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Titan I Tower Help


Texasguy

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DOH. I'm about 3" too tall with a collapsed Titan Tower to fit in my garage. i owe it to the old windshield design. :( Guess I should have sprung for that 2002. :) Time to go find some friends with a big garage! LOL.

I'm curious to know if a Titan I could fold lower than yours which is about 3" too tall. Can it fold forward to get any lower or do the joints not allow that. I need to know about how low a Titan I could fold on a 98 SS VLX either folding forward or back to fit a standard garage.

Is folding maybe just one of the bummers about Titan I?

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I spent a lot of time debating the issue. From what I learned, the front wishbone will fold forward, but due to the arc it actually will stick up higher then when folded back over the glass. I just don't like the fold-on-the-glass concept for several reasons. And I too had to have something that fit under a 7' garage door. I got info from other owners with the same boat as mine w/ a Titan, and info from Titan themselves. I was even considering a TIII. What I decided is that it is very close to fitting, but it might and it might not. I think it will come down to which trailer your boat sits on. Some must ride a little higher than others. I decided against spending $1500 on something without a guaranteed fit. So I ended up going with a Monster Tower. It for sure fits, and I personally like the style a little better than the wishbone shape. And it is less expensive. But everyone's preference is different.

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Well, on my '01 VLX I have the Titan I mounted as far forward as is possible. I can emphasize that point by stating that the walkthru windshield easily opens and closes with a couple inches of clearance. That's something the factory even messed up a lot.

With the front wishbone folded down on the windshield, the windshield intercepted the arc too low on the wishbone for it to lay down fully. The net effect is that the top of the wishbone is just a bit below horizontal instead of laying down at an angle symmetric with the front.

My solution was to go get storage out by the lake. :) Now I just leave the tower up all the time and I can park both vehicles in the garage again. No more scraping ice off the windshield or running through the rain. :)

As for the weight. I saw absolutely no worrisome stress on the windshield from the wishbone and two board racks. I did have it in mind to build a PVC tower brace that would have held it about 1/4" above the windshield for long term storage. Never got that far obviously however.

- it's Slurpee posting on the wife's account. I'm too lazy to log out and in on her notebook. LOL.

Edited by WakeMD
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Slurpee,

Love what you did to your boat. If I get a VLX I will probably get the same graphics. They look great.

How about a slight "bend mod" to the front wishbone tubes. I know some guys with bending machines and it should not take much to lower the high point 3" or so.

I hate to ditch the TI but I REALLY like having my baby, err, boat, in the garage.

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Bending the T1 like that sounds like a really bad idea. Mechanical Engineering isn't my thing though. If for not other reason, you'd probably have trouble getting the two wishbones to seat together properly.

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I only put my boat in the garage for storage so I do not find it to be a big deal to remove the front wishbone. It is really light and I have removed it alone.

Yeah, I couldn't do that. It took two people to remove it because they made the front wishbone about 6" too wide. I've got to apply some significant force to bend it into the joints. I was forced to remove it a half dozen times after I was narc'd out to the HOA and before my storage slot opened up at the lake.

Try it. If it's easy then great. If it's hard, then maybe some cinch straps would have helped keep the width constant for easy replacement.

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Vette-Ski,

Is it the front supports that seem to cause the problem?

I'm not exactly sure what you mean. But from what I have seen the peak of the arc of the front wishbone is not at the windshield - that's why it end up higher than the glass. So moving it forward would help the situation. But there is only so far forward you can move it. If that's what you mean by the front supports, then yes, that is the problem. I was told to plan on the tower being 10-12" taller than your windshield (for a SSVLX). You'd have to move the tower a lot further forward to put the peak of the arc at the glass. I wanted my front supports in the flat area around my cup-holders between the glass and the front grab rail.

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Taking it off would let the boat fit easily into the garage but that isn't the important point. I was hoping it could fold well enough to fit.

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I have a titan II and I take out the screws in the front wishbone. The I use bungees to let it fold down even further into the boat. It works great and its easily done with one person.

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I guess I wasn't so clear. Is it the front wishbone that is the highest and not the rear hoop when folded down as far as possible?

Yes, it is the front hoop that stands the highest. As some have indicated, the solution is to remove it from the front mounts every time you go in and out of the garage. This may work fine for storage, but a pita for weekly boat use.

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Thanks guys, I'll figure it out. But you would think the rocket scientists over at Titan would make a collapsable tower that would fit in a standard garage. Isn't that the point?

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Thanks guys, I'll figure it out. But you would think the rocket scientists over at Titan would make a collapsable tower that would fit in a standard garage.  Isn't that the point?

I'm sure that a lot of this has to do with what type of boat it's on. I had an 01' RLX with the Titan I, and it fit perfectly in the garage with it laying over the windshield. I upgraded to an 02 VLX with the Titan I, and it no longer fits with it laying over the windshield, and therefore had to lay the front forward and built a support pole for it. I think there may be some pics in my gallery... if not, I know I've got the pics at home. Another thing that Titan easily can't account for is the height of the boat when it's on different trailers. Last year my dealership got a newwer trailer in, and it sat higher than my 02 trailer does.

JV

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Thanks guys, I'll figure it out. But you would think the rocket scientists over at Titan would make a collapsable tower that would fit in a standard garage.  Isn't that the point?

The Titan folded back on the windsheild of my 01 SLXi fits just fine under a 7' garage door...SMP tandem trailer

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Thanks guys, I'll figure it out. But you would think the rocket scientists over at Titan would make a collapsable tower that would fit in a standard garage.  Isn't that the point?

The Titan folded back on the windsheild of my 01 SLXi fits just fine under a 7' garage door...SMP tandem trailer

Same here but on a SBT trailer.

Keep in mind not every garage door opening is the same, yes most are 7' but other factors that would be practically impossible get an accurate measure. Things such as, molding, different trailer manufactures & Boats, driveway approaches, tires etc.

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Thanks guys, I'll figure it out. But you would think the rocket scientists over at Titan would make a collapsable tower that would fit in a standard garage.  Isn't that the point?

The Titan folded back on the windsheild of my 01 SLXi fits just fine under a 7' garage door...SMP tandem trailer

Same here but on a SBT trailer.

Keep in mind not every garage door opening is the same, yes most are 7' but other factors that would be practically impossible get an accurate measure. Things such as, molding, different trailer manufactures & Boats, driveway approaches, tires etc.

Ditto that. Heck, the lowrider option on the Extreme trailers makes a big difference all by itself. Make sure that you're comparing apples with apples.

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