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Tower suggestion for '98 Sunsetter


thesweetlife

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Just purchased my first boat - yeah!!!! I need to add a tower, and am undecisive on what tower would look best on this model of boat. I'm leaning toward a Boss Swoop or Skylon Swoop, but am concerned those towers may look too massive for an older boat. I think the Titan I originally came on that year of boat, but it looks kinda puny to me. Anybody got any suggestions or places I can view some photos of 98 Malibu's with towers? I'm a girl boat owner, so looks are important, but the "pimped out" or "macho" look isn't. I'm going for more a classic look.

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Just purchased my first boat - yeah!!!! I need to add a tower, and am undecisive on what tower would look best on this model of boat. I'm leaning toward a Boss Swoop or Skylon Swoop, but am concerned those towers may look too massive for an older boat. I think the Titan I originally came on that year of boat, but it looks kinda puny to me. Anybody got any suggestions or places I can view some photos of 98 Malibu's with towers? I'm a girl boat owner, so looks are important, but the "pimped out" or "macho" look isn't. I'm going for more a classic look.

Then why ruin a great boat with one of those tower things? Biggrin.gif

My vote is for a Titan. JMO.

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Just purchased my first boat - yeah!!!! I need to add a tower, and am undecisive on what tower would look best on this model of boat. I'm leaning toward a Boss Swoop or Skylon Swoop, but am concerned those towers may look too massive for an older boat. I think the Titan I originally came on that year of boat, but it looks kinda puny to me. Anybody got any suggestions or places I can view some photos of 98 Malibu's with towers? I'm a girl boat owner, so looks are important, but the "pimped out" or "macho" look isn't. I'm going for more a classic look.

Either of those towers would look great on the Sunsetter. Good questions would be fold down height if getting the boat into a garage is important. Availibility might make the choice easier if one is availible faster than the other, etc. The Samson guys are great to deal with, you should check them out as mentioned above & get a mirror from them, whether you choose their tower or not.

Welcome to the site. Enjoy your new 'Bu.

Edited by Hman442
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Just purchased my first boat - yeah!!!! I need to add a tower, and am undecisive on what tower would look best on this model of boat. I'm leaning toward a Boss Swoop or Skylon Swoop, but am concerned those towers may look too massive for an older boat. I think the Titan I originally came on that year of boat, but it looks kinda puny to me. Anybody got any suggestions or places I can view some photos of 98 Malibu's with towers? I'm a girl boat owner, so looks are important, but the "pimped out" or "macho" look isn't. I'm going for more a classic look.

I'd recommend the Titan II model. It flows well with the boat as it has the rear hop bends inward and looks classy not over done yet a bit more updated look than the Titan I. It's a very functional tower and VERY rigid and yet easy enough to lower w/ one person whereas, the swoop style towers are much heavier and "bulky". The heim joints help to reduce stress on the gelcoat and fiberglass and todate I've not heard of any stress cracks.

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Go with the Titan. I have a series 1 but would go with the series 2 for looks. They are VERY,VERY easy to put up and down and they are rock solid. Never a rattle.

Dont forget, even a folded down tower is going to add around 9" of heighth to your rig. My SLXi just barely squeeks under a 7' garage door.

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Welcome to the site...by the looks of it last weekend you need a tower with a couple of extra seats... :lol: ...Titan 2 powder coated to match the boat gets my vote. see ya on the water.

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I am also looking for a tower for my 97. I am leaning strongly towards the Titan II. It has very simple lines and solid as a rock. Still trying to decide on color though. I have looked at an awful lot of towers and it seems really easy to get that "pimped out" look.

Good luck.

waterTK

Edited by waterTK
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I am also looking for a tower for my 97. I am leaning strongly towards the Titan II. It has very simple lines and solid as a rock. Still trying to decide on color though. I have looked at an awful lot of towers and it seems really easy to get that "pimped out" look.

Good luck.

waterTK

Exactly. What color is your boat? I prefer the powder coat black.

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Welcome to the site...by the looks of it last weekend you need a tower with a couple of extra seats... :lol: ...Titan 2 powder coated to match the boat gets my vote. see ya on the water.

