2015 SAN Tower Fold with Nautique Bimini

[doozer]

Does anyone have any pictures showing how the tower folds on a 2015 SAN 210 with the nautique bimini installed? I am finalizing plans on a storage barn and need to know what height garage door I should go with. If I have to remove the bimini each time I fold the tower I will just go with the higher door height so I don't need to fold the tower at all to get it in the garage.

Thanks for your help.

[Sugarsan210]

The bimini goes down over the bow when folded. I would just build tall enough to not fold. I would go with a 12ft bay door if it was me. Room to grow. The gseries are taller.

[scottmele2]

On a boatmate trailer my 210 tower up was 10'3" and 8'6" tower down. I went with a 9' door and drop it every time I put it away and have plenty of room. I have enough room to raise the tower in the barn and air out or clean. I looked at barns with 12 foot doors and they look like fire stations. If I had it to do over again I would go with a tower down cover but I would not go any taller on the barn or the garage door.

[cedarcreek216]

The racks will be the highest point when the tower is down, not the Bimini so you won't have to take it off. 9' is easy with tower down, 8' would be real close.


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[markj]

You won't have to remove the bimini but you'll have to remove the bimini travel cover to access the hand bolts so you can lower the tower which is a pain. I built my shop in 2005 for my 2005 SAN thinking I was good forever. I thought wrong. Boats got bigger. Now, I can barely fit my 230 in by 1/2" on the top of the door and a few inches on the sides. You also gotta think about the future. What if you're done with boating and want to put an RV in there instead? Just food for thought.

[markj]

Just realized no one answered your original question. I don't have pics but it's simple. Suffice to say you remove two bolts on either side of the bimini arms and the bimini extends out as the tower goes down. It's pretty slick actually and there was some good engineering to make that possible. Having said that, it's still way cool and WAY more easier to just back that thing in there and not worry about undoing a bimini and lowering a tower. The finished door opening on my door measures 10'-5" and my 2015 clears by less than an inch. Hope that helps.

[markj]

One last thing: If you're afraid of what it's gonna look like to the neighbors or what it'll look like relative to your house like I was, put a "carriage house" type door on it. Wish I could post pics of what I did but I'm not smart enough to know how to post pics on this forum.

[cedarcreek216]

I don't remove the Bimini boot to lower mine. I just release the buckle straps and that frees it up to travel forward. One thing to note is if you do the tower down cover I usually don't use the support pile as it puts the Bimini too high. I put life jackets in the windshield to let the metal arms rest on and the Bimini frame rests right in the bow grab bars. With no cover in and tower down the support like sits in the bow seat and I triple gold a towel to rest the pile in so it doesn't leave marks on the seat.


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[markj]

I don't remove the Bimini boot to lower mine. I just release the buckle straps and that frees it up to travel forward. One thing to note is if you do the tower down cover I usually don't use the support pile as it puts the Bimini too high. I put life jackets in the windshield to let the metal arms rest on and the Bimini frame rests right in the bow grab bars. With no cover in and tower down the support like sits in the bow seat and I triple gold a towel to rest the pile in so it doesn't leave marks on the seat.


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So you're saying you don't have to remove those two bolts on either side of the bimini and your bimini will automatically go forward and up/out as you lower your tower? When I lower mine, I don't have to put any towel anywhere because neither the tower nor the bimini touches anything. I'm gonna have to go confirm how mine works now.

[markj]

Just checked mine and you do have to remove the two hand bolts on the side of the bimini if you want to lower it with the bimini on. The tower needs no other support so no towels etc.

[deelan]

I'm with cedarcreek216 I put towels down because the tower rest on my seats. I think our door is around 10' and it's a few inches to short to leave the tower up. You do have to remove the bolts and atleast release Bimini cover witch sucks for me because that's where I store my surf board.


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[doozer]

Thanks for all the great input! I am waiting for the exact measurement from my dealer before making a final decision. I'm leaning towards a 12' door but we'll see.

[cedarcreek216]

So you're saying you don't have to remove those two bolts on either side of the bimini and your bimini will automatically go forward and up/out as you lower your tower? When I lower mine, I don't have to put any towel anywhere because neither the tower nor the bimini touches anything. I'm gonna have to go confirm how mine works now.

I do have to remove the large bolts to get the tower to fold, but I don't have to remove the bimini travel cover to access them as you described in your first post. Not a huge deal, probably just me not understanding what you were describing. But yes, to lower the bimini to the bow I unbuckle the two bimini boot straps and remove the two screw knobs, release the tower locking levers and lower it. I say it's about a two minute process.

[Guntersville230]

How "stiff" is it for you to pull the tower locking levers out? Mine seem really stiff/difficult to slide out, enough that my wife wouldn't be able to release them if needed. Advice on getting them to release easier?

[deelan]

Mine was very tough the first few times I did it but seems to get easier the more we use them.


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