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Carbon Fiber Blade Tower - Old School


AZRhino

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So, I am apparently one of the lucky few to still have a carbon fiber Blade Tower on my new-to-me '06 Wakesetter (I didn't know enough about it when I bought it to even question the tower type - #firstboat).  Honestly, I like the look of the tower and it is rock-solid, but there are a few drawbacks that I am discovering.  The primary drawback is finding accessories that will actually work with it.  The main thing I am looking to do is upgrade one of the racks to hold surfboards.  The current racks are the original type that slide onto a mounted diamond-shaped piece of metal and then lock in with a set screw.  I am not a fan of the racks, but cannot find anything that will work with the hole pattern of the current mount and there are no other holes in the tower for mounting stuff.  The racks have no logos or identifying information on them, so I don't even know who made them.  I am also not too keen on trying to drill through the tower to mount something else because I have no idea what is inside it (frame, wiring, etc.) or where it would be strong enough to hold racks.  Does anyone still have one of these towers from '05 or '06 that has had luck with finding accessories or making newer racks work?

As a fallback, I have also been trying to find surf forks to replace the current forks on the existing rack's base plate.  They are rear-mount forks with two mounting holes at 1 inch on center, but I have not been able to find any other racks with this mounting spec.  If you know of something that might work, I would love to hear about it.

Thanks in advance!

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I happen to have the same tower on my 06 vlx.  I definitely like the look of the tower but it has been a real pain to try to find accessories.  If you need a Bimini contact towerbiminis.com, they have the pattern and made a nice one for my boat a couple years ago.  As for board racks the company that made them doesn't seem interested in making any more so you will need to modify the ones you have.  My boat didn't have the racks when I got it which is fine because we mostly wakeskate and can fit them in the back storage.

If you want to take a crack at the original vender they are A&J Machining in Morgan Hill, CA.

Good luck

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Your best option is having a machine shop fab up a couple of adapter plates to mount racks of your choice. You can likely even retrofit some newer swivel racks.

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I also have this tower on our 2006 VLX. I know there is a lot of information out there about how these were a bad tower, but I really like its very unique look. We get a lot of compliments on it because it is so different from everything else out there. Kind of wish lowering it was a little easier though...

In regards to the board racks, I do not know of any aftermarket suppliers of racks that will fit. This is a less than ideal solution, but the rubber lining was coming out of one of the upper board slots and we pulled it the rest of the way out and it holds our current surfboard perfectly. I know most people would want to have the protection in place for their board, but it is working for us right now.

The question I have about this tower, if any one has any experience with this, is how do I remove the bulb of the forward and rear facing halogen lights that hang below the tower? They look to have a fairly standard MR16 bulb inside of them and I would like to upgrade the bulbs to LED, but cannot figure out how to get to the bulb. It seems to make sense that the outside flange would unscrew, but it is a very small ring on the outside and I haven't been able to get it to turn. Anyone have any experience with that?

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Thank you guys for the responses.  Pretty much confirmed what I thought.  Robb, mine does not have any integrated lights, so unfortunately I cannot help you on the lighting question.  Good luck to us all!

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  • 2 years later...
  • 1 month later...

Anyone got a picture of this tower?  I'm not familiar, but I know that Carbon Fiber isn't cheap, and in 2005 it was even less affordable.  I'd love to see some pics!

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  • 2 months later...

Here is mine. 2005 lsv.  Thing works great. There is great information on this site , but also a bit of misinformation on this site.  These towers were never recalled.  Paul at bakes told me personally he has never seen one fail, but he has seen the illusions crack.  I am 6'4" and 250lbs and under load it doesn't move, even when starting out at 45 from the boat, no movement.spacer.png Only when there is no rider does it shake a bit.  After all, it's 2023 and this thing is still going strong.  

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  • 7 months later...

I’ve got the same tower on my 05 VLX but the clear coat on top has flakes off. I had someone look at it today and he said that it’s actually fiberglass and that the integrity is compromised and that I should replace the tower.

Does anyone know where I can get a replacement or how much it would be?

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11 hours ago, GCalb said:

I’ve got the same tower on my 05 VLX but the clear coat on top has flakes off. I had someone look at it today and he said that it’s actually fiberglass and that the integrity is compromised and that I should replace the tower.

Does anyone know where I can get a replacement or how much it would be?

Please post a few photos.  I'm surprised your glass guy didn't just want to put a few strips of glass tape on it to beef it up. 

Also, is he 100% sure it is fiberglass?  I can imagine that a lot of boat guys have never seen carbon fiber.

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redrooster
13 hours ago, GCalb said:

I’ve got the same tower on my 05 VLX but the clear coat on top has flakes off. I had someone look at it today and he said that it’s actually fiberglass and that the integrity is compromised and that I should replace the tower.

Does anyone know where I can get a replacement or how much it would be?

That is my boat up above.  Its not fiberglass, at least not the top layers.  I took off my lights and it was carbon fiber as far as i could see into the existing holes.   Please post a picture.  

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On 2/23/2024 at 8:14 AM, redrooster said:

That is my boat up above.  Its not fiberglass, at least not the top layers.  I took off my lights and it was carbon fiber as far as i could see into the existing holes.   Please post a picture.  

Yeah I don't see how there is any fiberglass involved here.  Clearcoat peeling off the carbon fiber would make sense though.

On 8/17/2020 at 2:36 PM, jmack said:

Your best option is having a machine shop fab up a couple of adapter plates to mount racks of your choice. You can likely even retrofit some newer swivel racks.

Old topic but has anyone tried calling Samson to see if they've ever fit a set of their typhoon spinner racks to a CF blade tower?  that would be ideal, in my opinion. 

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