Tower Xplorer 14’ - Review 2023

Review

• DIVEIN.com Score: 3.7/5
• Construction: 4/5
• Stability: 4.5/5
• Maneuverability: 4/5
• Portability: 3/5
• Price/Quality: 3/5

The Tower Xplorer 14’ inflatable paddle board was built for speed and stability. It’s length, thickness, and lifted nose (rocker) provide the perfect shape for easily picking up speed while reinforcing the board’s stability. The result of these design components is a paddleboard created for an impeccable touring experience.

This iSUP is perfect for picking up speed and effortlessly traversing large distances comfortably. Additionally, it’s great for transporting passengers, fishing, yoga, and any other activity you can imagine doing on a paddleboard as the board can support a weight of up to 800 pounds.

Nevertheless, the Tower package of accessories is somewhat lacking, as they only provide their consumers with a 3 piece adjustable aluminum paddle and a manual hand pump. This package could be improved with the addition of a leash and a travel bag.

Features

• Comfortable, Tower EVA traction pad on deck of the board with parallel lined grooving, allows for better grip.
• Single fin setup, provides speed and allows for better control of the board the faster you go.
• Useful handle at the center of the board for easy transportation and portability.
• D-ring on the front of the board can be used for towing or mooring paddle and D-ring on the rear of the board for attaching a leash.

Accessories

The Tower Xplorer inflatable paddle board package is quite limited and only includes the bare essentials necessary for functionality. That said, some of these accessories are of good quality and should be considered in the medium range of the market. Specifically, Tower provides a 3 piece adjustable aluminium paddle and a manual high pressure pump.

• Paddle: The 3 piece adjustable aluminium paddle provided by Tower is great for moving about on the water. It provides a flexible blade that is reinforced with metal ribs, in order to make powerful strokes easily manageable. This paddle is lightweight and durable.
• Pump: The manual high pressure pump is great for blowing up the board in close to 10 minutes to the recommended 11 PSI. However, we would like to see a dual action version with future models of this board as it would make inflation faster and easier.

Stability

This paddle board was made for going fast and it is clear that the product designers knew that stability and speed are the bread and butter of paddleboarding. The sheer size and innovative design of this board provides stability, and contrary to other paddle boards, the more speed you get the easier it is to balance.

By making the board 8” rather than the traditional 6” the guys at Tower were able to increase the board’s volume and in turn the capacity and stability of the board. This board is absolutely perfect for tandem riding, fishing, yoga and anything else you can imagine doing on a paddle board.

The Xplorer provides a strong rigid frame for activities and can even protect you to some extent from impact of small waves (not that you should be using this board for catching waves).

Maneuverability

The Tower Xplorer inflatable iSUP provides a solid level of maneuverability for a touring paddle board of its size. Technical maneuvers like back step turns are very difficult due to the thickness and capacity of the board, however corrections to the board’s direction are effortless and intuitive. This is down to the board’s ergonomic tracking, which ensures almost perfect gliding on the water when a sufficient amount of speed has been developed.

Portability

At 33lbs, the board is quite heavy and as such might be hard for some people to transport. What makes this even harder is the lack of nose and tail handles on the board, with only the center handle available to be used for lugging the board around.

Unlike many other brands the Tower Xplorer packages doesn’t come with a travel bag or backpack making the portability of the board a little challenging, as you will need to source another way to store the iSUP and its accessories. You can buy a Tower bag here though.

Nevertheless, once deflated, this board rolls up to 1 foot in diameter and 37” wide making it extremely compact.

Price/Quality Ratio

The Tower Xplorer is constructed using high quality materials and given the fact that this board design is unique, the price is well justified. That said, there are some essential things missing from this package, such as the travel bag and ankle leash that take away from the value of the package. 

However, the effortless control and stability this board provides is the reason that this is a very popular paddle board for touring and that makes it all worth it. Paddleboarders looking to get a touring board or a fishing SUP to add to their board collection will already have these accessories and will enjoy what the Xplorer can do.

Optional Accessories from Tower

• Tower 3 piece adjustable carbon-kevlar paddle
• Tower 12v electric paddleboard pump
• Tower iSUP D-ring accessory

Do we recommend it?

We recommend the Tower Xplorer for paddle boarders who love touring and want a paddleboard they can use to effortlessly explore and go on adventures around large bodies of water. This is because this board makes it easy and efficient to traverse large distances. 

But without the bag and weighing 33lbs, the Xplorer is not ideal for traveling distances to the water.

On the other hand, this iSUP is definitely recommended for people who want to do different activities using their board, for example, fishing, yoga or tandem riding. It is also recommended for families and heavier paddlers, due to the board’s large volume and capacity. 

The Tower Xplorer inflatable paddle board is a fantastic touring iSUP that is versatile and durable. Check out our full lineup of the best Tower paddle boards here.