Questions about Sanger V215

So, I am looking into a Sanger V215. It seems to have everything I'm looking for in my price range. You can wake surf, wakeboard and fits a decent amount of people. Storage seems decent and I like the seating layout. I have some questions:

1) anything wrong by going with an earlier model of this boat? I.e. Any issues the first models had?

2) I'm trying to decide if this is going to fit in my garage. It's 80" to the top of my garage door. It's a two car garage, 15.5ft across. It's 24' from my back wall to the door and I have 20" on both sides of the garage door. I realize the trailer needs the detachable tongue or a swing away. I'm also concerned about the tower folding. It seems most have the pro flight tower but I can't find any specifications on height collapsed.

3) does the swim platform easily remove for putting it in the garage? I know some have the teak platform and some have the fiberglass. I haven't seen any pictures of removing this. I never took the platform off my old sanger dlx.

4) any other advice on this model? I'm looking for one with the factory ballast and perfect pass. Not sure if the trim tabs are that needed. If it doesn't have them then I wonder if the factory will still add them since I'mfour hours away and I know they do re upholstery to older units.

I have a 2006 and its a great boat. They are pretty much the same year after year with only subtle changes made year to year. They are certainly out of the same mold.

1) No. I bought an 06 in 09. Year is irrelevant. Pay attn. to hours and condition.
2) I'll go measure mine. I have the proflight chubby tower (aluminum). 80" is a really short garage door, but I just measured to where the tower collapses and find it to be right at 72-73", so if your tower were collapsed, it would easily meet the height requirement. 15.5' across = no prob, I get mine into a 9' wide 3rd bay. Length of boat with swim step removed to swing away tongue = 22' 4", so you should have no problem with a 24' garage, youll just have to remove the swim step
3) Yes, very easy. There are two pins that are pulled and the swim step just slides off.
4) Regarding ballast, best results will be replacing the two rears with fat sacs (plumbed in). I have 1100# on the port side and 750# on the starboard side. This is needed for surfing. The center ballast is nice to use sometimes (so maybe factory ballast is important). Perfect Pass is a MUST. Trim tabs are not necessary - they make very little difference. Sure you can add them, but save your $ for Fresh Air Exhaust or the fat sac upgrade. Otherwise, its just a matter of what you want, stereo, board holders, etc. Go with the Black Scorpion engine for a little more power. Depth finder is nice to have.

Can't go wrong with a Sanger. If you have a lot more money, like 2x 3x or 4x, there may be better boats that have lots of bells and whistles. But for the $ the Sanger V215 is a great boat. We've really enjoyed ours!

Thank you Derek!!!! That's exactly the kind of information I was looking for

The 2nd reply is exactly on point, we traded up to our v215 from and older mastercraft a couple of months ago and grin ear to ear every time we back it in the water. It was a long extensive search to find one as nice as we were wanting and eventually bought a 2011 model, but looked at nearly every other year of them and the only differences I noticed was I personally thought the interior refinement improved quite a bit in the later models. Ours had factory 400# soft tank ballasts that we have replaced with 750# sacs to give the surf wave more push, the wakeboard wake was all we needed with the 400# sacs. I can guarantee you wont be disappointed in any model you buy!

my 2006 v230 with Pro Flight chubby would NOT fit in my garage, so make sure you measure before you bring it home. I had to modify the tower legs (had them cut off and sleeved so that I can remove about 4" of the front legs) to make it fit. for the right boat, I wouldn't hesitate to do that again. tower is still silent when towing a rider.

Can't go wrong with Sanger! VERY well made boats

Nacho, how tall is your garage opening? The V230 seems to be the same as the V215 except longer. I am trying to figure out why yours wouldn't fit but Dereks does on his V215. Possibly the choice in trailer? Is there something that catches that prevents your tower from being lowered all the way?

nope. rear bench seat flipped up out of the way so the tower sits on the fiberglass seat base. I honestly don't know who made my trailer. I'll post a pic later

glanced at the paperwork from purchase. Trailer is a Sport Boat. matches the boat and has sanger decals all over it, so it looks like it was original from factory in CA. Loads easily and tows great. Just thought I would recognize the name a bit more. FYI

One of the ideas I had when sitting in my driveway wondering how to make it fit was to lower the bunks so the boat sat a few inches lower. I realized the tracking fins wouldn't clear trailer's support beams and moved on.

