Input on Radar Arch/Wakeboard Tower

[bgfire]

I am looking for input on a combination radar arch and wakeboard tower. I am looking at premanufactured units from a couple of companies, one being Barewest Wakeboard Towers in Tigard, OR.

Has anybody put a commercial arch/tower on their boat, and how has it worked out? I am looking at the combination route, as I need to get radar, more rod holders, and additional lighting on the boat, as well as balance family needs for towing a wakeboard and tubes at the lake.

I have a 20' Boulton Sea Skiff with a soft top. Input and thoughts on arch/tower units very appreciated.

Thanks

[Jason S]

I am looking for input on a combination radar arch and wakeboard tower. I am looking at premanufactured units from a couple of companies, one being Barewest Wakeboard Towers in Tigard, OR.

Has anybody put a commercial arch/tower on their boat, and how has it worked out? I am looking at the combination route, as I need to get radar, more rod holders, and additional lighting on the boat, as well as balance family needs for towing a wakeboard and tubes at the lake.

I have a 20' Boulton Sea Skiff with a soft top. Input and thoughts on arch/tower units very appreciated.

Thanks

I have a Barewest on my boat. Nice unit. Does not follow lines of canvas at all. From the sides it looks great. From front or back it is really squared off. To do it again I would have the guy on here build me one. NWBoatWorks or something like that. His units look really nice. The Barewest is real stout.

Dream to board off of though. My kid can do some real sick stuff off of the back of my boat. Hvae boarded behind "real" wakeboard boats and they do have there advantages (ballast for larger wake and auto speed/throttle control), but mine does fine. My son benifits behind a better boat but I don't.

As a disclaimer. You should not tow inflatables behind a wakeboard tower. Don't ask me why but it is what they say. I tow off of the transom for inflatables. The stresses and speeds are much higher on an inflatable I think.

Heres some pictures of the Barewest. Have you thought of having Boulton build you one. His looks pretty nice.

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/IMG_01811.JPG

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/Seahawk_3.jpg

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/Seahawk_2.jpg

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/My_Seahwk.jpg

[bgfire]

Thanks for the quick input on the Barewest tower. I got an email from Scott up there, who said they can customize to some degree.

I had not thought to check with Mike at Boulton. Who better to build an arch than the ones who built the boat. I will check there.

Any other input from others will be great as well.

[Jason S]

Thanks for the quick input on the Barewest tower. I got an email from Scott up there, who said they can customize to some degree.

I had not thought to check with Mike at Boulton. Who better to build an arch than the ones who built the boat. I will check there.

Any other input from others will be great as well.

No problem. See the squarness. They never showed it on thier web site. I would have looked elsewhere prior to buying if they had. Great looking and performing tower otherwise though. They were also a stand up company to purchase from. I had several calls made during installation as I was a little nervous drilling huge holes (3/8") in the new boat and prior to drilling the tower as that was not reversable if I messed up.

[jfa686]

samson sports...second to none
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff69/jfa686/IMG_0213.jpg
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff69/jfa686/boats/IMG_0967.jpg
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff69/jfa686/boats/DSC_0416.jpg

[toddsnorthriver]

I also have a Barewest tower on my Northriver but my boat is older 05' and had a more square type soft top and it looks great. I had mine mounted to two different configurations. One is at the front of the boat so that the front legs match the lines of the windshield for skiing and the second positon is all the way to the back of the soft top for fishing, placment of fishing poles in the holders. The brackets match up just right so in one postion the the back legs boldt into the bracket that the front legs would go if I placed the tower all the way back. In other words i have tree mounting brackets per side equal distance apart. Works great. Todd

[bgfire]

Nice Custom Weld, Jfa686.

Todd, thanks for the input as well. My Boulton has the square type soft top as well, so the squared look of the barewest may not be bad. Do you have a picture of yours that you could add? I am looking of the tower to live at the rear edge of the soft top, primarily for radar and rod holders. The boat sees more ocean time than lake time.

How was Barewest to work with, and did you install the tower yourself, or have it done?

[toddsnorthriver]

Let me go do some digging, I think that I can find some pictures on my laptop that I could show you. If not, I'll go take a few quick pictures and send them to you. Todd

[lucky2]

Check with Motion Marine out in West Linn. They custom built a radar arch for me and I couldn't be happier with it. I am fairly certain they can custom build whatever you need at a very reasonable price

[JJsboat]

Here is a company that does custom arches and towers: Atlantic Towers

[StickFish]

PM Wetfly - he custom designs archs and builds a fantastic piece of gear

[Jason S]

PM Wetfly - he custom designs archs and builds a fantastic piece of gear

Wish I had followed that little piece of advice there. His website has some great pictures too.

[OB1]

Here's mine that Wetfly did for me. There's a post between the middle rod holders (top) for attaching the tow rope. Works awesome!
The tower has the platform for mounting the ray dome and Nav light.
I had zero problems running the cables for the ray dome, gps anntenna and rear flood lamp that is mounted under the two middle rod holders, not shown here.