Hey Ken. You're right about the seats on the tower - maybe should have got the 24.5' like your buddy. Right??!! Maybe that will be my next boat. So - do you think I should get the tower powder coated maroon to match the boat? I was thinking of getting a black tower with chrome speakers and racks. Also - since you are a wealth of information - does Mailbu sell the original decals on that boat? I'd like to replace all the decals and get that updated.

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Welcome to the site...by the looks of it last weekend you need a tower with a couple of extra seats... :lol: ...Titan 2 powder coated to match the boat gets my vote. see ya on the water.

Hey Ken. You're right about the seats on the tower - maybe should have got the 24.5' like your buddy. Right??!! Maybe that will be my next boat. So - do you think I should get the tower powder coated maroon to match the boat? I was thinking of getting a black tower with chrome speakers and racks. Also - since you are a wealth of information - does Mailbu sell the original decals on that boat? I'd like to replace all the decals and get that updated.

Skylon Swoop tower... I am completly amazed at it, as my friends are too. Yahoo.gif

boat_006.sized.jpg

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Welcome to the site...by the looks of it last weekend you need a tower with a couple of extra seats... :lol: ...Titan 2 powder coated to match the boat gets my vote. see ya on the water.

Hey Ken. You're right about the seats on the tower - maybe should have got the 24.5' like your buddy. Right??!! Maybe that will be my next boat. So - do you think I should get the tower powder coated maroon to match the boat? I was thinking of getting a black tower with chrome speakers and racks. Also - since you are a wealth of information - does Mailbu sell the original decals on that boat? I'd like to replace all the decals and get that updated.

To color match an 8-year-old boat match be tough due to the oxidation especially red. Hence, the reason I voted for black color on my tower than the main color of my boat. Two it matches the window trim of black and third the black color is less visible to the eye and helps blend in a bit better. Malibu no longer sells the original decals for your model year. Your dealer may have some somewhere, although unlikely, other wise you can update the graphics.

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As to the tower, keep it black, it will blend alot better like malibudude stated. As for the graphics, update them to the new style, I did my 00 xscape last year with the tribal, makes it unique in many ways, and we will always know who it is, especially on somerville. Hope to see you out again Tracy, and remember keep your prop away from the sand. :lol:

Grant

Oh yeah its 24'7" every inch counts dangit

That statement above is wrong in so many ways

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I have a 98 sportster with a monster tower. Not to knock my tower but it is a hand full to lower/raise (well with it loaded down with speakers and racks) although its a great tower I kinda wish I would have went with the titan. Of course thats just my 2 cents.

Brandon

P.S. check out the tower post on the site...

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Welcome to the site.

FWIW, I've had a Swoop & it wouldn't even make my top 5. Titan, Samson would be at or near the top along with the Illusion (not classic, I know :)). Titan IMO would have to get the nod for the whole package :

+ looks (when dressed out w/bimini & racks, I'm not wild about a naked Titan)

+ ease of use (up & down)

+ function/durability/stiffness

Swoops have been known over the years for the stress cracks in the gel coat that come about from the mounting setup. The problem is that even though they claim that it's made for your specific boat, the tower feet in most cases won't have the correct contour for the hull & what ends up happening is one of two things:

- either the installer tightens the feet down too much causing gel cracking/spidering (because the contour of the feet don't match)

- they don't tighten it down very much to prevent that initial cracking, but it ends up happening anyway because you've got a tower that isn't solid on its feet

Dang, re-reading this it really looks like I'm bagging on the Swoop & I don't intend it to be that way. There are plenty of Swoops out there that are just fine & haven't had these problems & I'm sure that some of their owners will chime in here. But this is a known problem with the design & not only the reason that they changed their mounting system in '05, but a big reason that they are no longer an OEM tower for Malibu. So buyer beware.

Now with all of that said, the Boss Swoop uses a different mounting system & may work better as a result. The thing that I look at is for either a Skylon or Boss Swoop, it's a lot more money than even a T2. Heck, you could get a fully polished T2 for less than either of the Swoops. JM2C

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