1976 Ski Nautique with Titan Tower

[Hydrofoilmaniac]

This has been a great boat over the years. It's been in the family since 1978. It runs great. In fact, I just pulled it out of storage last weekend. Four pumps and it fired right up after sitting for 4 1/2 months.

I installed the tower a few years ago for hydrofoiling. I was nervous about drilling into my baby but it turned out pretty good.

At times it would be nice to have a newer boat with more space....but I like "paid off" better. Plus, my oldest daughter got mad at me when I started looking at newer boats a few years ago.

[MarkP]

1976 Ski Nautique with Titan Tower

Very nice looks well taken care of!

[AbunDiga909]

RE: 1976 Ski Nautique with Titan Tower

Nice thing ya got there off the tower... ;-) looks great!

[SNMike]

RE: 1976 Ski Nautique with Titan Tower

As an official judge at the CC reunions, Judge Mikey gives it two big PDT_002 PDT_002 !!!!


Love the Mustang Mach I hood scoop. Yellow_Flash_Colorz:

[Hydrofoilmaniac]

RE: 1976 Ski Nautique with Titan Tower

Thanks. It's hard to complain about the quality of a boat that is still pulling skiers after 30 years.

[Skidave]

Nice Job with the tower and foil. I had a 1979 Ski Nautique and would store my foil upside down and behind the drivers seat. It would just fit if the seat was all the way forward. (don't stand up too fast...) I'm sure you can image the amount of floor space that took up in the boat!

Hydrofoilmaniac, what part of Wisconsin? I travel to Milwaukee for business often...

Dave

[81nautique]

Great Looking classic Nautique. I'm really warming up to towers on these old boats, if they're done right they look awesome like yours. Do you plan to make it out to Green lake in July, sounds like there will be a few other hydrofoil fanatics there.

[Hydrofoilmaniac]

Skidave,

I'm in Menomonie, which is about 1 hour East of Minneapolis. Contact me if you're going to be in the area.

It's funny that you mention placing your foil behind the seat. My boat has the side pockets. I almost took the pockets out when I re-carpeted it a few years ago but the pockets really do help keep things off the floor and...they also served as a good place to install my speakers. Without building some sort of platform for the foil to sit on, the foil won't fit.

I just bought a foil for my girls and my new SS LE38 foil doesn't ride as well on the rack as the foil that you see in the picture did. The combination of having two foils in the boat and my stability issue when carrying the LE, I need to come up with another solution. I need to buy a comp-tech rack but I hate to fork out the dough (just purchased a new prop). The boat is getting smaller every year.

[Hydrofoilmaniac]

81nautique,
[quote]
Thanks for the compliments. Believe me, I took a little grief from some of my family members (past owners) when I mentioned that I was considering installing a tower. My view is, though I'd like to keep it stock, I bought it to use. The fact is, to the right buyer, the re-sale probably got better after installing the tower. Plus, the same people who didn't like the idea sure like it now.

I could have installed a skylon pylon but I really didn't want to cut the rope eye off or put any additional stress on the boat pylon.
I spent a lot of time investigating towers and what would look good (match the lines of the boat). Though, I was mostly concerned with potential stress on the deck of the boat, etc. (Hands down, Titan had the best rep) I was so paronoid about something happening to the boat.....I was driving myself crazy. After three seasons, I haven't had any issues at all.

One thing that I was really concerned about was the thickness of the deck. That is, I was concerned it wasn't thick enough. The original bolts that came with the tower were 3/8" short. Titan ended up sending me some new longer bolts. That pretty much took care of my concerns about whether the deck was thick enough. I also hated the thought of drilling into my baby. That was a stressful day.

I do not plan to be at Green Lake.....I've got a bunch of family coming up to the lake almost all month. It does sound like fun though.

[Hydrofoilmaniac]

For those of you considering a tower for an older SN, here is another pic.

Don't pay any attention to the date on the pic. That's just a dream Wisonsin winter day. :razz:

[Bullet]

seems like the right corner is in driving view---but i guess you'd get used to it

[Hydrofoilmaniac]

It's far enough away that you really don't notice it. I couldn't mount it out any wider because of the way that the fiberglass is built up underneath. Also, if I would have mounted it more towards the windshield, I wouldn't be able to get it folded down and still make it in my garage. It barely makes it now.

I haven't driven a lot of boats with towers but my cousin's Malibu Sportster has the same thing. Of course, the top edge of his windshield is a much bigger "driving view" issue than the tower.