New (ish) boats...garage fitment question
 

So I'm in the process of shopping for a new/newish boat. I'm looking at being under $60kish so I know that limits me to the entry level boats. I've been reading up on the Axis A20/22 (or T22) and the Tige R20/21.

On Axis' site they list sitting height w/ tower folded down and the shortest boat they have is the A20 that sits 7'1"...I can swing that but they are the only ones that I can find that list the trailer height...

My preference would be a 21ft boat but I'm having a real hard time finding ANYTHING 2010+ that fits under a 7ft tall garage door.

I do believe the Sanger's would work but we don't have a Sanger dealer near us so I'm a little worried on the mx side.....

I saw a few threads from a while ago but wanted to rehack and see if anything new/newish is on the market that would fit under a standard height garage door....

HOA does not allow boats to be parked outside and my wife will light me on fire if I suggest renting a storage locker....

give up.. nothing will fit under a 7foot door.... you need 6 more inches. I am in same boat (pun intended lol) and have looked at every boat known to man.

I decided on a 2015 Mastercraft NXT 20 for 60k

I'd go to a few dealers and just talk to them...or actually call a few mfr's to ask. Then, if you actually find one you like tell them to actually put it in your garage. If it fits, you'll take it.


(but I kind of agree with cory on what you'll find.)

A20 should fit under a 7 foot door. It's pretty much built specifically to fit in garages.

I read in one of the older threads that Supreme specifically designs them to fit in standard garages...is this no longer the case?

I have an Axis/Malibu/Nautique dealer, a soon to be Tige dealer, and a Mastercraft dealer close to me...Corey did the NXT end up fitting in a standard door?

Good luck with any of the new boats. I was just at my local dealer and amazed at how tall all these new boats are. Heck, my 05 sanger V215 barely fits in my garage height wise. I have to let air out of the tires to get it in. I had my boat in indoor storage last summer but this summer they raised the rates up to nearly $200 a month. I can let some air out of the tires and re-inflate for $200.

My A20 fits under a 7' door. In fact I think I'm at 6'10". Now mine is a 2012 so they likely have gotten a few inches taller. But if you are looking 2010 + the Axis A20/22 may be an option.

If you end up with the Axis A20 and you get the tower mirror, you'll have to remove it each time you go in/out of the garage. With the tower folded down the mirror still sticks up higher than my 8' garage door. The boat is really tall; I'll try to snap a photo this afternoon as I'm taking it out to see if it looks like it'd fit under a doorway 1' lower.

Yep, the days when you could fit in a 7' door are pretty much gone. The entry level cost of a modern wake boat is now.........

Boat ~$60k +
Tow vehicle ~ $30k +
Garage ~ $30k +

Total ~$120k +

That would be much appreciated..closest dealer I have to my house is an hour away so it kinda sucks trying to window shop....

What's your normal crew size? Mine would be a wife, 2 kiddos, and possibly 1-2 other adults..A20 feel cramped?

A20 is plenty for that size crew, in my opinion

MB Tomcat 21 should fit. MB used to call it out right on the site that it would clear a 7' door.

I only recently bought it and the weather hasn't been good enough for a "usual" crew but I've been out with anywhere from 3 to 8 people (~3 kids at the time) and it doesn't feel cramped. In fact the boat actually feels more roomy than my Sanger V210 which was almost a foot longer. The engine compartment is smaller and thus the rear lockers are shorter (boat is wider though). In my sanger, I could fit wakeboards in the rear lockers. Not a chance in the Axis. I think they did this so the inside would be more roomy. We like it.

I uploaded some photos here, just click through them (last 3 photos in the list). This is my 2016 A20 going through an 8' garage door. It was really late when we got home last night and I didn't throw a tape on it to see how much extra room I had.

http://www.massassi.com/etc/axis/

Actually looking at them now; without the tower mirror arm and if the tower folded a little lower (it will) I think it won't have any problem fitting under a 7' door.

Wow that is closer than I expected....

It looks like you'd gain inches with the bimini removed as it stores on the front of the tower?

What year did the A20 get redesigned? 2016 or last year. They are boasting a new design with deeper storage and higher seats, which I'm guessing correlates to a taller overall freeboard and higher on the trailer.

Someone needs to come up with a tower that folds all the way down to the sidewall, and then a quick attach windshield that comes off in 5 pieces, or in the case of Axis, 3 pieces since they don't have side glass.

Can you re-do the header in your garage and get a new 8ft door?
Would be spendy but if you plan to store a boat in there forever and you want a modern boat it might pay out in the long run.

The first upgrades I made when building my house were to the garage (I didn't even own a boat at the time but knew it was coming). 8ft tall doors, 9ft wide instead of the standard 8 on the third stall (more would have been nice but was getting into foundation modifications at that point and lots of $$$ for an extra foot), and extra 10ft of depth (I have 35ft in the third stall).

Yes I could but everything comes down to cost ;) When we did the pre-drywall walk thru on the house I made sure to look and see where our primary header is for the garage...thankfully the primary header is actually a good 3-4 ft higher than the garage door so I wouldn't even need a new header...It's just a matter of taking out some drywall, siding and cutting/trimming the new opening....

