New tower to replace ugly one?

[ebelizard]

You'll have to get some feedback from the guys who have done it. I went from a 94 MC 205 (similar to an Echelon in a lot of ways) to an 05 Vride. Definitely a bigger boat payment. But for me it was a much better wake, more seats, more storage, MUCH better boating experience on the lake, especially with all the surf wakes out there to contend with. I resisted & my wife wanted the v-drive. She won. But I came around eventually.

I definitely can see your point. I just don't want a bigger boat payment right now, maybe further in my career I'll be able to handle it. The additional seating would be a plus, but rarely to I ever cap out the 7 person capacity on my little Echelon.

I need to find a wife that wants a V drive worse that me.

[Asmodeus2112]

I would think of buying a new boat, but I do love my echelon. It's my first boat, and why buy something new when I could just make it better. Down the road I do eventually want to buy a newer malibu, possibly a VTX. Until then, the '93 will just have to do.

Yeah, I hear you. My point was more that it doesn't make sense to me to put 2-3k into a tower for that boat (plus you will probably want to buy a bimini, tower speakers, racks etc.), unless you love it so much that you can put economics aside. I think I'd look for a used titan somewhere, or buy a monster tower or an Indy for less than 1k. When you do go to move up you will probably recoup some of that investment. My boats have all been sub 15K, and the economics down there are much different than the 25k+ boats.

[jk13]

Yeah, I hear you. My point was more that it doesn't make sense to me to put 2-3k into a tower for that boat (plus you will probably want to buy a bimini, tower speakers, racks etc.), unless you love it so much that you can put economics aside. I think I'd look for a used titan somewhere, or buy a monster tower or an Indy for less than 1k. When you do go to move up you will probably recoup some of that investment. My boats have all been sub 15K, and the economics down there are much different than the 25k+ boats.

Makes sense but you can also look at it like new boat guys view depreciation. The boat will inherently lose value every year, but if you are still ahead on it (paid less than you could currently sell for) the tower could be viewed as an operating expense and still not put you in the red. I know I could put a tower on my boat and still be money up, even without the added money I may or may not see from the tower at time of sale.

Every situation is different but Echelons haven't really come down in value over the last 5 or 6 years. Call it cost of use or whatever you want but I have no problem putting some money into my boat to make it what I want. When I actually have the money to do it, that is.

[Asmodeus2112]

Makes sense but you can also look at it like new boat guys view depreciation. The boat will inherently lose value every year, but if you are still ahead on it (paid less than you could currently sell for) the tower could be viewed as an operating expense and still not put you in the red. I know I could put a tower on my boat and still be money up, even without the added money I may or may not see from the tower at time of sale.

Every situation is different but Echelons haven't really come down in value over the last 5 or 6 years. Call it cost of use or whatever you want but I have no problem putting some money into my boat to make it what I want. When I actually have the money to do it, that is.

I can see your point. To me it comes down to how long you intend to keep the boat too. I'm on my third boat in 4 years, so I'm on one end of the spectrum. But on the other end of the spectrum, if you like the boat, it meets your sporting requirements and you plan on keeping it indefinitely, spend the money if you have it. You'll enjoy it for long enough to get the value out of the purchase.

[WetSider]

I am a huge fan of Samson. Great value and customer service after the sale. We had to replace our Edge tower last summer after an, um, ""encounter" with a low bridge support on Lake Tapps. Scott at Samson worked with us to make sure all was handled well with the insurance company and his team built/installed the new version "crowned" Edge tower flawlessly. Great product - again, and the lines of the tower IMO work really well with the boat's lines. If you don't have the means to do an Illusion, Samson makes a solid product as an alternative.

[ebelizard]

Yeah, I hear you. My point was more that it doesn't make sense to me to put 2-3k into a tower for that boat (plus you will probably want to buy a bimini, tower speakers, racks etc.), unless you love it so much that you can put economics aside. I think I'd look for a used titan somewhere, or buy a monster tower or an Indy for less than 1k. When you do go to move up you will probably recoup some of that investment. My boats have all been sub 15K, and the economics down there are much different than the 25k+ boats.

Well I'm not wealthy by any means, but I think I have such a love for my first little beater boat that I want to keep it for awhile. Maybe it's also my view to turn something ugly, into something nice. But I do see your point, and it is valid.

Makes sense but you can also look at it like new boat guys view depreciation. The boat will inherently lose value every year, but if you are still ahead on it (paid less than you could currently sell for) the tower could be viewed as an operating expense and still not put you in the red. I know I could put a tower on my boat and still be money up, even without the added money I may or may not see from the tower at time of sale.

Every situation is different but Echelons haven't really come down in value over the last 5 or 6 years. Call it cost of use or whatever you want but I have no problem putting some money into my boat to make it what I want. When I actually have the money to do it, that is.

At the time of sale, if I keep this tower on it, the tower will be a sore spot in my opinion. The reason I was willing to cope with it at the time of purchase was because I wanted to vault myself into the boating world at a decent (steal) of a price. I did get a great price on the boat, and I'm sure that i'll invest more money than I can completely recoup at the time I do sell it.

[jk13]

Well I'm not wealthy by any means, but I think I have such a love for my first little beater boat that I want to keep it for awhile. Maybe it's also my view to turn something ugly, into something nice. But I do see your point, and it is valid.

At the time of sale, if I keep this tower on it, the tower will be a sore spot in my opinion. The reason I was willing to cope with it at the time of purchase was because I wanted to vault myself into the boating world at a decent (steal) of a price. I did get a great price on the boat, and I'm sure that i'll invest more money than I can completely recoup at the time I do sell it.

Sounds like my exact situation, except instead of a non-desirable tower I had horribly neglected gel coat on mine. Took way too many hours and a few dollars more than I anticipated to fix it, but it likely raised the value by a couple thousand over what I paid.

Nothing wrong with saving someone else's "beater" and turning it into a gem in my book.