Has anyone powercoated their tower?

[wellspun]

I'm thinking about powdercoating the tower on my 07 24Ve and just wanted to find out if anyone else has done it, and if so were there any issues or recommendations that you would give. Thanks in advance.

[majestic]

Im sure Da.bell will chime in I seem to remember an issue with his powder coated uprights.

[spenchey2]

I have my up rights powder coated. I don't move my tower up or down besides when it goes into storage. I have an 06 22v, bought it new, and the paint is chiping off on them around where the screws go int the tower.

As far as the tower goes a friend of my on here rensink12 had a powder coat tower on one of his boats. As far as I remember the tower had no issues with the paint coming off. But he did take care to make sure nothing knicked or hit the tower. I can't speak to the durability of it because I think he only had the boat for a season. Maybe he can chime in on this a little more if he sees this thread.

[talltigeguy]

My old boat had a powder coated tower. 05 24V. Now owned by Bad05 who comes on here sometimes. It held up great. But that particular tower does not have locations that rub against one another and might chip the powder coating. I think the 07 uprights are problematic in that sense. The tower rubs the powder coating off at the points where the crossbars and uprights attach. I would not do it personally, on that particular tower...we have assumed you have an 'E' tower.

[wellspun]

Yeah, it's the collapsible tower, and that's what I was worried about. We just bought a place in Havasu with an RV sized garage, so I don't see me needing to collapse the tower in the near future. That said, I have lots kids and friends who are on the boat and handling wakeboards/etc constantly (not sure who's worse, kids or friends...), and I can see problems with chipping in those areas also. I will have to do a bit more research on that before I commit one way or the other, but I'm leaning towards leaving it alone. I should probably put the money and effort into some ballasts, since we're hoping to get into wakesurfing this year. Woulda looked sick tho, with the powdercoated tower.

[KonaKing]

My o4 22v has a powder coated tower. It has not chipped but there are a few spots where it has flaked off. I toyed with idea of sandblasting it off and having it re coated but the price point was not worth it to me.

[da.bell]

Powdercoating.... It all depends upon who powdercoats the stuff. IMO, Tige powdercoating sucks. However, I have seen other companies do powdercoating and they have done one outstanding job at it.

So, if you are trying to have Tige powdercoat your tower, I would avoid that at all cost. If you are going to have someone else do it, make sure you get a warranty on it that is > 1 year.



Does Tige even offer powdercoating any more? I know the Alpha Z tower is powdercoated but IMO, Tige doesn't do that but the company that Tige has contracted with to produce their towers does the powdercoating.

[yllw20]

I think you would get more use of your $$$ on the auto ballast first and then go to the powdercoating. My tower was powdercoated and I had to put up/down for first 2 yrs of ownership and it has some marks from metal on metal rubbing, but the boards getting in and out of racks werent the problem. since you dont have to put tower down I dont think you should have any issue.