The Good, The Bad, The Frustrating.......

[YamaHog]

This past Saturday I was finally able to get my new 195S out to my favorite lake! It was my third trip out in the boat and was a great day all-in-all. I've gotten much more comfortable around the docks and have finally got a feel for using reverse to stop the boat at slow speeds. The lake was VERY busy and there were some nasty wakes from from larger wake boats. I was very impressed with how well my 19' boat handled those wakes. Lake calmed down a bit in the evening and was able to do a little bit of fishing trolling at 2 - 3 mph. I think the Cobra Jet AK-19 Deluxe steering system I added in almost a necessity for having some steering for slow speed trolling.

Now for the bad.............I did one of the dumbest things I've probably even done in an attempt to try to get my boat to fit into my garage. I had read about the wake tower cable mod to lengthen the cables to lower the wake tower a bit further to get clearance and fit into a standard 7' garage opening. Trying to get at the underside of the cables to unscrew the nut I had the bright idea of trying to slide my upper body down into the rear dry storage locker behind the helm to get an angle to unscrew the nut. When I did this, I had on Dri-fit type shorts and ended up sliding down into the locker with just my feet sticking out! I was able to remove the nut, but then discovered I could not easily get myself back out AND I had taken my cell phone out of my pocket! I was only stuck in there for about 2 mins but it freaked me out big time! I was able to remain calm as I still had plenty of room to move my upper body and breathe easily, and gradually worked my way back out by pulling myself a little with my foot on the wake tower outside. I got out pretty quickly with just scratch on my forearm from the inside edge of the locker. I'm NEVER doing that again (even though I didn't intend to fall all the way inside). It's definitely a scary feeling thinking you could be stuck.

and the frustrating........

Even after my scary dilemma above and lowering the wake tower as much as I could, the trailer still misses going into the garage by an inch or so. It looks like the an inch or two difference from the outside edge of my garage to the center, so one of the sides of the wake tower won't clear. I'm now on a waiting list for a spot in the storage facility near me to open up. $170 a month I hadn't planned for, but it is what it is.

Finally, I got my paperwork in the mail over the weekend from the dealer so I went to register my boat at the DMV here in Arkansas today and they didn't like the bill of sale.......I purchased from a dealer in Florida and on the bill of sale the boat and trailer are both itemized, but the trailer has a the sale price listed as $0.00 and full amount on the boat. Apparently in my state they have to charge sales tax on each separately so they are asking me to get a new bill of sale with a value other than $0.00 on the trailer.

Once I can finally get the boat registered hopefully I'll be able to kick back and just enjoy it. I also wanted to share my story about sliding into the locker in hopes that somebody else doesn't make such a stupid decision!

 

[HangOutdoors]

did you try disconnecting the boat and just lowering the jack stand very low while pushing it back in ? You should easily get an inch. Or what I have seen people do is get an adjustable drop hitch that you can lower the tongue another 6-8 inches or more then back up into the garage. Since you have a single axle trailer this may work for you.

Just a thought.

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[OrangeTJ]

You could also do the following, which is what I did to get our 7'4" tall SX210 under a 6'11" door: Fold the tongue back, slide a floor jack under the stub of the folded tongue, fold the tongue jack/wheel up out of the way, lower the floor jack all the way to the ground and push the boat in. Worth a try.

 

[2kwik4u]

Good job getting back out. Been there done that

 

[Ramblin Wreck]

You could deflate the tires

 

[tdonoughue]

But then put the trailer on jack stands inside the garage or reinflate... of course. Otherwise you will have sorry tires.

 

[AZMark]

Good job getting back out. Been there done that

View attachment 128357

Those lockers scare the heck outta me. I changed my bilge and pisser fittings and that was enough time in there for my lifetime.

