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Hey all,

Just joined the forum and soon to be a cobalt user, anyway, once my dad's boat delivers later this year. We have a relatively low clearance on our boat house and are weighing options with regards to the arch/canopy that will require the least or no adjustments to be made upon leaving and returning.

We've more or less ruled the rotating sunshade out entirely as a possibility and are between the easy-fold canopy and the electric arch with bimini. My thinking is the following:

Easy-Fold: may fit with no adjustments. Alternately, may be put in a slightly reclined state via stoppers to make clearance and still provide adequate passenger head-space.

Electric Arch with Bimini: Partial lowering and raising of arch via electric switch is minimal task to leave/enter boathouse, but not ideal.

My questions are (1) can you leave the Easy-Fold bimini in a slightly reclined position (not opened) via the stoppers or is it not secured in that fashion while travel and (2) does anyone have experience with this or have any recommendations on best solutions/practices?

Thank you!
Jason

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Hey Jason...so glad you found us!

Since my arch is permanently mounted I cannot be of much help. Others will chime in shortly though. Big block power would suggest just powering it in without lowering (too soon ). We had one member ask about the chainsaw option. Not kidding.

Any pics of your dad's boat?

And welcome aboard mate!


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Welcome! A chainsaw would work.. LOL. I dug the gravel out below my shed door for a few summers before I had the EZfold bimini installed on our R5, really! The system can only be used in the full up position or the fully lowered position, there is no mid height position. That is unless they have changed something. It is super easy to raise and lower though, most of the time my 14 year old has it up by herself when we are rigging the boat to launch it. When it is in the lowered position it would be in the way when trying to board the boat from the rear walkway. I am probably one of the few that don’t care for a tower but sometimes like to still have a place to hide from the sun. I actually prefer the way boats look without any tower or bimini.

AsLan7 wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 2:32 pm .
Hey Jason...so glad you found us!

Since my arch is permanently mounted I cannot be of much help. Others will chime in shortly though. Big block power would suggest just powering it in without lowering (too soon ). We had one member ask about the chainsaw option. Not kidding.

Any pics of your dad's boat?

And welcome aboard mate!


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Oh no did someone make their own clearance with the boat?

No pictures yet as it hasn’t been built yet! Hoping by September we’ll be out on the lake. Currently using a ‘99 Regal bow rider that has served us well, but this will be a big upgrade. Can’t wait. I need to read around this place for advice and ideas! Thanks for the warm welcome.

Snowman8 wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 3:26 pm Welcome! A chainsaw would work.. LOL. I dug the gravel out below my shed door for a few summers before I had the EZfold bimini installed on our R5, really! The system can only be used in the full up position or the fully lowered position, there is no mid height position. That is unless they have changed something. It is super easy to raise and lower though, most of the time my 14 year old has it up by herself when we are rigging the boat to launch it. When it is in the lowered position it would be in the way when trying to board the boat from the rear walkway. I am probably one of the few that don’t care for a tower but sometimes like to still have a place to hide from the sun. I actually prefer the way boats look without any tower or bimini.

I am inclined to agree they look better with nothing at all, but need the shade option. When we saw one in the showroom, there were these “stopper” mechanisms on the back rails that allowed the easy-fold to be *slightly* reclined, lowering the clearance…presumably to go under bridges. I am just not sure if that position has adequate tension for general boating. May need to take another look in the showroom. Thanks for the input!!

Chexjc wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 4:05 pm

AsLan7 wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 2:32 pm .
Hey Jason...so glad you found us!

Since my arch is permanently mounted I cannot be of much help. Others will chime in shortly though. Big block power would suggest just powering it in without lowering (too soon ). We had one member ask about the chainsaw option. Not kidding.

Any pics of your dad's boat?

And welcome aboard mate!


.

Oh no did someone make their own clearance with the boat?

No pictures yet as it hasn’t been built yet! Hoping by September we’ll be out on the lake. Currently using a ‘99 Regal bow rider that has served us well, but this will be a big upgrade. Can’t wait. I need to read around this place for advice and ideas! Thanks for the warm welcome.

Yes it will only takes 1 time to make it fit with the tower up
Too soon. Just give it more gas as it makes contact!

