towing requirements

When we had the cd-22 cruiser it weighed in at about 3800lb with fuel and a single axcle trailer galvanized .with a 90 hp older 4 stroke Suzuki . With a alum single axcel trailer and no fuel or water so minus 150lb for water 20 gallons and about 300lb for 40 gallons of gas also 200lb lighter for an alum trailer so take away 650 from 3800 =3150 so you could tow it . We towed ours with a Honda Pilot with 4whl drive 4500lb rating no problwms at all . Jim
 
I tow my 22 with a Sienna minivan. The van tows the boat pretty well. I sometimes have problems with traction more than pulling power. The place I keep it during the summer has a fairly steep approach road that is gravel. If I'm not careful going up this hill I can end up spinning the tires.
 
This does bring up a good point. I towed my 23 venture with a 2017 jeep grand Cherokee and replaced the vehicle with a ram 1500 eco diesel. While my jeep towed it fine based on payload (550lbs tongue weight) if you added gear in the rig as well as two passengers we were overweight. The point is not just towing capacity but payload. Often you are out of payload long before you run out of towing capacity. So this begs the question - who cares? I upgraded under the premise that if there is ever an accident I don't want to be the schmuck with the overweight trailer who gets dinged with fines or insurance hikes because I am overweight? Does insurance or the law care? I do it primarily for safety but am curious. I have seen 1500 trucks rolling down the road with 30ft trailers without issue other than looking weird. Travel trailer shops will convince a guy with a GMC Jimmy to tow a 30 ft trailer.... It doesn't seem like the trailer industry cares. So what gives other than a guideline what is the consequence of being overweight.
 
I’d say no, not safely! My 22 on a tandem axle aluminum trailer comes in right about 4800 lbs when not fully loaded. I have towed it with a Toyota Highlander but that was spec’d to tow 5000 lbs. Most folks have reported CD22 weights comparable to mine. Your best bit is to get an actual real time weight of your rig. It’s wise to look at all the various weight specs on your tow vehicle as many max out on the payload before their tow capacity!
 
Ordutch1975":2w0iwgru said:
...Travel trailer shops will convince a guy with a GMC Jimmy to tow a 30 ft trailer.... It doesn't seem like the trailer industry cares. ...
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It's more the weight of the trailer than the length. I see lots of fairly long trailers around where I live, mostly carrying lawn equipment. The loading density is pretty low so a bigger trailer is required. But a bunch of lawn mowers don't weigh that much.
 
Agree weight the boat at a scale--cost less than $20 at any truck stop which has certified scales--pretty good insurance,--if more than 3500#, you could tow from a point on a storage lot to a ramp... (Ok I am being over cautious--you can do that with a 15 hp lawn tractor, if you could keep the front wheels on the ground.)

Many of the boats come with undersized trailers single axle for road use. I got away with it for 3 years and over 15,000 miles--until the trailer broke...than I got a 7500# capacity trailer, and no problems.

You need to monitor the transmission temperature--that will be the weak point in your drive train. Get a SCAN G gauge, which plugs into the OBD port on the vehicle, if your SUV does not already have a digital transmission monitor. You live and boat in Seattle, and no hills? You say no mountains--which I assume means that you stay out of the coastal ranges, but as I recollect there are some significant hills in the Seattle area...try and avoid those also.


The biggest issue is not go--it is STOP...Be sure that the trailer has very good surge brakes. The idea is to be safe, and not damage the vehicle, or significantly shorten its life span. There are ways that vehicles and hitches can be upgraded to carry more weight--but you might run into an insurance if there is an accident.

The Lexus RX-330 is a unibody vehicle, so there is no frame to beef up, and thus no way of increasing the hitch capacity. I also towed a C Dory 22 some relatively short distances with a Honda Pilot. Sure a lot safer and better driving experience with a truck frame and weight. I happened to weigh my GMC Yukon XL yesterday: 6150#. Definitely more weight than the Pilot or Lexus. (both slightly over 4000#)
 
Look at your owners manual and see if there is a Gross Combined Weight Rating (GCWR) listed under towing for your Lexus. With that number, weight the Lexus on a truck scale. Weight the Lexus with only you in the driver seat and no extra gear in the vehicle. At this point you can now determine if you are under the (GCWR) for towing your boat and trailer combined with the Lexus.
If you want to see exactly how much your boat and trailer weight. Weight separately the front and rear axle of the Lexus. Now weight the axle of the trailer. With the boat and trailer attached together with your Lexus, you may have about 500 lbs. on the tongue of your Lexus but it will probably take about 100 lbs. off the front of the Lexus now (teeter totter effect). Take that difference and add it to the weight of the trailer wheels on the scale and now you will have the exact weight of what your Lexus is really towing.
 
For tongue weight this hitch is awesome also it supports up to 10000 lbs & is aluminum (no rust)

https://www.weigh-safe.com

Again most vehicles including trucks the issue is not the weight of the trailer but the payload rating. In most cases you will exceed payload before you exceed GVWR. The newer standards since a couple years ago the available payload rating includes two 150lb people. Any additional weight in the vehicle or gear is not included. Also the actual towing capacity versus what the brochure says is often different especially with trucks as the max rating is based on 2wd, long bed editions.

Don't forget just because your truck says it can handle the weight does not mean you can tow it without weight distribution hitches etc. The owners manuals will specify the use of additional equipment for heavy loads.

There really needs to be more education on this topic by the industry as frankly its all very grey and unclear to most people second dealers love to give your smart car a glance as you buy that boat or trailer and say "you'll be fine" and so do car/truck dealers. Its frankly irresponsible.

H
 
Great find on the hitch with scale built in--I wish I had bought one of those 50 years ago! There is a ball, 2" and 2 5/16" with a weight scale on the bottom for just $119! The adjustable hitch, plus the balls, and scale is $299. Nice to have, but once you find the level point, probably not necessary.

