Installing a flight tower on a ski 196 - help

[Ferus]

Anyone with knowledge of a ski 196 with flight tower please help: What part number of flight tower fits? -AND- Anything else someone may need to know if taking on this type of install?

Thank you.

[2004196]

A tower on a 196? Why ruin a great ski boat?

[swc5150]

Don't do it, no!!!

[TRDon]

Solid help guys. This is his boat, help him out, don't put him down. Not everyone is a purist skier type that can't modify their boat. Maybe he can't afford to trade up and this is his best option.

As far as the help, I don't think there is a bolt on tower from cc that will work. But on the other hasn't, for a factory look fit and finish, this is the best you can do. I had one on my last boat and it was awesome.
http://www.newdimensiontowers.com/ga...-1996_Ski.html

[swc5150]

Just some light hearted teasin'. Nothing to get worked up about.

[TRDon]

Just some light hearted teasin'. Nothing to get worked up about.

Follow it up with some help then.

[swc5150]

My advice on putting a tower on any boat would be worthless. However, I could help one glass over the holes in the gunwale, if one wished to remove their tower from their SAN;-)

[2004196]

OK TRDon, some thoughts/questions for Ferus to consider so we can help and yes it is his boat. What is the purpose of the tower - to hang speakers off of, put board racks on, to wakeboard or? You will never get a great wakeboard wake out of a 196, even packed with ballast which would give you no floor space on top. My ski bud has a 216 with ballast tanks and it's neither a great ski boat (empty ballast) or great wakeboard boat (full ballast), a suitable boat to ski sans a 196 and OK to wakeboard sans a Super Air (or better). I would also bet you are lowering the value and re-sellability of a 196 by putting a tower on it. Yes towers can be removed and holes patched but what about other possible damage caused from the stress of the tower on a boat not designed for one?

Ferus, what are you looking to accomplish with the addition of the tower? If more towards wakeboarding, have you looked at selling the 196 and moving up to a true wakeboard boat, even a few yrs older if needing to stay within a budget? Spending money on a custom tower and not accomplishing what you want might not cost as much money as changing boats but still could be the better decision. In addition, the added weight of the tower is going to mess with your slalom wake some.

[swc5150]

I did think of one... What about a spider tower? That was the factory 196 tower back in the day (196 that is, not a pre 196 SN).

[Ferus]

Are the attached pictures of the Nautique Ski 196 with the Flight Tower showing up? My question is if any one has experience doing one of these not from the factory -AND- which Flight tower (year/boat model) would I order from Correct craft? Thank you again.

[TRDon]

If you want questions answered for the hardware aspect with certainty, call white lake marine. They are the sponsor here but are extremely knowledgable regarding factory equipment.

The above guys have it right, we would really need to know more to help you out better, namely, what will the tower be for.

[cham]

I put a tower on a Moomba 19' slalom boat. I didn't want to sink the cash into a full wake boat until I knew I'd use it. I had that boat for 2 years and used the **** out of it. We loved it.

My Nautique 211 does a lot better for us but the tower did a great job of getting boards off the floor and giving me room in already cramped quaters.

[High altitude]

OK TRDon, some thoughts/questions for Ferus to consider so we can help and yes it is his boat. What is the purpose of the tower - to hang speakers off of, put board racks on, to wakeboard or? You will never get a great wakeboard wake out of a 196, even packed with ballast which would give you no floor space on top. My ski bud has a 216 with ballast tanks and it's neither a great ski boat (empty ballast) or great wakeboard boat (full ballast), a suitable boat to ski sans a 196 and OK to wakeboard sans a Super Air (or better). I would also bet you are lowering the value and re-sellability of a 196 by putting a tower on it. Yes towers can be removed and holes patched but what about other possible damage caused from the stress of the tower on a boat not designed for one?

Ferus, what are you looking to accomplish with the addition of the tower? If more towards wakeboarding, have you looked at selling the 196 and moving up to a true wakeboard boat, even a few yrs older if needing to stay within a budget? Spending money on a custom tower and not accomplishing what you want might not cost as much money as changing boats but still could be the better decision. In addition, the added weight of the tower is going to mess with your slalom wake some.

Here is a possible scenario and why I am reading this thread to see what is the best option for a tower for my '99 SN.

I used to do primarily slalom (live on a lake with a course) and my kids and wife liked it as well (using the mini-course.) Last year at about this time we started surfing. Everybody fell in love with it including me. With some fat sacs the '99 has a real nice wake for surfing. In fact, my neighbor has a 04 SANTE 210 and the wakes are similiar. His can get bigger when fully loaded but we alternate on which boat we used and we have no problem using either one. I really want a Sport Nautique 200 but that is not happening for probably three years. So the bottom line is what can I do to make my 99 like the 200 Sport? I already have a very nice "internal sliding" pylon that I can raise up about 3 feet and get the rope out of the way when I surf. This is a very easy way to get the same effect as the tower but it would be nice to put the surfboard on a rack. Thus, I am also in the market for a tower. I already put in three new thru-hulls and have three Johnson pumps running the fat sacs. This winter I will go the next step. I am actually adding a sundeck on the back and covering my rear ballast. I'm using the same color scheme on as the existing skins so I think it will look very nice. Although it will be tight in the boat for seating, the sundeck will add three "seats" for surfing so I'm not too concerned. I'm calling my mod a Ski Nautique semi-Sport.
As for destroying the value of a SN, I'm not too worried. I bought the boat for $11.5. I expect to use the **** out of it for the next three years and still get $10K out because there appears to be a bottom floor on any inboard in nice condition. With more people switching over to surfing everyday, I just don't think I will see a big drop in value. A crossover boat like the 200 Sport seems like the wave of the future. I guess plenty of people don't care about skiing so they can buy a SAN. I personally know that lots of competitive skiers still like to surf (or have somebody in the family that wants to.) The tower will not kill the wake at 26+. It might not be world class but it's good enough for 80% of the people out there. JMHO. -Marc

[DanielC]

I have done a fair amount of work on a 1998 Ski Nautique that has a factory FTC 1 tower on it. The tower was made to fit the Ski Nautique hull.
I believe the tower was ordered through West Coast Correct Craft, the regional service center at the time. Contact SBRS on this board. Bob Bense was the head guy at West Coast Correct Craft, and is the head guy at the Nautique dealer in Rancho Cordova now.

In spite of my advise not to, the tower was used to pull tubes. This did cause some minor gelcoat cracking at the rear starboard tower mounting pad.

Correct Craft did make a tower that fit the TSC 1 hull. (1997 through 2001 Ski Nautiques.) During this time Correct Craft also modified this hull for an open bow, the Ski Nautique Open Bow. These boats could also be obtained with a tower. I do not know if it was the same tower, or if there were some differences.

It is also very possible Correct Craft no longer has towers available for the "older" Ski Nautiques.

There is also a company near Portland, Oregon that makes towers.
Here is a link to their page with towers with Correct Craft boats.
http://www.samsonsports.com/photos/v...slideshow.html

[prairiethunder]

I probably will end up with a new dimension in the next few years on my '97 SN..... family reality and cannot justify dropping more money into a 2 month a year sport in my neck of the woods. objective; get gear off the floor and let the kids multi-sport as they grow, while not sacrificing a good ski for me... can't imagine trying to learn to ski on a dedicated wake boat.

good luck with adding the tower hope it exceeds your expectations!