RPM_DLX - I just looked extensively at both the V210 and V215 and I also keep my boat in my garage so I really did my homework. My opening is 82-1/4" and when I measured the V215 with the tower collapsed it was going to be very close with the back seat removed. The boat I looked at was a 2007 V215 with standard trailer. The issue as previously stated are the front legs when you collapse the tower. They are the high point. You will not be able to fit a V215 into an 80" high garage opening unless you modify the trailer or the legs like Nacho did.

I ended up getting a V210 for various other reasons and it just fits in my 82-1/4" opening. It sits lower on the trailer than the V215 because of the lower freeboard.

Derek may have been measuring the tower where it releases, not the front legs when it is collapsed.

The 2007 V215 I looked at had the Proflight Chubby tower and VM trailer.

I see I didn't post my garage opening: 7 feet

Larry - good catch. you are exactly right, I did measure the tower where it releases. I am able to put my tower back up once inside my garage.

Well damn, that sucks but I guess its better to know now. Hmmmm..............back to the drawing board. I guess I may end up having to make a new gate and create RV access on the side of my garage. If I ended up cutting the tower like Nacho then I have to get it re-powdercoated.

My 2006 V215 with Proflight Chubby tower will fit in a standard 7' high garage door with the tower down but you need to release the garage door opener and push the door up above the door frame.

As said above, great boat for many different reasons: ride, wakeboard wake, surf wake, fuel efficiency, and most importantly bang for buck. If I have 1 knock on Sanger and the V210 and now V215 that I own its the low slung backs of their boats and the vents they put on them. Doesn't take a lot for a roller to come thru the vent when your boat is weighted. Its easy to manage your own rollers, but its those passers by that we have trouble with. Had to replace one perfect pass servo from corrosion that had less than 10 hours of use on it and I'm hoping the replacement lasts us longer. Also, the Medallion II controller for the gauges are terrible in that it gets corrosion inside and the gauges stop working. Pay attention to make sure all the gauges work on boats you are looking at as the controller is about $400 to special build and replace.

Well if I end up not being able to put the boat in my garage then I'm starting to think of a v-230.

Sanger bows dip down a few inches as well. Took a pretty big roller over the nose when my friend was driving me surfing on Sunday. Everyone does it once, then they understand why I drive the way I do.

I'd bitch about it, but they just look so damn sexy on the water that I'll deal with it.

I've got a 26' spot to go in to to, but between the platform coming off and swing away tongue, I can almost get my v230 in a 24' spot with a 7' opening. The tower leg mod isn't hard to do. I'll put some pics up later

Does anyone have the exact measurement then to the top of the tower. I'm going to re measure the opening in my garage. I may need to let the air out of the tires to at least get it in the garage for the winter until I do the tower now if I get one.

@RPM for a 210 or 230?

I think I am looking at both now. I did some research last night trying to find forum topics on fitting a V215 or V230 in the garage. I found a few different places where owners had the same issue. Its close but doesn't fit. I found a few people that removed the pivot bolts for the tower in order to get it in the garage. Has anyone done this? I did find one comment that the V230 sits a bit higher than a V215 but no exact dimensions. I re-measured my garage door opening and its actually a bit closer to 81" but still off from where I need to be. I have room on the side of my house to turn into RV access but my hesitation is that I don't live in the greatest neighborhood so I get concerned about someone jumping the fence and jacking the stereo. I may have to go this route with just about any of these boats given that most of what I see has the pro-flight tower or similar. If I park the boat on the side of my house then length is not an issue and I may just go with the V230 for the extra space. I am still interested in knowing what the exact height of the top part of the tower is on both models because right now my side yard is not ready for a boat so if I bring it home then I need to figure out how to get it in the garage. I suppose even a V230 would fit in my 24' deep garage if it went in at a diagonal.

