tow vehicle

[dreamer*69]

Any general recommendations for good vehicles to tow CD-22 Cruiser? Is a V-6 okay or would a V-8 be better? What about an SUV like a Toyota Sequoia?

Thanks.

 

[thataway]

You want at least a tow capacity of 5,000 lbs. In my book, the larger the engine the better. I have towed a 22 with a Honda Pilot--tow capacity 5000 lbs (boat, 3500 lbs trailer)--but a C dory 22 is closer to a trailer, because of the higher wind profile than a small dual console or bow rider boat.

I have also towed with a 3/4 ton diesel Excursion, and a Yukon XL 1/2 ton truck. The larger vehicle is always a better tow vehicle.

But plenty of folks towing with smaller SUV. Not only tow capacity, but brake capacity is important. I even put Electric over hydraulic brakes, rather than surge brakes on my last 22 trailer. Current 25 trailer also has electric over hydraulic brakes.

Safety is very important.

 

[ssobol]

I tow my 22 with an '08 Nissan Pathfinder V6. This vehicle is rated to tow 6K#. On the trailer, my boat weighs in at 4400#, so the Pathfinder manages nicely. My trailer has surge brakes, but I live on the East coast where the "mountains" are more like hills IMO.

The newer Pathfinders can also tow 6K#. However, the ones 2013 and later are unibody construction and the ones from 2012 and earlier are body on frame. Some of the earlier unibody Pathfinder were only rated for 5K#. Some people are partial to one body type over the other.

FWIW, I felt that the '07-'12 Pathfinders were the best bang for the buck as far as tow vehicle for my 22. They are significantly less expensive to buy than the equivalent Toyota.

My Pathfinder also has 4WD. This is handy in some situations on boat ramps. My Pathfinder is pretty much only driven when towing the boat (or other boat related activities), so I don't have much opinion on it as a "daily driver".

 

[Nancy and Bud]

Tow rated for 5,000 #. Surge brakes on both axles.

It is a 8 passenger SUV. 2.4L twin turbo, 24 L boxer engine with 260 hp and 270 pound feet of torque.

It is full time 4WD with all the newest electronic controls including electronic sway control.

Mileage is good IF you keep your foot out of the turbo range. Otherwise you have to feed the ponies.

I agree, bigger is better. This is a compromise but I feel it is sufficient to tow Emma Mae.

YMMV

 

[T.R. Bauer]

Well everyone brought up good points. Tow ratings are important for sure, but what is more important, especially for the driver, is how it drives. And, the longer wheel base the better off you are going to be. Short vehicles are a busy drive when towing, long vehicles are not. All of this depends on where you normally go - of course. A short drive to the launch is far different than a 180 mile drive to the launch. If the drive is short, all of the stuff I said above doesn't matter much.

 

[Desert Dory]

Like others have stated, how far are you normally going to tow, and are you going to be comfortable towing near, or at, your vehicles tow capacity. Personally, and this is just me, I'd rather not be right at my vehicle's rated tow capacity. We are usually towing close to a 100 miles one way, so I want some margin.

You mentioned a Sequoia, which, if it is an '08 or newer, can be rated to tow up to 10,000 lbs. Earlier Sequoia's are rated up to 6,500 lbs. Great, V-8, body on frame trucks that will tow a 22 cruiser just fine.

We tow our 22 with a Tundra that is rated to tow a little over 10,000 lbs and we chug along a 65 mph. Even with semi's blowing by us at 75/80 mph the boat and truck are rock solid stable. I like this. It makes towing a non-event and you can still feel somewhat relaxed when you finally get to where you're going.

About the only time we know that 22 cruiser is back there is when we're stopping for gas every 5 minutes :wink

I am a huge Toyota fan though, so my opinion is probably a little biased.

 

[starcrafttom]

I towed my 22 with a 95 ford ranger v6 4.0. did a good job but not a great job. They towing is easy its the stopping you have to worry about the most with smaller truck. So to avoid getting pushed around you should have a twin axle trailer and electric over hydraulic brakes. surge breaks are fine for bigger trucks but they are not good enough I find for smaller trucks. Let the trailer stop the trailer and the truck stop the truck. My biggest steepest hill when I tow to the ramp and back is my street. 1/4 mile long and gaines 400 ft of elevation. I am at the top. So now that I have the 27 at about 10k lbs being towed with a 1999 ford f350 I am glad that the trailer has 3 axles and electric over hydraulic. The trailer can stop the trailer AND the truck if I adjust it to.

