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Removing Illusion x?


smeagol

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Anyone taking their Illusion X tower completely off to get the boat in a standard 7' garage door?

I have an '05 VLX that I'm planning on storing inside when we get to the end of the season. I've not measured the boat while its on its boatmate t/a trailer, but I'm assuming I'll be at about 7.5' with the tower lowered. Since I'll be putting it up and taking it out once a year, I'm hoping that I can simply go through the hassle of taking the tower off in the off-season.

Will this work? Any thoughts/suggestions? How do you protect the boat and tower if you are doing this?

Sorry if this has been discussed, I'm new around here and my searches didn't bring anything up...

Edited by smeagol
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Someone suggested taking some PVC and making a pipe in a pipe slider that you prop under the tower, release the bolts, then lower the tower down.

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I'm in the same "boat". Make some careful measurements. At the end of the year, if you de-flat the tires, lower the tower and remove the tower spool it may fit.

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i have an 8 foot high opening and my 05 vlx will fit with the tower down. but the board racks just barely fit by and inch or two. with the tower down the board racks become the "new" high point of the tower. mike.

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  • 2 months later...

We ended up pulling off the tower to get it into the basement. It really was not that hard, but it was a three person job. If anyone is interested, the only thing that I noted as a risk is that when the tower is resting on the dash and you take out the front bolt, the tower wants to shift backwards. As long as you have someone holding the weight in the center of the tower, its no big deal. Since we don't have speakers or lights on the tower, I think this was probably easier than taking off the spool and the board racks.

Our biggest problem was getting the dadgum boat to turn to get it into the basement. We had to get the wheels just past the door and then do a 90 degree turn. I had lowered the tongue as much as possible, but the back tires on the trailer did not want to slide around the corner. I may try taking the air out of the back tires when we pull it back out in the spring.

I had enlisted my father who wasn't feeling well to help me shove the boat into place... ended up needing my wife, my mom, and my 10 yr old daughter. It still wasn't budging until I got really mad and did my Incredible Hulk impression. My daughter said that I scared her with my bulging veins and primal scream.

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I put my 04 LSV in a standard 7' garage. I did have to remove the IllusionX tower - not real fun but it can be done.

I left mine connected to the truck and backed it all the way in and even made the turn, the I just pushed it straight back by hand. Tandem trailers and almost impossible to turn by hand. I have had decent luck with the rocking motion to get it to move.

Not a lot of room to spare!

LSV%20in%20Garage.jpg

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can't help with the tower since I have titan that clears, but when trying to spin my boat in the garage I found that if I pulled the front jack completly(using a floorjack), swung away the toung, and lowered it down to the floor that the back tires started floating and the toung never hit the ground. at that point I could just push it side to side very easily. if still close more air in the front and less in the rear would improve clearance.

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aneal000 WOW Shocking.gif that is close.

When I put my boat away after every use into my 2 car garage, I have to turn the the trailer by hand 5'. I just put the jack all the way down, have carpet under the tires and push like h-ll. It do's take 2 people.

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i have an 8 foot high opening and my 05 vlx will fit with the tower down. but the board racks just barely fit by and inch or two. with the tower down the board racks become the "new" high point of the tower. mike.

Mike,

Is your trailer standard or a low-rider?

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Tony - that's one hell of a tight fit you got there.

My garage is for cars and motorcycles. This was a one time only deal when I was waiting for my cover to show up. If I had to do this everytime I'd quit boating! Not fun - but does work!

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I can't get my boat down the stairs ... so the basement option is out ... my 2 cents, just put it in storage for a few bucks then you can use your garage for your cars.

Why'd you make your stairs so narrow? What were you thinking?

Our boat is in the basement of the lake house. The garage door was built for sea-doos, not an illusion x. We just have to do this once a season and now its inside with no worries about dust, moisture, freezes, etc. not to mention the "free" part of the deal. I hadn't heard about the idea of putting carpet under the back tires, in the spring, I'll do that as well as some of the other hints folks have given me here.

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Did u guys think to wet the floor and through on a bit of wash up liquid my tandum just skids around using this method : Innocent.gif

Excellent idea. I hadn't heard that one either.

Now, I hope I'm correct in assuming that by "wash up liquid", you mean "soap"? My Australian is a little rusty. ;)

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have carpet under the tires and push like h-ll.

You can actually use a cookie tray or baking sheet under the rear tires of a tandem trailer and you won't need to push like hell - the trailer moves around very easily.

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