 

[YamaHog]

did you try disconnecting the boat and just lowering the jack stand very low while pushing it back in ? You should easily get an inch. Or what I have seen people do is get an adjustable drop hitch that you can lower the tongue another 6-8 inches or more then back up into the garage. Since you have a single axle trailer this may work for you.

Just a thought.

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Intelligent search from Bing makes it easier to quickly find what you’re looking for and rewards you.

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Thanks for the suggestions. I did have the boat disconnected from the trailer and we were trying to push it into the garage. Depending on what height the trailer tongue is cranked to, it appears to simply change the angle/point at which the tower isn't going to clear. However, I hadn't yet considered dropping the trailer tongue lower than what the crank goes to, and I do have an adjustable B&W hitch. The boat is due for it's 10 hr service so once I bring it back from service I'll give that a try and see what the clearance is. I should be able to get a good idea by measuring the tongue height with the crank all the way down vs the ball height on my hitch at the lowest setting. It's so close to clearing, it's worth giving that a try. It would be ideal to have in the garage over the winter so I can work on mods, etc. (just no more crawling into those rear lockers for me....lol)

 

[YamaHog]

Good job getting back out. Been there done that

View attachment 128357

Luckily I got out with just a few scratches. Did you get yourself out or have somebody pull you out by your feet? I'm 5'11" & 210 lbs, so I've decided I'm to big and too old to be trying stuff like that again.

Those lockers scare the heck outta me. I changed my bilge and pisser fittings and that was enough time in there for my lifetime.

I'm definitely not getting back into those! If I have the need in the future, I have a much smaller nephew I will employee for that task! lol

 

[2kwik4u]

Luckily I got out with just a few scratches. Did you get yourself out or have somebody pull you out by your feet? I'm 5'11" & 210 lbs, so I've decided I'm to big and too old to be trying stuff like that again.

I wiggled myself back out of there. It was touch and go for awhile. I'm 6'2" ~225lbs as well, so we aren't far off in frame size.

Have some other pictures where I've since sent the 9yr old in to fix/do/retrieve stuff from compartments for me

 

[F.M.]

Come on guys, there's plenty of room in there. I'm 6'1" and 225, and I fit just fine.

 

[ripler]

I get my 2010 SX210 in my garage using the caster mod, my boat is 7'4".
When I installed my tower there was no way I was climbing in the areas needed to get to the bolts needed to install the tower. I'm claustrophobic and all I could imagine was getting stuck in there and freaking out. To make access easier I removed the seat backs near the mounting bolts and drilled a hole using a holesaw big enough to get my arm in there to access the bolts. I trimmed the hole with some flexible U channel, the seat backs cover the hole.

 

[steve0617]

I have the same garage issue. Take off the Bimini top from the tower. Make sure the hitch is set as a drop hitch and then drop the ball as low as possible. Reattach and back slowly. My tower clears by about 1/2” from the bimini mount.

 

[Canuckjetboater]

When I did this, I had on Dri-fit type shorts and ended up sliding down into the locker with just my feet sticking out! I was able to remove the nut, but then discovered I could not easily get myself back out AND I had taken my cell phone out of my pocket! I was only stuck in there for about 2 mins but it freaked me out big time! I was able to remain calm as I still had plenty of room to move my upper body and breathe easily, and gradually worked my way back out by pulling myself a little with my foot on the wake tower outside. I got out pretty quickly with just scratch on my forearm from the inside edge of the locker. I'm NEVER doing that again (even though I didn't intend to fall all the way inside). It's definitely a scary feeling thinking you could be stuck.
@YamaHog .....WHOA!!!!

 

[YamaHog]

Come on guys, there's plenty of room in there. I'm 6'1" and 225, and I fit just fine.

View attachment 128377

That's the port side rear locker. I was in the rear starboard side locker......basically backwards and upside down almost.

 

[F.M.]

That's the port side rear locker. I was in the rear starboard side locker......basically backwards and upside down almost.

That's my starboard locker. I can't fit in the port side, it's opening is much smaller.