Nacho, where exactly on the tower did you chop your tower? I was looking at the curve of the Pro-Flight tower and it almost looks like if the tower isn't allowed to go down all the way, the legs of front wouldn't stick up as high. Without having one yet I cant go check. Has anyone tried that yet?

when collapsed, the front legs are the obvious high point. I cut about 4 or 5" off of those legs. sleeved the piece I cut off so that it slides inside the leg tube. Then drilled a hole in the tower and the sleeve and pin it with a finger tightened 3/8" bolt. No tools required. I pulled the pivot point bolts out initially to get it in there then realized this mod was the best/easiest/safest way to do things. Takes maybe 2 minutes to attach both sides. last tower I had required 2 different allen head bolts to drop it or put it up. This one had to be tool free.

leveled it was just too tall. Initially, I thought I could brace it up about 2 feet and get the front legs to drop enough. you've got 4 or 5 feet of tower behind the pivot point. The top half had to be raised so far that when they're level, it still wouldn't work.

I'll get some pics tonight. I already had everything tucked in there last night when I thought about it. I can get any measurements you want off my 230 as well. just let me know what you need.

My garage door is 82 1/2" and my V230 just barely fits with the tongue jacked down all the way. Also my garage is pretty shallow at just 20' and the boat does not fit sideways in just the two stall so I eat up the third a little. You should have no problem fitting in a 24' deep garage.

Noah, how do you get the boat in with the tongue jacked down? Do the factory sanger trailers use surge brakes? I know my crownline i/0 couldn't be pushed around unhooked. The brakes would get aplied without power.

Yes, surge brakes on mine. My trailer pushes fine without being hooked up. Turning takes a good amount of strength but straight line on level ground goes ok.

Thank you Noah! If I get a 215 or 230 then I may give that a try. I have a small slope to my driveway but not much. I noticed you are not far from me. I'm in sacramento. I get nervous about buying a 230 and fitting it but I'm pretty sure it will fit. Now I just need to find the right 215 or 230

Another idea would be to go with a smaller tire and possibly make up that 1" you might need.

We've got a 2007 V230 with pro flight chubby tower. With tower down it won't fit in a standard 7' garage door. Has no problem (at steep angle) fitting in my new garage with 8' door. Taking the tower off each time is a PITA so make sure you measure right!

Thanks Noah, I was thinking the same thing on the tires. My guess is I would probably scrape the prop guard on the trailer a bit more doing that.

Patrick, thanks for the heads up. How close was it on the 7' door? I have read that the V230 sits higher than the V215 on the trailer, does anyone know by how much? I am thinking more and more that I will be staying with the V215 and not the 230. It seems like a better fit for me and if I do the trick that Noah was mentioning about dropping the tongue and pushing the boat in, it may work out well for getting into my garage.

I have considered another brand/model of boat but it seems like most all of the other boats sit higher and still use the Pro-flight tower that will run into the same issue.

It's been a long time since I've measured it but I want to say it was 4-5" too tall. This is with board racks removed and tower as low as it can possible go. We even messed with lifting the tower up to lower the legs and it was a no-go. Going from two 7' tall doors and 25' deep garage to one 8' tall door and 32' deep garage has been awesome. No more taking the tower, guide poles off, platform off, etc...I just lower the tower down (rest board racks on throw cushions) and back it in. Then I put the tower back up.

nice spot you got there. good looking boat. what surf rack is on your port side of the tower?

It's a DIYwake surfboard rack. Not the fanciest by any means but it's held up well and got the job done for the past 7 seasons. Only issue is the rubber inserts have deteriorated but that was an easy fix. We don't use the racks that often because we keep our boards in bags and they're short enough to just barely fit in the rear compartments when sacks aren't filled.

Cool thanks jetski. Looking at a foam board and want to protect it.

Also i figured I'd post my tower mod for anyone who wants a 230 in a 7' opening. I think I paid 100 for a metal shop to do it. Works great and takes about 30 seconds per side to put on

Thanks Nacho. That looks pretty clean. I am assuming you run a bolt all the way through the tube and use a nut or did you have threaded hardware welded inside the tube? I think when I get one I will try doing the trick that Noah mentioned of lowering the tongue all the way and pushing the trailer in the rest of the way. One other option is I noticed that another tower option from Sanger looks like it folds all the way down. So I could just have the pro flight tower taken off, holes in the gel coat filled in and a new tower put on.

Yep just a nut on the other side.