So true, the towing weight often is with a weight distributing hitch, or even with a pole hitch or fifth wheel hitch...not the draw bar type of hitch we use for the boats.
It is certainly easy to keep the boat light--and load the truck....!

Having the year for the Lexus RX-330 is also important. Many times tow capacity varies by year, model, drive train, and engine. In 2006 the tow weight was 3500#, but the "payload" is only 925# (another source gives the "Payload" as 1180--this difference may be if the driver is counted or not.)
 
Bob - exactly with the new SAE standard introduced in 2008 suddenly payload and towing ratings dropped for many vehicles from one year to the next (I think as of 2017 most manufacturers finally adopted the standard) while the vehicle itself never changed. I am glad to see some standards in this regard - the new rating as stated above includes two adults of 150 lbs in the payload rating. Prior to this that was not the case. People forget anything added to the vehicle (or in my case my gut :-)) needs to be deducted from the payload. you are often better off putting more weight in the trailer as 10-15% translate to payload than to put it in the bed of the truck or back of the SUV. (just don't exceed the trailers rating itself). Again sadly few people including the dealers of cars, boats and travel trailers truly understand it all. My question still tho is what is the legal implication if any of running a vehicle over its capacity. Does insurance, police or anyone else really care?

https://jalopnik.com/what-is-sae-j2807- ... 1593305929

(last but not least it is frankly ridiculous that it took 9 years for most manufacturers to adopt and that prior manufacturers could just make up numbers with little to no regard for safety of passengers/consumers)
 
The 150# per passenger is interesting, since the US Coast Guard went to an assumed passenger weight of 185# in 2011. This was the result of several accidents where passenger ferry type vessels were overloaded, and capsized, despite the compliance of numbers of passengers....of a weight of 150#!
 
thataway":1wug9o1l said:
The 150# per passenger is interesting, since the US Coast Guard went to an assumed passenger weight of 185# in 2011. This was the result of several accidents where passenger ferry type vessels were overloaded, and capsized, despite the compliance of numbers of passengers....of a weight of 150#!
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The FAA has higher weight standards for airplane passengers. They also are different between summer and winter. However, while they may have been acceptable in the 50's (or whenever they were set) they are wholly inaccurate in today's world.

A few airlines (usually operating smaller aircraft where weight makes a bigger difference) tried to charge passengers by the pound for their person and all their baggage, but that got shot down pretty quick as discrimination against "people of size".

A number of years ago I remember the Seattle fast ferries getting into trouble with the passengers and CG because what they considered the average sized passenger resulted in the average size passenger taking up 1.5 seats. They sold tickets based on the number of seats, but then could not fit all the passengers on the boat.
 
Ok I am being over cautious--you can do that with a 15 hp lawn tractor, if you could keep the front wheels on the ground
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Bob, I actually do move my boat around here at the house with a 22hp Kubota Tractor. (BX2200). Does a great job of it too. However, I am careful not to "gun it" with the bucket off. :mrgreen: Colby
 
Colby, actually did move a number of boats with a regular lawn tractor--probably 10 hp--I made a dolly with a single axle and two 2" semi pneumatic tires, and a 2" ball hitch on one end, a hook up to the draw bar of the lawn mower on the other. The dolly took the tongue weight--thus the front wheels stayed on the ground!

I ran into the "150" per passenger 30 years ago when I was flying all over the country (and to Hawaii) with a Division One football team. We would charter a plane and fill it with football players, their gear, and the athletic training gear--some very long runway utilization, especially when it was hot in S. Calif or Az.
 
I think the old rule of thumb of having 20-30% greater towing/payload capacity than needed still applies for safety. At the end of the day overloading or being at max capacity of your vehicle is not advisable. If you have a 6000lb trailer a good rule of thumb is to have a vehicle capable of towing 9000lbs while making sure to follow guidelines in regards to weight distribution hitches etc.

Just my 2 cents,
H
 
I think the old rule of thumb of having 20-30% greater towing/payload capacity than needed still applies for safety. At the end of the day overloading or being at max capacity of your vehicle is not advisable. If you have a 6000lb trailer a good rule of thumb is to have a vehicle capable of towing 9000lbs while making sure to follow guidelines in regards to weight distribution hitches etc.
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I would be in agreement with this. I think that there are two considerations when towing. One is safety, when towing you need to consider the towing characteristics and braking ability of the tow vehicle. How will the tow combo handle and how quickly can it stop. The second consideration is the wear and tear on the tow vehicle. If you at towing at or near capacity of the tow vehicle you need to consider whether towing will damage the drivetrain. If you only tow a short distance without big hills the damage to your engine and transmission may be minimal. If you are planning to tour with the boat long distances, up and down steep hills, you may shorten the lifespan of the drivetrain.

Personally, I would rather a little more power than just enough. I recall once hauling a stock trailer full of bison. I was taking a new route across a river valley, the road map did not mention how steep the grade was. As I climbed the hill my truck slowed to a crawl, black smoke billowed out of the exhaust. I envisioned stalling out and having to backdown this steep hill. There was no way to unload my cargo with any hope of catching 20 bison again once I released them on prairie. I did make it, but just barely and now check out my travel route more carefully when hauling a load.
 
Can you tow it? Of course.
Should you? Probably not.

Read your owner's manual and check the capacities and requirements.
Then go to ta truck stop. They have scales that will give you weights for each axle.

You can tow it with anything. As Thataway mentioned, can you stop safely in a panic stop to prevent an accident. You don't want the tail wagging the dog.

If you have a CDL and get into an accident, you had better be within the weight limitations. Otherwise, you will be held responsible regardless of who caused the accident.
 
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