So that is an option however I'm not sure the wife would go for a major mod on the house AND a new boat right now...I might do the garage now though because I have the approval of the builder who runs the HOA until the neighborhood is complete..after that the HOA transitions to a committee who would have to "vote" on it and I don't want to deal with that...

From those pictures I would tend to agree with you....how much farther would the tower fold? Once I get the boat inside the garage I can raise the tower back up...I probably have close to 15' ceilings in my garage so the tower doesn't have to be in the max lowered point other than going thru the door....

I really appreciate you sending taking the time to snap the pics and post em!

Upgraded from a 2002 Supra to 2015 A22 last season. This lead to adding 6" in width and a 1' in height to the garage door which then lead to adding a new roof to the floating dock to accommodate the tower height. ha

My dad and I managed to tear out the old garage door, widen the opening and install a new one in a weekend. Helps having a general contractor in the family. ha

If I took the mirror arm off altogether I could lower the tower some more (I'd have to drill another hole in the telescoping thing to hold it up at a different height). As it is, if the tower comes down more it will pinch the mirror mount. It looks like it will drop below or equal with the top of the windshield but please don't quote me on that!

Looks like the newer tower sits higher when folded than the old tower for the Axis boats. My support arms fold all the way into the boat and the cross bar sits just above the rear bench seat. I don't remove the mirror, I loosen one bolt and swing the mirror into the boat. In the end the mirror may be an inch higher than the windshield.
If you are willing to go used look at the older Axis tower.

my sanger fit with a slight tower leg mod. had to take tower off and take it to a shop to have it done. but well worth it to have the boat in my garage and no storage expense.

Ridiculous that with all the engineering on these boats, most towers won't fold flat enough to fit.

Admit being lazy here but do you know what year they put the new towers on?

2015 was the new tower year.

For reference I went and measured my boat and garage.
2012 A20 on a single axle trailer.

Garage door - 6'11"
Boat at highest point with tower down and mirror swung into the boat 6'8".

I am in the exact same boat as the OP, looking for a new boat that must fit in my 7' garage.

I just looked at a '16 AXIS T22 yesterday and it's a pretty big boat, bigger than I expected. The website says that it is 7'-1" tall with the tower folded down... I put a tape measure on it and I'm pretty sure I could get it in my 7' garage.

A trick if it is THAT close that I might employ is getting a drop hitch for backing the boat into the garage...sure I'll have to detach, swap hitches, reattach and back in but that is peanuts vs what I do now which is practically diassambling and reassembling my tower right now :mad:

I have a guy coming out to estimate how much it will cost to just raise my garage door to 9 ft though :D

Oh looks like the measurements are right on the axis site. For A20:

Total Length w/o Platform: 21'7"/6.62m with platform removed, wedge down, and trailer tongue folded.
Total Length w/ Platform: 23'3"/7.10m with platform installed and trailer tongue folded.
Total Height on trailer: 7'2"/2.2m (tower folded down, no hoop, no racks)
Total Width on trailer: 8'6"/2.59m with guide posts.

Sucks they couldn't get it 2" lower. I wonder if different trailer tire options could drop it by 2"

^ let the air out.

My process for getting my boat in the garage is to drop the tower, then un do the pivot bolts, and let air out of the tires. Not too bad with my air compressor to re fill the tires. I was having to change the drop hitch out before but found the tires lower the trailer enough to not do that anymore. Not the most fun to do every time I go out but my indoor storage raised the price to close to $200 a month.

You could def get that A20 under a 7' door. May have to tweak a thing or two, but 2'' is nothing to overcome.

The Axis site is wrong on the A20 for 2016 garage height. The actual brochure has it like this.

A20=6'10
T22=6'9
A22=7'1
T23=7'6
A24=6'9

I bought a 2016 A20 and my garage opening measures just a bit over 6'10 and my boat actually clears it by over an 1". If you have the depth you can get a T22 under 7'. I don't have the tower mirror but I do keep my bimini attached to the tower with zero issues. I don't tweak anything to get it in and out. Hope this helps.

^^ That is definitely more accurate...I was at the Axis dealer yesterday and we measured the door they brought the T-22 thru and the door was 7'3" and he said the boat had several inches of clearance so that 6'9" is probably more accurate than the website....

Steves Right. 16 A20 easily fits in 6'11ish opening. Just need to fold tower arms outward rather than inward.

I fold mine inward so the tower rests on the arms and still have a good amount of clearance.

My Tige R20 fits in my garage no problem.

for sale btw, 2012 45k 130hr

When we built the garage at my family's lakehouse in 2005, my Nautique 226 fit fine with the tower folded down. When I traded up in 2010 to my next 226, it wouldn't fit in the garage with the tower folded....9' 2" I believe..... so we had our contractor build an out building so we could add a panel...or two...to the garage door to fit my 226. I the old is 8 foot and the out building is 10 foot door now. I have my G21 in there now....fits with tower down also. Inside the garage was not problem...It was just getting it through the door. My brother's 2001 Sport fits fine through the 8 and you can even put the tower up once inside.

That's good news....the other boat(s) I'm looking at are the Tige R21 or R20