2001 Tige Metcraft Tower SNAPS...

[bcskypilot]

I wish I could take mine to a welder to fix... I still have to deal with the gel coat repairs as well though... That cost as much as the tower...

[Harvey]

Have you guys contacted your dealers. I don't think there is a Tige dealer out there that will not help with a discounted tower or a repair.

[bcskypilot]

Hi Harvey,


National City Boat Mart here in Indianapolis is who I purchased my boat from. Within a very short period after they stopped selling and servicing Tige. Bob Kirk boats picked them up but also stopped selling and servicing the boats after a very short time. Both dealerships shy completely away from any work on Tige. I have contacted both dealerships in regards to options I may have not only on a tower but on repairing the gel coat on my boat that was damaged when the tower failed. National City wouldn’t even see the boat and Bob Kirk Boats suggested I take it to a Tige Dealer in Ohio...

The only dealer really that has stepped out some is Lee from this site who lives in Tenn. and MD Boats, the local Nautique Dealer. MD's have done all of the routine maintenance on my boat for years now. They have offered to order and install a new tower of my choice after the repairs of the gel coat are complete. No discounts but at least they are local and willing to work on the boat unlike the past Tige dealers you had here...

The guys over at MD's are great. They always put their customers first, even their Tige one... It's no wonder they are the best known dealer here in Indy... I’d love to se MD carry the Tige name but it sounds like the talks have come and gone a few times on that...

Tige isn’t a real big name here in Indy. My purple one stuck out a ton though and always drew compliments. I recently met Nick, your new Tige Rep for this part. He seems like a great guy and seems to be working hard on finding a new dealership to carry Tige here in this market. I've offered to drive his beautiful 22Ve around on the water for positive Tige Publicity but it's been a no go so far...

My season ended this year when the tower broke. As I said I’m not happy about that but very glad nobody was hurt. I'm ready to winterize and make final decisions on fixing this boat again or moving on to a new one. I've said before how much I really like my boat. I'm not exaggerating when I say I believe it is to this day one of the cleanest and nicest looking boats on the waters here.. When I think about spending the $1,700 to fix the gel coat damage, buying a new tower at 2-3k then paying $900 to have the tower installed I really start to ask myself it this Tige is really worth it though... I’m open to any suggestions or criticism^

[Nick Howard]

Hey Brian (bcskypilot),

I know that you and I have spoken about tower options on multiple occasions, but I thought I would bring up Monster Tower again.

Monster Tower offers plans showing how to install their tower so that all but two of the original factory holes are used. This eliminates the need for expensive gelcoat repairs as the only two holes that are not used are the two smallest 'screw' holes to the very back. And Monster says that most customers who replace the Metcraft tower either uses the two 'screw' holes as an exit point for speaker or tower light wiring or just plugs them with something they find at your local Home Depot. This would eliminate gelcoat repairs all together.

The tower itself is only $1,195 with no tax or shipping charges.

Also, their tower is designed as a DIY project, so you don't need to pay anyone to install it. I'll even offer to help you install it myself!

As you know, I'm a big believer and supporter of Monster as an aftermarket tower. I don't think there is an option out there that is more solid and more quite. I'll try to get a copy of the Metcraft replacement instructions for you to take a look at.

I've attached some pictures from Monster Tower's website of a '98 2200i so that you can see what one would look like on your boat.

Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll try to answer what I can.

Nick Howard
Tige' Boats, Inc.
Midwest Regional Product Manager

[Nick Howard]

Here's one more picture of a Monster Tower on a '98 2200i...

[jl470]

Good looking out Nick!!
I now remember why I chose Tige! People like you and Kip Davis are the reason my faith in your product continues, even when it seems that Tige is getting slammed from all directions.It may take awhile sometimes, but, you(Tige) always end up hearing the voice of the consumer. It shows in the changes and added options over the years.

I have a 98 21i with a phat budde tower. How easy would it be to do the same conversion?

BTW, Matt your doing a great job too!

[Nick Howard]

jl470,

I've never spoken with Monster Tower about the process to replace any brand of tower other than Metcraft. I can, however, try to help based on my general knowledge.

If your older Phat Budde is a similar design to their basic tower the past couple of years, your tower bolts to the deck of the boat with a single bolt for each foot. The Monster Tower requires two bolts per foot for mounting. The first thing you would want to find out is how similar in size the current bolt/hole used is to the diameter of the Monster Tower bolt. If the same hole can be used with out needing to be adapted, the intall would probably only require the drilling of a second hole per foot. If the current mounting hole is substancially larger than what Monster requires, you may have to get some fiberglass/gelcoat work done.

For better information, however, I would suggest contacting Monster Tower directly at 877-77T-OWER. Because there's always the possiblity that I am completely wrong!

Nick Howard
Tige' Boats
Midwest Regional Product Mgr.

[Zacky]

We just contacted our (former) dealer today, and much to our surprise, they no longer carry the Tige line. They do not sell them, they do not work on them, they don't have anything to do with them...

Harvey, check your PM...

[Zacky]

Nick-

Your post has peaked my curiosity. If I am reading it correctly, there are already pre-drawn instructions detailing the replacement of the Metcraft tower with a Monster Tower? Obviously, this is a process that has been duplicated many times in the past. And why is it that you have only spoken with Monster Tower about replacing Metcraft Towers and not any other brand of tower? Just curious...

[Nick Howard]

Hey Zacky,

From what Monster Tower tells me, they have specific instructions on how to replace a Metcraft Tower, although, I have not seen them yet myself. I'll try to get a copy this coming week.

And yes, I think that Monster Tower gets the majority of the 'replacement tower' business, regardless of the original brand, because they are such a good buy. If someone is having tower issues, it's usually at least 5 years old or more. At this point, most people are looking to buy a new boat and don't want to spend $3,000 on a replacment tower when they're going to replace the whole boat in the near future.

I haven't spoken with Monster about replacing towers other than Metcarft because I have very limited personal experience with other brands (other than the factory towers and Wake Design towers). When I worked for the Tige' dealer out in Phoenix, we used WD towers on everything. WD's was located down the street from our shop, so if there were any warranty concerns, we had the customer work directly with Wake Designs. It would'nt have made much sense for a customer in WD's back yard to work with a tower company out of Georgia. (Btw, the Tige' dealer in PHX has switched exclusively to Tige' factory towers for '06).

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks,
Nick Howard
Tige' Boats, Inc.
Midwest Regional Product Mgr.

[Zacky]

I could only wish that I got five years of use out of the tower. Let's see. We got the boat in 2002. That's three years. Our season is about five months long, so that's about 15 months of actual use. Oh, and the boat only has 250 hours on it. So, roughly 15 months or 250 hours of use on our tower...

[Zacky]

Harvey- Thanks for responding. I sent you another PM...

[Andrew]

Zacky I have PM'ed you a response to what I can do to help you. Tige has and always will stand behind our product and provide excellent Customer Service. If there are any questions please call me 325-676-7777.

Andrew