Tower on 99 Sport?

To tower or not to tower? I hate the cable from the flyhigh with my walkthrough bow. I also hate taking the flyhigh down to slalom. I was against adding a tower until I realized it was an option for the boat (wanting to keep it original). Thoughts on a tower in this boat?    This is still in the thought process so opinions are welcome as I am mixed on whether it is worth it or not.

Anyone have a lead on a used black FCT2 (close enough to original as I am not a fan of the original FCT). The most recent FCT2 that I saw for sale was in Canada on PN.

The high tow point is great for all kid's towing/learning, air chair, and wakeboard. Understood it isn't a must have for any of those and sometimes it doesn't go in the boat for the weekend. Also nice to free up seating in the back. Alternative is to run rope from pylon through lifting eye which we do when skiing with too many people in the boat to run the pylon..

My fly high (not fly high brand) doesn't have a tow eye. I have thought about drilling it and adding an eye.

The taller pylon is an in between option that I hadn't considered.

David,

I have a 2002 Sport Nautique that I had at Greg's Badin Lake Mini last October and the White Lake Event earlier this year. My boat did not come with a tower, but the FCT 2 was a Factory Option. I drove to Boston Mass to pick-up a 2001 Air Nautique / Sport FCT 2 Tower that I found on this site which was also listed on Planet Nautique that I added to the boat right before Greg's event. My oldest daughter Madeleine is a Wake boarder and my youngest Natalie is a course skier. I prefer the brass pole, some call me an artist.

I boat on Norman, but I would be more than happy to bring the boat to Badin to hang out with you and Greg to let you see if you like the tower on the Sport hull, or you could come over to Norman and I can give you a ride and let you drive. Basically, you could see for yourself if you want to add the FCT 2 by checking out my boat.

I am very happy with my choice. I live lake view so I go out for the day and the sport has the nice ski locker, but the tower keeps the wake boards off the floor. I have a Tower Bimini's Inc. Bimini that works great with the tower. I have been happy with my choice and I like the higher tow point for training new skiers. Having a tower will affect your cover if you use one. I have a tower fit cover on my boat.

I found a gray tower and took it to a local powder coating shop and they put a black gloss finish on it that matched the windshield and I was happy with the results. I installed it myself with my daughter's help.

Just let me know if you want to check it out.

Donald

There's no denying the benefits of a tower. However, Dave has his own dock so storing boards for the day doesn't seem to be a priority. The simplest solution to his problem is mounting a low tow point. I'd suggest this, as is seen on the majority of extended pylons. Pop out your roll pin, drill the second hole, mount and cut flush the studs. The vertical mounting studs seem to be harder to find.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ski-Tow-Ring-2-1-2-Vertical-SSRI19007-V2-9-/221793347499

quinner wrote: Pros: Storage, Tower Bimini's are great no straps and rock solid fit, high tow point and being able to have back seat passengers when towing from the tower, transom light can go up there, if u want more sound tower makes a great speaker mount. Cons: Covering, never met a 4 point tower cover I ;liked, it will take 3x longer to cover the boat, weight if slalom wake is really important, if you need to fold often the FCT2 folds easy unless you have a tower bimini, if so it will need to be booted to fold the tower.

I agree with what quinner said. Last year I left our tower at the winter storage place to use the boat in the spring and regretted leaving the tower. I retrieved it the following month :)

I haven't used other covers and unfortunately the PO used a snap cover on the boat, but the cutouts for the tower mounting points are just velcro flaps that seem to work just fine. I wouldn't say there is an additional amount of time to put the cover on due to those flaps.

We have the Big Air H20 tower and though it does require "logistical planning" (or a second person), folding it isn't that bad, 3 pins and the front legs slide out. What I didn't like is that when its folded in the garage, its cumbersome to work on anything in the boat. So I put an eye-bolt in the garage ceiling and use a rope to keep the tower up and out of the way. Takes about 10 seconds.

My buddy has a MC PS 200 with a fly high, he can store it in the closed bow which makes being in the way a non-issue. In the SpN , it would have to be on the floor, so less desirable and a toe-breaker. It would either have to get put up right away, or left back at the dock.

The only other "con" i could think of, i always trailer the boat with it up (i don't want it bouncing or marring the doghouse) which creates more drag. I can't say it's a huge difference, but maybe reduces fuel economy by 3-4 mpg.

Hollywood wrote: snap cover makes no difference, except now you have 2 eye sores, tower and snaps!

lmao, he is correct about the snaps being easier and them being an eyesore. Any non-snap cover is going to be a pita to put on/off.

I like the way my tower looks though

Next time look for a boat with snaps halfway down the hull.

Cool looking Sport Craig! I have never seen that color scheme in that era boat. Is the lower white stripe tape or gel?

To the OP, they are pricey but New Dimensions Towers make a replica of the 2nd generation FCT that would be a perfect match for your boat. If you don't see a used FCT come along that might be a good option for you. When I got tired of fixing the broken welds on my gen 1 FCT I replaced it with an NDT and couldn't be happier. Between shipping, wiring, powder coating, integrated light and board racks I had almost $2600 into it. More than I wanted to spend but I got tired of waiting for a used one to come along.

New Dimension Towers

Thanks for all of the ideas and opinions.

Donald, your boat is actually the one that I have had in my head as what mine will look like. Granted it is 3 yrs newer but they are very similar and I think yours looks great with the black FCT2.

Hollywood, great find on that vertical mount tow point. That is perfect for me in the meantime. I need to measure the diameter of my flyhigh to see if the 3" bolts will go through. It will be a big help but will still leave the issue of the cable in the bow area. I may have to deal with that. I had been looking at some horizontal mount tow points. The clamp on BI tow point looks good too, but this would be a better value I suspect. I couldn't find a price on the BI tow point in my limited search today.

Craig, thanks for the offer. Your tower looks good and does look like the FCT2. That said, I am in no rush and would like to try to find an FCT2. Great looking boat!

As for the cover, I'll just take it to a shop to add some Velcro "slits". I think I can figure out a design to work if I should find the right tower.

I have seen the New Dimensions tower but I am not looking to spend that much.

Please keep an eye out for a FCT2 at a good price.

David,

There is a factory extended pylon that was just listed on PN for sale in case you are interested.
http://www.planetnautique.com/vb5/forum/classified-group-buy-section/gear-for-sale-by-owner/495979-extended-pylon

The "ski tow" I pulled off a BI pole had 3.5" studs. The OD of the aluminum poles (1 or 2 piece) are typically 3" BI or Skylon. Too bad BI cross threaded one of the nuts and the stud snapped when I removed it.

Exactly what pole do you have David?

OD is 2 7/8". With 3" studs, not sure I can make that ring work.

Hollywood wrote: There's no denying the benefits of a tower. However, Dave has his own dock so storing boards for the day doesn't seem to be a priority. The simplest solution to his problem is mounting a low tow point. I'd suggest this, as is seen on the majority of extended pylons. Pop out your roll pin, drill the second hole, mount and cut flush the studs. The vertical mounting studs seem to be harder to find. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ski-Tow-Ring-2-1-2-Vertical-SSRI19007-V2-9-/221793347499

AND they rock for tubing!

Thanks again Hollywood.