Choosing Your Perfect Wakeboard Tower: The Ultimate Guide

Your boat is more than fiberglass and engines. It’s your escape, your passion, and your connection to the water.

Samson Sports has been designing and building wakeboard towers for over 20 years, and we’ve seen every mistake boat owners make when choosing their towers. Trust us, the difference between the right tower and the wrong one can make or break your entire wakeboarding experience.

We’re sharing what to consider when choosing a wakeboard tower here in this guide, coming from our experience of building thousands of custom towers.

What type of wakeboard tower should I get?

Choosing the right wakeboard tower is like picking the right tool for the job, and each type has its purpose.

Traditional

Traditional towers feature a simple, upright design with two main support posts and a horizontal crossbar. They’re straightforward, reliable, and get the job done.

They provide a solid tow point, keep your rope up and out of the water, and give you a place to mount speakers, lights, or board racks. However, traditional towers have one major drawback – they’re usually fixed in place. This means problems with storage, transport, and navigating under low bridges.

Collapsible

Collapsible towers give you all the strength and performance of a fixed tower with one game-change feature: they fold down.

Imagine pulling into your garage without having to duck. Picture trailing your boat without worrying about bridge clearances. Think about winter storage without removing your entire tower. That’s the freedom a collapsible tower provides.

We at Samson Sports use precision-machined pivot points and heavy-duty locking mechanisms that can handle the intense forces of towing wakeboarders while still allowing smooth, easy operation. One person can raise or lower these towers in seconds. No tools, no hassle, no help needed.

See our Edge and Reverse Arch collapsible towers here.

Forward-Sweeping

Forward-sweeping towers angle toward the bow of your boat. These towers excel at providing maximum headroom in the cockpit area while maintaining a low center of gravity.

The forward angle also positions the tow point slightly ahead, which can help newer riders get up easier and maintain better balance.

See our Blade and Harpoon forward-sweeping towers here.

Rear-Sweeping

Rear-sweeping towers angle back toward the stern. These designs maximize open space in the boat’s interior and provide excellent rope clearance for advanced tricks and aerial maneuvers.

Professional riders often prefer rear-sweeping towers because they create a more vertical rope angle, essential for getting maximum air. The swept-back design also tends to complement the lines of sleeker, more modern boats.

See our Saber rear-sweeping towers here.

Universal vs Custom Wakeboard Towers

Here’s the truth that most companies won’t tell you: universal wakeboard towers are like buying a one-size-fits-all life jacket. Sure, it might work, but it’s never going to fit quite right.

Universal towers come with pre-drilled holes and standard measurements. They’re mass-produced in factories, often overseas, with the hope that they’ll sort of fit most boats. The problem? Your boat isn’t “most boats.” It’s unique, with its own curves, angles, and personality.

Custom wakeboard towers, on the other hand, are built specifically for your boat. Every measurement, every angle, every mounting point is designed to work perfectly with your exact make and model. It’s the difference between wearing a tailored suit and one off the rack. 

What makes the strongest wakeboard tower?

Strength in a wakeboard tower isn’t just about using thick metal, it’s about intelligent engineering. The strongest wakeboard towers share several key characteristics:

• First, they use the right materials for the job. We use aircraft-grade aluminum alloys that provide an incredible strength-to-weight ratio. These materials resist corrosion, handle stress without fatigue, and keep your boat’s center of gravity low.
• Second, strong towers have properly engineered mounting points. The connection between your tower and boat is critical. Custom towers allow us to spread the load across your boat’s strongest points, using backing plates and reinforcements where needed. Universal towers force you to use their mounting points, whether they’re ideal for your boat or not.
• Third, the strongest towers use proper welding techniques and joint design. Our certified welders use specific procedures for each joint, ensuring maximum penetration and strength. Every weld is inspected, and critical joints are often reinforced with gussets or additional support.
• Finally, strong towers account for real-world use. They’re built for the forces they’ll face, whether that’s a 250-pound rider cutting hard outside the wake or the constant vibration of running across choppy water. We design for the worst-case scenario, then add a safety margin on top of that.

Custom Towers: How It Works at Samson Sports

The custom tower process is straightforward:

1. First, we start with a conversation. 

What’s your riding style? Do you need speaker mounts? Light bars? Board racks? How tall are your regular riders? Where do you store your boat? These details matter because they shape every aspect of your tower’s design.

2. Next, we take measurements. 

If you have one of the 2,000-plus boat models we’ve already patterned, we’re ahead of the game. If not, we’ll create a new pattern specifically for your boat. We’ll get the perfect fitment with no guessing, no “close enough,” no compromises.

3. Then comes the design phase. 

Using your input and our expertise, we create a tower design that balances all your needs. We consider aesthetics, functionality, strength, and practicality. You’ll see exactly what you’re getting before we cut a single piece of metal.

4. Once you approve the design, our craftsmen get to work. 

Every tube is cut, shaped, and welded by hand in our USA facility. We don’t rush this process. Quality takes time, and we’d rather do it right than do it fast.

Throughout the process, you’ll work directly with our team. No middlemen, no confusion, just clear communication from people who understand boats and wakeboarding. We’re here to answer questions, provide updates, and ensure you’re completely satisfied with your investment.

Choose a Tower You and Your Boat Deserve

The bottom line is this: if you want to add beauty and functionality to your boat, you can’t go wrong with a Samson Sports wakeboard tower.

Since 1999, we’ve built our reputation on two simple principles: creating the best towers possible and treating customers the way we’d want to be treated. Because when it comes to your time on the water, good enough isn’t good enough. You deserve the best, and that’s exactly what we deliver.

To get started, reach out to one of our team members today.

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