About wakeboard towers

They're hideous.

To each his own. I think certain wakeboard towers look hideous and others compliment the look of the boat. I have always liked the FCT1 gen 3 on the 2005 era 210 and 220 to the point that I made one fit on my 96 SS. I like the high row point and storage ability as well as the ability to use the handles on the side for docking convenience.

I sure would not want one on a SN or Mustang.

Considering I own an inboard specifically because I use it per it's intended purpose, as a towboat, the high tow point a tower provides makes great sense. Only pull from the pylon for intermediate to advances slalom skiers, For trick skiing I pull from the top of the factory extended pylon, everything else get's pulled from the tower, wakeboard, kneeboard, hydrofoil, barefoot and for teaching or novice skiers, the high point does make a difference you can feel. My bimini, which is up 90% of the time is also tower mounted and does not have straps and makes no noise while underway. If storage is an issue you can keep ski's, boards, etc. on the tower as well. When pulling from the tower you have 3 additional seats since you can use the back seat.
With the good comes the bad, covering will probably take twice as long, folding is pretty simple to fit in your garage or under your lift canopy unless like mine, the bimini needs to come down to fold and cleaning off the bugs if you do any towing among them. I don't consider looks an issue with factory, new dimension or some off brands, would I put a monster tower on anything, absolutely not with the exception of maybe Orlando76's boat, lol.
Like Tony said, it's a function over form thing, and for me the form is really not an issue, ymmv.

I have researched many tower styles for the 80s sn and bfn and i still; as much as i would like cant find one that "I think" looks good to me, but like toertel said that super fly sure would be cool. and if I ever advance enough that i feel i need a super fly and find a tower that compliments it enough I will probably go that route, because i consider my boat a tool and when it doesn't do what i want I get a new tool or modify one.
So for now i stick with the pylon which is kind of best of both worlds because you get the high tow point and ability to be stock.

what about the swim platform? throw a rack out there?
I almost always dock on my port side unless i have the boom on, just backs better to that side. So if you mounted behind driver seat I don't see why it would need to be removed a lot for docking.

This isn't that bad of an idea but it would have to be done with taste. But talk about putting a rod holder on that boat and you'll get some people upset haha.

I might take your idea and run with it because I also hate having boards stowed beside the engine hatch all the time. plus I've usually got the boom on the floor too.
I would say a nice flange mounted to the floor that would accept a small tube like 2-3" DIA. then a support mounted to the rail that would keep for/aft movement to minimum would be acceptable.

I have always felt guilty about putting a tower on my 74 Mustang 17, partly because the guys who say they don't look right on the older boats are right and partly because I didn't like putting holes in my old boat.

The problem is, wakeboarding on a pylon sucks. I did it for two seasons and it's not nearly as rigid as wakeboarding on a tower. Once you get to the point where you can jump wake to wake you will not be satisfied wakeboarding behind a pylon.

For me, wakeboarding is one of the main reasons I own a boat. And that means putting a tower on my 74 Mustang. Which means I feel a bit embarrassed sometimes. But it also means the boat is fun and valuable to my family. Without that, my particular boat would have been chopped up the marina it was abandoned at when I found it.

Holes can be fixed. The guys on here might groan a little when they see a tower on an old boat (if that's what you have), but if you can live with that (they will still help you!) and you want to board, go for it.

I am now thinking that I will go with a stainless steel bar (or chrome) that snakes up the interior side of the boat where the current interior ski holders are and ends with a horizontal bar out over the edge of the boat that I will attach the wakeboard rack to. The snaked bar will tie into the existing ski rack holes.

The reason I am not going with the fishing pole holder drilled into the side of the boat is due to the weight and bouncing of the boards.

Although I also dock on my divers side, I still am thinking to put the rack there because the holes are already there and people are already prevented from walking through due to the drivers seat.

Any other thoughts would be appreciated.