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Which aluminum is better, 6061 or 6063?

Choosing a wakeboard tower is hard. With several wakeboard tower styles, finish options, mounting options, and material offerings (just to name a few) how can anyone choose? The options can be daunting. Two of the most popular material options when it comes to wake towers are 6061-T6 aluminum and 6063-T6 aluminum. But which is better, … Read more

Stainless Steel vs. Aluminum wake towers – Is one better?

** Edit to add – As of 2020 we no longer offer our stainless steel tower line.

Many customers are surprised by the fact that we offer both Stainless Steel and Aluminum wake towers here at Big Air.
The main question we get asked is, ā€œis there a certain metal I should choose?ā€
Unfortunately, the answer to that isnā€™t so simple. There are many properties that we appreciate between both metals.

Stainless Steel

Stainless steel is a strong metal. Due to that, we can use smaller tubing. Our stainless steel towers use 2 inch diameter tubing. The stronger metal also means a slightly tougher installation, except the Fusion tower which requires no drilling through the tower. Drilling through stainless steel requires you to use a low speed and steady pressure, or youā€™ll spend most of your installation time getting new drill bits. However, we provide helpful tips in our installation instructions, and even a couple bits. Once you understand the drilling process, the installation will go much smoother.big air waketowers fusion wakeboard tower - stainless steel - made in USA

Stainless steel is also very durable. For those in harsh elements such as salt-water, this is the metal to choose. While it can be polished up to a ā€œchrome likeā€ finish, we produce them with a brushed finish. This finish allows the tower to have a great sheen, but doesnā€™t require as much upkeep as the polished aluminum. Most of our stainless towers are also available to be powder coated for an additional fee.

Our current line-up of Stainless Steel towers are the following:Ā H2O tower, the Fusion tower, and the Beast tower.

Aluminum

Aluminum has many advantages as well. The most popular feature of aluminum is the ease of drilling. With the softer metal you can drill right on through the tubing for your installation. Another popular feature would be the bright ā€œchrome likeā€ polished finish that we offer with the aluminum towers. The polished finish will create the bling that will get it noticed from across the water. You can also choose to have the aluminum towers in a gloss black powder coat finish, or the premium anodized finish.

Another added benefit with aluminum, for us as manufacturer’s, is design. We are able to add more “style” to our aluminum towers by using billet pieces. ThisĀ brings one of a kind towers like the Storm, Torrent, and Wave towers to our line.

big air waketowers Cuda wakeboard tower - aluminum towerOur current line-up of Aluminum towers are the following:Ā Ice tower, Storm tower, Predator tower, Torrent tower,Ā Vapor tower, X tower, Haus tower, Wave tower, and Cuda tower.

The bottom lineā€¦ no matter what tower you choose, if itā€™s installed correctly, you will have one solid ride.