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/DSC04545.jpg (http://www.ifish.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/70985/size/big/cat//ppuser/5418)

[StickFish]

Here's mine that Wetfly did for me. There's a post between the middle rod holders (top) for attaching the tow rope. Works awesome!
The tower has the platform for mounting the ray dome and Nav light.
I had zero problems running the cables for the ray dome, gps anntenna and rear flood lamp that is mounted under the two middle rod holders, not shown here.

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/DSC04545.jpg (http://www.ifish.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/70985/size/big/cat//ppuser/5418)

The one he built for Kismet is amazing. Look for Wetfly's booth at the Sportmen's Show, if you are even thinking of an arch its worth stopping by for a visit.

[bassin]

PM Wetfly - he custom designs archs and builds a fantastic piece of gear

Robin AKA Wetfly built one for my 22' NR. It's about 18 months old. And still looks better than any thing else out there IMHO. Well worth the Drive to have him build you one.

[Hellibut]

I have a Barewest on my boat. Nice unit. Does not follow lines of canvas at all. From the sides it looks great. From front or back it is really squared off. To do it again I would have the guy on here build me one. NWBoatWorks or something like that. His units look really nice. The Barewest is real stout.

Dream to board off of though. My kid can do some real sick stuff off of the back of my boat. Hvae boarded behind "real" wakeboard boats and they do have there advantages (ballast for larger wake and auto speed/throttle control), but mine does fine. My son benifits behind a better boat but I don't.

As a disclaimer. You should not tow inflatables behind a wakeboard tower. Don't ask me why but it is what they say. I tow off of the transom for inflatables. The stresses and speeds are much higher on an inflatable I think.

Heres some pictures of the Barewest. Have you thought of having Boulton build you one. His looks pretty nice.

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/IMG_01811.JPG

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/Seahawk_3.jpg

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/Seahawk_2.jpg

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/My_Seahwk.jpg
Don't want to hijack the thread and maybe I don't get out enough but this is the first time I've seen the kicker mounted on the offshore bracket. I'd really like to get some info on this. Did you order it this way and how are the controls set up? Does the offshore bracket extend all the way across? I have the same boat and I've often thought the kicker would work much better on the offshore bracket but never thought much about doing it.... until now. Thanks

[Jason S]

Don't want to hijack the thread and maybe I don't get out enough but this is the first time I've seen the kicker mounted on the offshore bracket. I'd really like to get some info on this. Did you order it this way and how are the controls set up? Does the offshore bracket extend all the way across? I have the same boat and I've often thought the kicker would work much better on the offshore bracket but never thought much about doing it.... until now. Thanks


Sent a PM

[Axeman]

Here's mine that Wetfly did for me. There's a post between the middle rod holders (top) for attaching the tow rope. Works awesome!
The tower has the platform for mounting the ray dome and Nav light.
I had zero problems running the cables for the ray dome, gps anntenna and rear flood lamp that is mounted under the two middle rod holders, not shown here.

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/DSC04545.jpg (http://www.ifish.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/70985/size/big/cat//ppuser/5418)
How much did he charge you?

[lucky2]

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i255/began_photos/100_1884.jpg
Here is what Motion Marine built for me

[Boats]

I have had 2 Bare West towers. The current one is now cracking on both sides of the tower, right below the 45 degrees bracing on the rear pipe. The cracks are in exactly the same location on starboard and port. I have never used it to pull a skier and it only holds the radar radome. These appear to be stress cracks from the side to side motion of the tower while being trailered and while on the water.

I normally like to try to support small businesses, but working with Bare West has not been easy.

They told me they could do some customizing on my first tower. While they might have been able to do it... they certainly didn't appear anxious to help. What's more... they increased the "Customization" pricing on me and I ended up having Motion Marine do it instead.

Wish I could tell you I'd had better luck with them, but I haven't.

My recommendation would be to go with someone else. Things may have changed there, but I would not buy are Bare West again at this point.

Brian Rollins

[bgfire]

Thanks for the input, everybody. I will be checking with Wetfly to see what he can do for me. I really like that arch he did for OB1...very nice.

I am also checking with Boulton to see if they could/would build an arch. They are closer to my location, but I don't mind driving for quality!

For Hellibut, my kicker is also located on the offshore bracket, but on the port side, opposite from that of Jason S. It was on the boat when I bought it. The bracket goes all the way across. Currently the motor is independant and control is manual.

Thanks again everybody, and have a safe and Happy New Year.

[Reel Knotty]

I will add another enthusiastic thumbs up for Wetfly's arches. They are first rate and I have really enjoyed mine. It is very functional, and looks great doing it. Contact Robin, he is a great guy, does great work, and a blast to talk with!

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/Radar_arch.jpg

[bgfire]

I emailed Robin (Wetfly) earlier this evening asking questions. He already replied with the information that I was looking for. Looks like I need to get some measurements on the boat and get back to him...:excited:!

I passed on that I really liked the arch that he had done for OB1; this would work pretty well for me, as I have a fairly flat sort top. I like the one that he made for you, too Reel Knotty.

[goatram]

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/Radar_arch.jpg
Did you put on the grab rails forward from the arch or is that part of the arch when you had bought it. can you take a pic of the attach at the wind screen or discribe the way it is attached:pray: