't consider any other tower if I was shopping for towers again, but to each his own....

Wakemikey- You ride the river in Anoka? Some of my foiler buddies ride out there all the time. I'm out there with them occasionally...

Charlie - I see a boat of foilers out Allllllllll the time they have one guy who loves to rip backflips over and over and over it is crazy watching them. I'll be sure to wave!

I didn't know the Titan folded that flat that is pretty good! But would the factory cover fit over it? Since the river goes up and down a lot, sometimes I have just a few inches clearance to get under the boat lift canopy. The Monster is 100% completely below the windshield.

I know everyone has a different setup for storing the boat and everyone has different requirements in a tower. I HAD to have one that folds completely flat.

I do really really like the Titan though it is a great tower and looks fantastic. I love seeing them in older wake movies I wish a Monster was in an old movie lol! It was my 2nd choice for sure.

That all red supra is a sweet looking boat.

^^^ agreed. Very nice Charlie.

Here's the Monster after completing install of stereo (KMT6, 12"sub x1, 5ch amp x1), wiring the tower, and nav light.

Wakemikey- Yeah, we all back flip pretty much constantly!! This year it's time for me to start working on front flips....

As for the boat. Thanks! As far as I know it's one of a kind. It was special ordered solid red by the previous owner. I've never seen another Comp like it in a solid color, only white with the accent colors. I might end up getting rid of it next year. I almost did this year but couldn't fit the X2 in my garage door, and couldn't find any used boats out there that were clean enough (I'm pretty anal). I've heard the new VTX's with the Illusion XS tower will go in a 7' door. We'll have to see...