If I get the same question twice in a week at my shop, I guess I should post it here for everyone to benifit from.
Question: Since you are selling/installing the Big Air towers which do you recommend?
Answer: As a general rule all ski boats produced before 1995-8?? were not designed to hold a tower unless it was a specific boat model designed for wakeboarding. American Skier is no different, in fact our boats were intentionally designed to be light weight to improve power & acceleration and develop better slalom wakes. One advantage we have is that our boats were 100% hand laid with no chop and included a core material in the decks beginning around 1983. This formula makes for a stronger deck. Here are some of my basic "rules" for older ski boats.
1) The wider the fore/aft stance the better, a narrow stance (under 45") increases the leverage against your deck loading and increases failures.
2) Height, the narrower the boat the shorter the tower needs to be. A volante open bow can support a full height tower, where an Advance or 18 model I would look for a shorter tower, every inch helps. I have seen Advances with really tall towers and cringe inside.
3) Tow point location: never locate the "knob" ahead of the factory pylon, ideal is directly above the pylon & up to 12" aft of the pylon
Good luck & have fun on the water!
