Tower on a 1994 Sport Nautique

[runningm01]

I am looking at installing a Big Air Vapor tower on my 1994 Sport Nautique. I saw some photos on inboardsonly.com of a 1993 Sport Nautique with the Vapor and it looks great but Big Air is telling me that it will not fit on a boat as narrow as the Sport Nautique is in the bow. Is there anyone out there that can confirm if this tower will fit? PS. I know how strongly everyone feels about the ND Tower's and I agree but can't bring myself to put a $2,500 (with board racks) tower on a $10,000/ 20 year old boat :-) Thanks!

[drifter1136]

I have a ND tower on my 94 sport and it was worth the money. I waited untill they have there sale at the end of the year. My boat is the one they used for the pic of the 93-97 sport on there website.

[NautiqueJeff]

You might also consider the Roswell Aviator tower. They look great on the Sport Nautique.

http://www.roswellwakeair.com/series...tower-aviator/

[shag]

I'm installing a Aerial Airborne tower right now on my 91 Barefoot. You should look at them - they have all sorts of specials. You can basically get one around 1100 shipped. I ordered when they were giving away free mirror and rack as well as free shipping. I think it looks good! And it says it won't go narrow enough - but it actually fits well. Only thing I don't like is it is made in another country, but everything I have seen so far looks to be high quality for fit and finish. Also very solid.

[s_kelley2000]

I just replaced the gen 1 FCT on my boat with an NDT and I couldn't' be happier with it but I agree they are pricey. I don't think you would regret spending the extra money but you should be able to find a nice tower you will be happy with for about the half the price of the NDT.

I don't have any experience with Big Air Vapor tower but I would get the measurements of the feet from outside to outside and then see where it could land on your boat. Another option you may want to look at is the one made by DIYwake.com. The width is very adjustable when these are setup and they are a really sturdy tower although they will not follow the lines of a CC windshield very well. Some friends at my boat club got a group deal on these towers so they installed them on a 20.5 ft Tahoe Bow rider, a 22' Sea Ray deck boat and a Centurion ski boat and they are rock solid on each boat. These have been installed for going on 4 years without a single issue.

Whichever route you go I would suggest talking to Ian at Onlyinboards.com as he is pretty good about getting you a package deal. I got a significant savings on my board racks by going through him.

[s_kelley2000]

Oops, I meant to attach this pic I found on google showing what it looks like on a Nautique:



As I mentioned in my last post it will not follow the lines of the windshield but it is a solid tower at a great price.

[runningm01]

I've been looking at Diywake as well as the price is about the same as the Big Air Vapor. The only reason I was leaning towards the Big Air Vapor is that I actually found a photo of one on an older Sport Nautique.

[s_kelley2000]

I think the Big Air Vapor tower would probably look a lot better than the DIYwake one but just wanted to pass on the info about the various widths in case the Big Air Vapor won't fit. I'd be surprised if it would not fit your boat though. Good luck and post up some pics once you install whichever you decide on.

[Brichter14]

Thats a diywake tower on a newer sport

[Zach@n3]

I'm with Jeff. The Aviator is awesome and it would look killer on that boat (pictures case in point). The white tower is the mac daddy with assisted fold down and spinner racks where the black one saves you some money. We just got 2 white ones and 1 black tower at the shop. We were slated to install the white one on a 95 Super Sport but plans changed and the boat was sold to an owner sans tower.

[beretta5spd]

I am looking at installing a Big Air Vapor tower on my 1994 Sport Nautique. I saw some photos on inboardsonly.com of a 1993 Sport Nautique with the Vapor and it looks great but Big Air is telling me that it will not fit on a boat as narrow as the Sport Nautique is in the bow. Is there anyone out there that can confirm if this tower will fit? PS. I know how strongly everyone feels about the ND Tower's and I agree but can't bring myself to put a $2,500 (with board racks) tower on a $10,000/ 20 year old boat :-) Thanks!

Great question!

I feel I may be qualified to help you out. Two months ago I installed the Big Air Vapor tower on my 1997 Sport Nautique.

I drove from Canada to Austin, TX for the Sport Nautique after finding it on the planetnautique classifieds. From there I turned around and drove straight to the headquarters of Big Air Wake towers in Duncan, OK where they measured the boat and CONFIRMED the tower would fit. Loaded up a tower and some racks and continued on my journey. Apparently they very rarely get anyone show up at their headquarters as 99% of the business is done online.

Here are some things you need to know.

1. It fits.
2. I found a spot that was optimal for the front legs of the tower. It turned out that directly underneath there is a fiberglass piece that gets in the way of the reinforcement on the underside. This fiberglass piece is what the blower tubes attach to. The blower vents are right in front of the windshield. We couldn't use the exact hardware because of this and ended up using very large washers on two of the bolts on each side for the front legs.
3. We wanted the arms on each side that attach to the boat (run N/S on the top deck) to be near vertical. This took some adjusting but we were able to get the job done.
4. The front tower arms that swoop upward ended up having some tension to them. You have to physically pull them inwards before bolting them in. This is only an inconvenience IF you have to drop the tower and bolt it back up. I was in a position where I never had to fold the tower. Because the tower fits "tight" on the boat, the extra tension makes it more difficult (not impossible) to fold and then put up again.
5. On the plus side... because of the tension ours DOES NOT RATTLE. It is solid. One of the things I hate about budget wake towers is the rattles and shaking they do when going over chop. I just ensure that the bolts are all snug after long tows and every so often after using it.
6. I am overall VERY pleased with the tower for our purposes. I would highly recommend it unless ease of folding is of priority to you. But like I say... it's not impossible.

But.... what kind of post is this without pics! We went with the black tower and black racks and absolutely love it! The racks didn't make the pictures until the last one.

[beretta5spd]

ps..... I absolutely love the looks of all your tower choices out there right now.

1. The big air Vapor is what I went with and don't regret it.
2. ND towers are awesome.
3. I have also installed and ride behind the DIY tower. (not on a sport nautique though). It has been an ok tower and I do like the looks of it as well.
4. The aviator looks fantastic on the sport.

I don't think you can go wrong with any of those pics. And FYI our tower came to $11XX.XX for the tower and racks.

[runningm01]

Thanks Beretta5spd!!! This is exactly what I needed to know!!!

[Zach@n3]

I do like the swoop on that tower though.

[s_kelley2000]

Ya that does seem to follow the lines of the boat pretty well for a universal tower. Looks great!