 

[Nancy and Bud]

We previously had a Tundra and towed sailboats with it. Had to stop so often for gas, my cc company declined pay at pump and I had to go inside to buy fuel. The cc company noticed a lot of gas purchases in a short period of time that was not typical for us.

With the Subaru I'm getting around 17 towing.

 

[hardee]

Another Toyota fan here, (actually I am on # 8). 4 Tercel 4x4 Wagons, and one of them had 860,000 miles when I sold it. (The other 3 were on for each of my kids, for a first car.) I'm on my second Tundra, a 2007, 5.7L V-8 and actually have not gotten to tow much with it this summer, though when I did it hardly noticed the 5K pounds on the trailer behind me. My Previous Tundra had the 4.6 V-8 and it did well, with about 10,000 miles of towing and no issues. The trailer is a Pacific Tandem, which I upgraded to from a single axle and I highly recommend the tandem. It is much more stable behind the truck, with a softer ride for the boat, better cornering, and the added safety of 2 tires per side in case of a flat.

AS to stopping for gas every 5 minutes. The first thing I did with my truck was put on a new, 28 gallon gas tank and take of the old 18g. That was all new Toyota parts, with a 1 year guarantee on parts and also on the labor. Now I can drive from Campbell River to Telegraph Cove and back on one tank. Really worth the upgrade.

Harvey
SleepyC:moon

 

[Phil Barnes]

Just saw this thread and thought I would throw in my 2 cents, confirming what many others have already said. We just pulled a 22 from Anacortes to Colorado Springs with a 2014 Highlander, which is rated to tow 5000 lbs. I added a trans cooler and air bags in the rear coils. 3.5L V6. 268 hp at 6200 rpm. 248 ft lbs of torque. Distance was about 1500 miles. Boat was on a tandem axle with electric over hydraulic brakes with a Tekonsha Prodigy P2 brake controller. A height adjustable hitch was used. I assume the boat and trailer were 4500 to 5000 lbs but have never had it weighed.

Engine has sufficient power. I locked it out of overdrive and manually kept it in a lower gear going up or down steep grades, and there are a few of those on I 90 that will catch your attention. I kept 60 to 65 mph most of the time. when not on a pass. I didn't push it and while it redlines at 6200 rpm I never went over 4000 rpm.

EOH is wonderful when going down steep grades with turns. A slight pull on the controller lever and the trailer brakes will slow the trailer and car down and tighten everything up if you have even a little sway. That leaves your car brakes completely cool and fully available should you need a quick stop. They are porportional so they come on at almost the same time as the towing vehicle brakes and apply more braking as you apply more braking in the tow vehicle. You can set them to come on first so the boat trailer is braking before the car in normal braking situtations. There are several levels of boost for this on the controller. I used the lowest setting of boost and it worked fine. You could go higher boost and I will probably try that.

Gas mileage...well it is towing. I might get 12 to14 on the relatively flat since I did not use overdrive to be easy on the trans. 8-10 when in the hilly country.

I knew the trailer was back there....all the time. As opposed to hauling with an F 250 where you could forget it was hooked up. I felt the Highlander was adequate but I would not choose it for cross country hauling if I was in the market as there are heavier rigs out there that would do better. A newer F 150 would be great but they are pricey these days. It is what we had so what we used. It is perfectly fine for shorter hauls and day hauls and adequate for the trip we just did. The V6 did fine but if I "coulda had a V8", well the V8 would have done better. More torque. It is AWD but I did feel some torque steer if accelerating sharply up a hill when getting on a ramp.

Happy towing!...it is all about keeping the tow vehicle up front and first in any situation and being able to stop safely in an emergency as others on the site have said many times. I really think EOH brakes are worth it if you drive mountain passes. That said, many have pulled tens of thousands of miles up and down big hills with surge brakes. If one does that I think a heavier tow vehicle is the way to go.

My two pennies....