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Wakeside Battleracks


tgaugh

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Ok - here's the deal. I need to add racks as I can't go thru another winter of Vinyl repair. I do not have the garage space so my tower goes up and down everyday and then the boat is covered.

Are these the right racks for this application? If I get the "lift-off", is this a pain to pull them off everyday? Is there a better rack that I will not have to pull off to fold the tower down? BTW: Titan II

And the most important, anyone have a recommendation on not giving up 1200 to wakeside for the racks, spinners, and lifts?

Thanks!!

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I've heard enough differing things about the spinners that I'm not sure I'd be anxious to spend the money on that part. Monster Tower makes a rack that is supposed to have a quick attach/detach mechanism, you might look in that direction since they're substantially less money. Wakeside also carries the Titan Low-Rider rack that you can get a pair of at $450, plus the upgrades that you want so that might be another alternative at a better price point.

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tg:

I put my tower down every time I put my baby to bed as well.

I also have the TII. I've got the LSV so where my rear tower arm hits the gel coat will be different then where yours does, but I'll tell you my experience.

When I negotiated my purchase with my dealer I wanted the lift off racks. But when the boat showed up the stationary mounts were on it, not the lift off.

I've got the Titan Low Rider Rubber Dipped racks (HIGHLY recommend them BTW). The stationary mounts allowed me to fold the tower down, put a towel under the front bars against the windshield and I simply laid the rear portion of the tower down on the forks of the racks. They are rubber dipped, so I didn't have to worry about them hurting the gelcoat.

This works incredibly well for my application - and it sounds like it might for you too. The bar is heavy, but not too heavy for the mounts or the racks. Even with 4 Titan Bullets across the top of the bar, the mounts never moved.

The dealer called me mid season and told me my 'Lift Off' racks had shown up and I could get them installed at the next service. I honestly considered never 'reminding' them about it. The static racks are cheaper and I figured they'd eventually find the lift offs in the warehouse and sell them to someone else. I went back and forth trying to decide whether I wanted to risk trying the lift offs since I loved the static ones so much.

I have a friend with a SAN and he has a Skylon Tower, I believe, with lift offs (some other manufacturer, not Titan) that drove him crazy because they rattled so much. The lift off mechanism was crapy and because it wasn't very sturdy the racks rattled all the time.

- This worried me.

*BTW - he went with the Low Rider rubber dipped and has loved them. Not lift offs though, his experience was so bad he's shied away from them.

I finally decided to go for it and have them instal my Lift Off mounts. I have not been sorry. There's a couple good things I like about the lift offs.

- Very easy to use. Pull a tab and the racks lift off nice an easy. Anyone can do it.

- Stable. The average person will never know they are lift off racks. They don't shake or rattle at all. Just as stable as my static mounts. But this is what I've come to expect from Titan.

*But because they are lift offs I didn't want to trust them to all the weight of the bar as well as my tower speakers. So I have constructed a brace (3" PVC pipe and 3" PVC 'T') to hold them while folded.

- NO MORE BUGS. When I towed before I had bugs galore on the racks. Now I take them off and simply leave them in the drivers feet area. Put them back on as the CFO backs the rig into the water. I hated cleaning those racks.

So, I really like the Low Rider's. And the rubber dipped is the ONLY way I'll go in the future. I really liked the static mounts and I'm liking the lift offs even more.

I don't think you can go wrong with either.

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Thanks Andy that was the review I was looking to start with. Although I am more confused than before, I have a more data. Thanks!

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tg: 

I put my tower down every time I put my baby to bed as well. 

I also have the TII. I've got the LSV so where my rear tower arm hits the gel coat will be different then where yours does, but I'll tell you my experience.

When I negotiated my purchase with my dealer I wanted the lift off racks.  But when the boat showed up the stationary mounts were on it, not the lift off. 

I've got the Titan Low Rider Rubber Dipped racks (HIGHLY recommend them BTW).  The stationary mounts allowed me to fold the tower down, put a towel under the front bars against the windshield and I simply laid the rear portion of the tower down on the forks of the racks.  They are rubber dipped, so I didn't have to worry about them hurting the gelcoat.

This works incredibly well for my application - and it sounds like it might for you too.  The bar is heavy, but not too heavy for the mounts or the racks.  Even with 4 Titan Bullets across the top of the bar, the mounts never moved. 

The dealer called me mid season and told me my 'Lift Off' racks had shown up and I could get them installed at the next service.  I honestly considered never 'reminding' them about it.  The static racks are cheaper and I figured they'd eventually find the lift offs in the warehouse and sell them to someone else.  I went back and forth trying to decide whether I wanted to risk trying the lift offs since I loved the static ones so much. 

I have a friend with a SAN and he has a Skylon Tower, I believe, with lift offs (some other manufacturer, not Titan) that drove him crazy because they rattled so much.  The lift off mechanism was crapy and because it wasn't very sturdy the racks rattled all the time. 

- This worried me. 

*BTW - he went with the Low Rider rubber dipped and has loved them. Not lift offs though, his experience was so bad he's shied away from them.

