Tow Vehicles

T

Tom on ORCA

New member
We have an "83 Angler. We don't use it for overnights, but do pull it with a van camper that takes us to some interesting places.

Recently purchased a Leisure Travel Van (again - upgraded) camper-van conversion on a Freightliner Sprinter Extended body, Mercedes diesel powered (2.7 Turbo). While it slows down on steeper hills pulling ORCA, it makes up for it by giving use 14.3 mpg towing and 21 mpg bareback. Bessides, it is a great campervan with everything including generator, forced air heat and cooling, micro-wave, 3-way fridge and coffee maker.

So far this year we have traveled fifteen thousand miles with it (mostly w/o ORCA, but just returned from MN's Leech Lake, camping at the COE's Federal Dam campground and marina. A beautiful place with great accomidations.

This chassis (Freightliner) will be now produced by Dodge. While not a powerhouse, it makes a great tow vehicle in most instances, offering great accomidations (thanks to LTV) and good economy. When I can figure out a way to send pics, I will.
 
Cool purchase, Tom! I've eye-balled those Sprinters, and was curious how the MBZ diesel would perform. I'm a big MBZ fan (we've got a C280), but as you're aware, it's a bit below the Ford/Dodge offering in terms of HP/torque. Still, good to hear it pulls the 22 OK.

As far as interior accomodations go, that Sprinter sure looks like a winner - lot's more room than a conventional van. There's a company called Sportsmobile, if you haven't heard of them - they do some pretty cool conversions, and have added the Sprinter to their lineup. I'll be having one of their Penthouse pop tops installed later this year so we can get some standing room in the van when parked.

If you need help getting the pics up, let us know!
 
We are in the C-Dory wannabe club. Searched and found no answer to the question "what would you say the average tow weight of an outfitted 22' Cruiser is?" Our tow vehicle is rated at 5000lbs.
 
Susan,

You're real close!

Upon returning from a trip to Lake Powell (April 2004) we stopped at a truck scale and had the outfit weighed.

Unhooked from the truck, the entire weight of our boat/motor/trailer/cargo was 4900# (that included about 1180# of double axle trailer).

The boat is equipped with a single 90hp OB +15hp kicker. It also had nearly full water (20 gal) and approximately half fuel (20 gal). It also included stuff like electronics, personal items, food, camper back, etc, etc.

We tow with a GMC half-ton pickup truck (350cid engine). As I recall, the truck is rated at 7000# but I think that might be stretching it a bit. It tows our boat just fine, but I think 7000# might be a bit high. Personally, I like to at least have a little cushion in those numbers, rather than maxing-out the tow weight too much.

Good Luck.
Casey
C-Dory Naknek
 
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