Easier just raise the roof on the boat house!

Yes please stick around I have plenty of good ideas for you.

Like frosty the Ez loader Snowman said getting in the boat maybe a issue with the bikini not up all the way

I’ll try to help as much as I can. I’m attaching a picture of our R6 with the electric tower folded down. The anchor light sticks up about 6” above the windshield when the tower is down. In this picture the dealer hasn’t attached the light yet but I think you can get the idea. I hope this helps.

Cobaltr6 wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 6:16 pm I’ll try to help as much as I can. I’m attaching a picture of our R6 with the electric tower folded down. The anchor light sticks up about 6” above the windshield when the tower is down. In this picture the dealer hasn’t attached the light yet but I think you can get the idea. I hope this helps.

Thank you! Are you able to lower that tower, say, just 75% of the way down (versus 100% shown in this photo) to improve clearance but maintain visibility/drive-ability?

Chexjc wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 4:07 pm

Snowman8 wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 3:26 pm Welcome! A chainsaw would work.. LOL. I dug the gravel out below my shed door for a few summers before I had the EZfold bimini installed on our R5, really! The system can only be used in the full up position or the fully lowered position, there is no mid height position. That is unless they have changed something. It is super easy to raise and lower though, most of the time my 14 year old has it up by herself when we are rigging the boat to launch it. When it is in the lowered position it would be in the way when trying to board the boat from the rear walkway. I am probably one of the few that don’t care for a tower but sometimes like to still have a place to hide from the sun. I actually prefer the way boats look without any tower or bimini.

I am inclined to agree they look better with nothing at all, but need the shade option. When we saw one in the showroom, there were these “stopper” mechanisms on the back rails that allowed the easy-fold to be *slightly* reclined, lowering the clearance…presumably to go under bridges. I am just not sure if that position has adequate tension for general boating. May need to take another look in the showroom. Thanks for the input!!

If you get to your dealer please take a few pictures of the stoppers that you saw. Frosty and I would love to see a picture of them. Oh yeah, BBP is right if it doesn’t fit the first time just give it more gas! Hang around for more entertainment! And lots of great ideas!

Yes, you can lower the tower and stop at any point if you have the electric version. With the manual tower it’s either up or all down. That said I’m pretty sure you can drive the boat with the tower fully lowered.

Cobaltr6 wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 12:27 pm Yes, you can lower the tower and stop at any point if you have the electric version. With the manual tower it’s either up or all down. That said I’m pretty sure you can drive the boat with the tower fully lowered.

With the tower shown in that pic the bmini top would have to be taken down in order to lower the tower, correct? I think what's being asked is can the tower be lowered like a foot and then the boat be used as normal, water sports etc, and the answer to that question would be a NO... Sorry if I miss understood, just trying to help :0)

Cobaltr6 wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 12:27 pm Yes, you can lower the tower and stop at any point if you have the electric version. With the manual tower it’s either up or all down. That said I’m pretty sure you can drive the boat with the tower fully lowered.

Great, thank you. I think it will come down to if we want to be doing that everytime we take the boat out or not and if the easy-fold bimini does not require the extra work to be done before going out.

dsthomas wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 3:00 pm With the tower shown in that pic the bmini top would have to be taken down in order to lower the tower, correct? I think what's being asked is can the tower be lowered like a foot and then the boat be used as normal, water sports etc, and the answer to that question would be a NO... Sorry if I miss understood, just trying to help :0)

To clarify, that is not what I was inquiring about. I was thinking it may be a minimally inconvenient solution to simply lower the arch a foot or whatever amount is needed each time we take the boat out and return. We are leaning towards the easy-fold to avoid this.

We had exactly the same problem back in May. R5 with manual tower, new bakehouse with boathouse and lift.

We ended up having the top structural section of our boathouse modified. There was an I beam down the center of the boathouse that would have hit the stern light with the boat lifted. Vendor removed a section and welded a a square in its place so the stern light would fit. It's tight, but we never have to attempt to raise/lower the tower.

Not sure about the electric, but lowering manual tower is a pain as you have to disassemble the Bimini.

BBP may have been joking, but we were also quote to raise the entire height of the boathouse - was just more expensive and made me somewhat nervous...