I finally decided to go for it and have them instal my Lift Off mounts.  I have not been sorry.  There's a couple good things I like about the lift offs. 

- Very easy to use.  Pull a tab and the racks lift off nice an easy.  Anyone can do it. 

- Stable.  The average person will never know they are lift off racks.  They don't shake or rattle at all.  Just as stable as my static mounts.  But this is what I've come to expect from Titan. 

*But because they are lift offs I didn't want to trust them to all the weight of the bar as well as my tower speakers.  So I have constructed a brace (3" PVC pipe and 3" PVC 'T')  to hold them while folded.

- NO MORE BUGS.  When I towed before I had bugs galore on the racks.  Now I take them off and simply leave them in the drivers feet area.  Put them back on as the CFO backs the rig into the water.  I hated cleaning those racks. 

So, I really like the Low Rider's.  And the rubber dipped is the ONLY way I'll go in the future.  I really liked the static mounts and I'm liking the lift offs even more. 

I don't think you can go wrong with either.

Nice post - thanks for the info!

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tgaugh:

I was scheduled to pickup on the 19th...but I picked up on the 16th, so I was able to go out last weekend...

I also went boarding at OWC on the 8th :-)

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Regarding propping up the rear tower hoop.

My bimini mounts were hitting the gelcoat so I came up with a high tech solution:

Yardstick in the hole for the table

Thumbup.gif

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Andy,

Can you get a thin surfboard in Low Riders, such as a Landlock?

Tracie: The HL Broadcast will fit. I can't remember if the Landlock will fit. Memory says no. Had one on the boat last month, and it was kicking around at my feet, so that probably means no.

Someone else may know though.

My next set of racks will be large - like for a knee board. Just so I can fit different size surfboards up there.

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What RoverOn and I are posting about is significant. The towers strike the windshield and the gelcoat at different places on different size boats. Take this into account when you're placing your racks / buying mounts.

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Tracie: I've got the dipped Titan's just like Andy's and my Landlock fits fine. It's a liitle snug but that's fine with me.

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Here's mine - 3" PVC. I cut the pvc at the bottom so it 'sits' in the table hole and won't move. The TII top mount fits great in the 3" PVC. I didn't have to do anything else to make it solid.

Here's also a picture of my rear bar support. Again, I didn't need this with the Low Rider rubber dipped.

You might want to glue some heavy felt or vinyl into the pvc so you don't have to mess with a loose cloth.

You could also put an end cap on the base that reduces down to a small enough piece to fit inside the table post hole.

When I get a Titan, I will be remembering your suggestions and pic's.

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I'll 2nd Andys recomaendation on the Titan lift-offs AND the Lowrider racks. Same setup on my boat and I love it. BTW I'm coming up with a way to "lock" the lift-offs for the couple weeks I leave it in a slip in a marina. But as always...dont hold your breath... Biggrin.gif Fairly simple, Drill a stretgically placed 1/4" hole and a small padlock.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Ive got the Lift Off Battle Racks and they are fantastic. Easy to use and they don't rattle. I have also custom fitted them to the Illusion X tower. Love Them!!!!!!!

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  • 2 weeks later...
Ive got the Lift Off Battle Racks and they are fantastic. Easy to use and they don't rattle. I have also custom fitted them to the Illusion X tower. Love Them!!!!!!!

Thanks everyone for you input. I ended up with the battleracks w/ liftoff and they are perfect. I even went down the the shop to make sure they'd hold the phase5!

IMG_2142.JPGIMG_2143.JPG

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Being that this is somewhat on topic, i.e. the Wakeside Liftoff Battle racks, I just wanted to let everyone know about what one of our members Dean, (aka. Clubby) from down under put together. Last time he was in the states, he picked up a set of the liftoff racks from Wakeside and took them back to Oz to try and fit them to his IllusionX. Well, needless to say, he succeeded and they look AWESOME.

GREAT job Clubby!! Thumbup.gif

Here are some photos, of his first attempt, then final product:

post-4-1117565898_thumb.jpg

post-4-1117565906_thumb.jpg

post-4-1117565952_thumb.jpg

post-4-1117565959_thumb.jpg

post-4-1117565965_thumb.jpg

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  • 2 months later...

Hey Clubby,

I got your email, thanks. Then I stumbled across this post with a little more detail. Can I assume that the first 2 pics are your first attempt? Also, you said this in your email:

When I get home I tapped a locator pin in the quick release plate so it doesn’t spin around on the tower.

Where is the locator pin in the pics? Is it the small pin sticking out of the black piece in the first picture? What is the black piece?

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Tracie as Im not a member I cant add pics so i have emailed you a new pic showing the locater. As with the first two pics I thought the racks looked funny being too far off the tower.

Dean

Edited by Clubby
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I tapped a thread into the quick release plate. This was strong enough, but I thought with a lock nut it added some extra security. I also put some loctite on the lock nut. Its solid as and its not going anywhere.

I hope it helps. Ask as many Q's as you need and if you need more pics just ask.

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