Lower / Remove Tower from 2011 Yamaha AR240

[prorider17]

Hi all! I'm new to the forum and am in the process of buying a 2011 Yamaha AR240. I do plenty of research and such in advance to taking ownership of my new ride, but the one question I have is with the tower.. I believe 2012 was the first year where the tower was fully collapsible. Since mine is a 2011, I'd like to know how hard it is to remove / lower the top portion of the tower, as my garage door is 10' tall and I think the tower is 10'4"...

I've attached a current photo of the boat. Should be pretty good times ahead!

Thanks!

 

[itsdgm]

@prorider17 welcome to Jetboaters.net. Glad you found us. Also, congrats on the new boat it looks great. I have a similar problem with the non-collapsible tower on my boat. I wish I could lower it a bit too. I found that folding it forward only makes it taller and that really the only way I could lower it would be to cut the rear legs of the upper tower and make a removable section. That would easily get the height your looking for. But that would be dependent on the angle that the front legs of the upper tower legs are mounted at. So you might have to modify that end too.

 

[prorider17]

Thanks @itsdgm - Judging from what I've gathered so far, it appears that the rear supports of the tower have a folding capability, so the tower could go backwards. You say that wouldn't work though? I'm yet to start unbolting things and figure out what does what..

 

[itsdgm]

@prorider17 it's going to depend on the geometry of your tower of course. Each model is a bit different. But I do remember trying to fold mine backwards. If memory serves me correctly, due to the angle of things, the top of the tower does lower a bit, but as that is happening the front legs start rising. When is bottoms out it actually made the overall height taller because the front legs were sticking up so high. Also, the rear "pivot" points start to bind up quite a bit. They're not designed and set at the correct angle to allow a hinge like action. It's possible though that somewhere inbetween would give you a few inches of clearance that you need. But like I said, yours could be completely different. You won't really know until you give it a try. Good luck.

 

[SCSTWG]

You might want to check with member @motorboater as I know he disassembles his 2011 AR240 tower to store in his garage through the winter. Trust me when I tell you he is a wealth of information and more than happy to help anyone.

 

[motorboater]

Nice 240 @prorider17. I remove my tower just once a season, to fit into my garage for winter storage. Taking it off is easy, but you need two, preferably three people. Its light enough but very awkward to handle without dinging the boat up. Wouldnt be terrible to do it every weekend if you have enough people around.

I havent spent any time looking at it with fabricating a folding mechanism in mind, but I agree with those above that as is there is no advantage to folding it, even if it would fold all the way back.

However, if you truly are only 4" from clearing the header, you COULD get that by using casters or even a nice low floor jack. I was able to gain the 5" I needed to get mine in the garage. However as you can see my high point is forward of the high point if the tower were installed (the tow point), so it will be a different ratio. I take the casters off between uses, but you could set it up to leave them permanently mounted. Then you'd just lower it off the trailer jack onto the casters with a floor jack and push it in the garage... If the math works...

 

[prorider17]

@motorboater - You sir, have skills! I will have to look into pulling this off. The only hang up that I see in my near future would be that the 10' garage door is on a very steep incline. I would have to tow the trailer in with my truck. Once in the garage, I don't have a height restriction. I think the one possibility would be to unbolt the top half of the tower from the front supports as shown in your attached photos and slightly pivot it down/backwards to get that little bit of clearance.. I am yet to do it, but hope it's worth a try.

 

[motorboater]

Yeah that may work too... you may be able to have someone in the boat handling the tower while it hinges on the rear mounts enough to clear the tow point. If that, or the casters/floor jack isnt enough by itself, maybe both methods together will get you under. If you can tow through your garage, thats even better!

The incline makes it tricky. Be safe! I have an incline too, but the trailer tires are well inside by the time I have to lower it and push it home by hand, moving the wheel chocks as we go. I then lift it back up off the casters once inside.

Watch the clearance of your door opener if you have one. Sometimes they are mounted close to the header height.

Last bit of advise, do not over-tighten the tower bolts. That aluminum is soft and there are no thread inserts. If you unbolt the rear mounts make sure you catch the two plastic washers on each side when you pull the bolt out. They are easy to loose! The rear mount bolts are longer than the front mount bolts too. Using the shorter ones in the rear will easily strip the first few threads out with very little torque.

 

[prorider17]

@motorboater - Thank you again for the advice. I owe you a drink if you ever come down to FL. I'll investigate possible strategies for getting it in/out of the garage door. Just out of curiosity, how hard is it replace the rubber washer that connects the front tower supports to the boat? Mine are looking tired..

 

[motorboater]

Mine are too. I think you'd have to access the back side of the mount to get a wrench on the nut, but not sure. I've been avoiding that job. Maybe next offseason.

 

[Hivedog]

Nice 240 @prorider17. I remove my tower just once a season, to fit into my garage for winter storage. Taking it off is easy, but you need two, preferably three people. Its light enough but very awkward to handle without dinging the boat up. Wouldnt be terrible to do it every weekend if you have enough people around.

I havent spent any time looking at it with fabricating a folding mechanism in mind, but I agree with those above that as is there is no advantage to folding it, even if it would fold all the way back.

However, if you truly are only 4" from clearing the header, you COULD get that by using casters or even a nice low floor jack. I was able to gain the 5" I needed to get mine in the garage. However as you can see my high point is forward of the high point if the tower were installed (the tow point), so it will be a different ratio. I take the casters off between uses, but you could set it up to leave them permanently mounted. Then you'd just lower it off the trailer jack onto the casters with a floor jack and push it in the garage... If the math works...

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Hi Motorboater, great ideas on clearing a low garage entrance...thank you! I am curious how high your garage door opening is. I have an AR230 that I am trying to get in an 8' door opening and I think the casters will work, but looking at your photos it seems pretty darn close. For reference could you let me know your garage door opening height? Thank you.

 

[motorboater]

Hi Motorboater, great ideas on clearing a low garage entrance...thank you! I am curious how high your garage door opening is. I have an AR230 that I am trying to get in an 8' door opening and I think the casters will work, but looking at your photos it seems pretty darn close. For reference could you let me know your garage door opening height? Thank you.

Sure... my header is 8', minus a couple inches for trim and such. You should be fine on casters. I even deflated the tires once to get it in, before we put the castors on.

 

[Hivedog]

Thanks for the reply, love your ideas. I just checked with the realtor and the house we are buying actually has a 9' opening. With a little mod to the tower and the casters I think I can put the boat in and out on a regular basis without to much trouble. Thanks again!