Time to Collapse Towers

(muddyboss) · (muddyboss) **Join Date: Oct 2003** 10-20-2004, 2:35 AM

Me and my mates are looking at getting a boat, with our current options being a '01-'03 mal, nautique or nemesis.

Our storage options currently require getting a boat with a collapsable tower. How long does it take you fellas out there with this same problem to collapse your towers? We dont really want to be spending 40mins each time we take it out and put it back in.

Does anyone have any idea on which collapsable towers are the quickest to use? Would continual collapsing of the tower cause too much wear?

(boarditup) · (boarditup) **Join Date: Jan 2004** 10-20-2004, 3:44 AM

My titan takes less than one minute with no wear possibiliites. Lots of great options. Check out Loud Liquid for a good example.

lucky 10-20-2004, 5:36 AM

Flight Control Tower a minute or so, easy easy!

(sbt3) · (sbt3) **Join Date: Jun 2002** 10-20-2004, 5:59 AM

I agree with Karl the titan is the only way to go. I have mine for 3 years now and take it up and down everytime I ride. I probably ride an average of four days a week during the summer and the tower works just like it did the fist day I put it on. Taking it up and down can be done with one person and it takes me about 30 seconds to do.

(whitlecj) · (whitlecj) **Join Date: Apr 2004** 10-20-2004, 6:10 AM

Greg is right on about the Flight Control Tower. Very quick and easy

(sloshake) · (sloshake) **Join Date: Mar 2003** 10-20-2004, 6:49 AM

The Skylon Swoop is incredibly easy to collapse. Just one big knob on each side. Only problem is (at least on a 2003 'Bu VLX) it lays back and would sit on a cushion causing a massive imprint! You can solve this by just laying a pvc pipe across the back to distribute the weight.

I don't normally collapse my tower, but wanted to put the boat in the garage for the winter. Collapsed it was still too tall, but taking the tower off completely was also very very easy. Just required a basic allen wrench and one more screw on each side to take off. 2 person job in < 5 minutes. The whole thing cant weigh any more than 50 pounds.

(Message edited by sloshake on October 20, 2004)

bluemalibu 10-20-2004, 8:01 AM

Andrew,
At least consider the Monster Tower.

http://www.monstertower.com/

Folds down quick and easy. Strong, noise free, and really reasonably priced.

Geoff

(flackpack) · (flackpack) **Join Date: Feb 2004** 10-20-2004, 9:04 AM

I have an Extreme Phat tower from Phat Budde. I collapse the tower after every time out. My garage is low and the tower folds enough to fit in great. Collapsing involves 4 handles to loosen and fold in 30 seconds or less.

http://www.phatbudde.com/

(whitewookie) · (whitewookie) **Join Date: Jul 2004** 10-20-2004, 9:42 AM

I agree with Gerald. It takes me about 5 min to completely remove and/or reinstall the Skylon Swoop. I would highly recommend this tower. Especially if you are going to get a BU!

walt 10-20-2004, 4:39 PM

You can't beat the Monster tower for the $$$ and it folds up and down fast.

(wetirish) · (wetirish) **Join Date: May 2003** 10-20-2004, 4:48 PM

Big Air. Folds in about three minutes. Same price as a Monster...looks better, not as heavy looking as a Monster and still a very strong tower.

(muddyboss) · (muddyboss) **Join Date: Oct 2003** 10-21-2004, 2:45 AM

Jeez, a BIG Thanks for the great response people.

Cheers

Andrew

bigdeal 10-21-2004, 9:17 PM

Hey wetirish, stick to objective information (i.e. specs and personal experiences) and leave the subjective out of the conversation. Let the person shelling out the coin decide for themselves what tower looks best.

spoon 10-22-2004, 6:45 AM

Hey Walt:

That MT looks great on your boat. I'm curious before making a purchase.

What is the distance:
Between the front and rear supports?
Floor to bottom of the cross-bar (head-bump distance).
Floor to rear mount.

Thanks.
Joe

walt 10-22-2004, 7:57 AM

Joe,
Front to back is 48 but that can change either way.
Floor to cross bar is about 6-2 on My boat.

Not sure about floor to rear mount ?

What kind of boat are You thinking about mounting it on ?

spoon 10-22-2004, 8:08 AM

I'm thinking about doing a 21' 12 year-old I/O 'tanker'. Deep-V, with a fairly flat 'pad'.

I hope to get the tower to 7' clearance.
I'll need about 54" front-to-back between the mounts.

Is the MT quiet? Any stress cracks? How much hull reinforcement did you have to do?

walt 10-22-2004, 8:12 AM

Joe, All that info is on the monster web site or call them. But yes it's fairly quite and no stress cracks. http://monstertower.com/index.html
No hull reinforcement on My boat.

(timmy) · (timmy) **Join Date: Jul 2001** 10-22-2004, 8:30 AM

sometimes the titan tower bolt comes out while the boat is in operation, so it folds down even more quickly!

I have a skylon swoop and I used to take it off every time, to get it in my garage, took about 2 min for one person to do. folding it down is a breeze, as is the FCT. where it gets complicated is when you start adding accessories such as board racks, speakers, lights. these make it heavier, and require an extra person.

(sbt3) · (sbt3) **Join Date: Jun 2002** 10-25-2004, 6:05 AM

Tim,
Titan has since fixed the problem with the bolt coming out. They have a pin that goes through the other bolt in the bottom so if the main bolt falls out the tower can't colapse. Mine doesn't have that, but I just make sure it is tight every time.