weight down the road

J

jennykatz

New member
Joined
Dec 15, 2003
Messages
1,679
Reaction score
0
C Dory Year
2006
C Dory Model
23 Venture
Vessel Name
Little Treasurer
22cruiser model 2000lb fuel36gal@6.5= 234
90 eng 4st 400lb h2o 20gal@7.5=150lb
windlass+chain100ft 200
lifevests+safety 100lb

tandem trl with spare 800lb
______
3500lb

If i was to trailer over long distance I would have very little fuel and no h20 also I would buy ice and food when we get to our destination so basically you need a little more than 3500lb
what we really need as a tow vehicle is to tow about 4500-5000lb +
I guess all those 3500lb tow vehicles are out i guess. its explorer types whether ford ,chevy, toyota ,nissan ,etc has anyone towed their c-dory with a honda pilot or a honda ridgeline I wonder if they are strong enough Id like to stay away from the big trucks and vans if i can help it since they takes up to much garage space . It would be nice to have a tow vehicle that would get 25mpg and still tow when you need it .
 
I tow with a older (95) ford ranger with 200,239 miles on it. We do just fine on the flat lands and small hills but i have not tried going over the mt. just yet. the new rangers have a higher tow rating and more house power then mine but from the same engine. my tow rate is 4000lbs even and the new ranger I think is 5000. if your in florida the hills are not in your future. a small truck would be fine. I would recommend getting 4 wheel drive. It really helps at the launch.
 
I tow with a 2004 Ranger 2 wheel drive 4.0 liter single overhead cam with 207 hp. The truck has the tow package (5,800 lb tow) that includes positraction for more traction at the ramp. Also use a 1998 Explorer with the same SOHC engine, tow package but 4 wheel drive. I think it is 5,600 or 5,800 tow capacity. The Ranger actually tows better at speed, but the Explorer is shorter and turns sharper, making maneuvering in tight places easier. Mileage is about 23 on the highway when not towing, and 12-13 when towing at 60 mph or so.
 
Get the vehicle rated for the most weight that you can afford. Even if you just buy an old 3/4 or 1/2 ton truck and don't use it for anything else you will be very happy to have the heavier duty vehicle. My F250 sits in the driveway 90% of the time. But it tows like a dream and better yet STOPS. Towing safety is often more about stopping distance than anything else. Having a lightweight vehicle and trying to stop will have you wishing you had more weight on the wheels as you get pushed from behind.

Towing with a truck is usually far better than an SUV simply because they soften the suspension on the SUV to make them more comfortable. While the truck will hardly notice the boat back there an SUV will get pushed around by the boat as side winds and bumps toss it about. To illustrate my point, we used to have a '98 Jeep Grand Cherokee with the 318 V8 and also had a '97 Dodge Dakota Extra Cab 4x4 with the same engine. Both vehicles were rated to tow 6000lbs if I remember correctly. However the Jeep quite frankly got pushed around like crazy by my 19' North River (about 4500lbs). The Dakota on the other hand hardly noticed that it was towing the boat.
 
I towed my Angler loaded for Tuna trips (pushing 4500# on the trailer) with my Zterra rated at 5000#. The first time I towed it with my new Titan I thought the boat shrunk. Get the most tow rating you can afford. I sure like mine. I never thought towing could be this much fun. Bring on the hills! I really like the built in sliding tow mirrors on teh new truck. Without them I might not have known I had my boat back there:D
 
what kind of gas mileage do you get out of the titan 14-16mpg?? I know that the bigger trucks and suv are much better tow vehicles but mpg is very important . I guess the problem is here in fla a lot of communities don't allow pick up trucks or big vans crazy rules I know. thats why I think IM going to try to buy something smaller nissan pathfinder , toyota tacoma ford explorer something like that .I now have a 1996 Mazda that has a tow rating of 4500lb It should be ok but its 10yrs old and 96000 miles for just local i think it will be good but next summer i want something newer will look for a 2004 -2005 leftover or used .If I had some land or a place to park I would just get 2 econ cars and then a 3/4 ton pickup and call it good .need to know real mpg figures for those explorer type vehicles
 
Your mazda and my ford ranger are the same truck,just different trim. hell theyare made in the same facttory.

get a trailer with brakes. my old boat, a 19 alum starcraft would push my truck if I stopped hard. I now have four wheel disc brakes on the trailer and I never feel it pushing even on really hard stops, if anything it slows the truck down better then the truck brakes.

what do you mean they dont "allow" trucks or vans? what kind of commie republic are you living in?
 
V8 4Runner is rated to tow 7000 lbs. I don't know that I'd actually try towing that much with it, but it ought to handle 5000 lbs.

Mileage won't be great -- I get 17.5-18.5 all around. Maybe 20 mpg on the highway at 65 mph with cruise engaged. No way will it get 25 mpg, but I doubt the Fridgeline will get 25 mpg either.

And it isn't as ugly as a Fridgeline :P
 
gljjr is correct. Get the vehicle with the most towing capacity you can. I have done a lot of towing. You can put enough power in a go cart to pull a a boat. As he and Starcrafttom said, the problem is having to stop quicker than you had planned. Having a heavier tow vehicle will also make going down the road more pleasant, because you won't be pulled or pushed around by the boat nearly as much. To me the added safety is worth the lower mileage for the larger vehicle.
Dave
 
Dave, et all, are quite right. The heavier the tow rating and GVRW the better. That aside, may I suggest you get a copy of TrailerBoat Magizine. It has an annual issue with a listing of all tow vehicles made their ratings. This issue also has the state-by-state towing laws as to required brakes and widths, etc..

Disc brakes are surely the way to go, less fade, etc.. With a 22',and smaller, you can get away with a single axle trailer. I will not advocate this if you are doing any amount of distance driving, due to road safety, with the CD22.

Trailers are by and far a large subject unto themselves. Please do not cut corners on safety items here. I have seen too many injuries/deaths due to poor equipment setup and checks; i.e., forgotten safety chains, bad tires, missing/improper tie-downs, loose equipment thrown from the cockpit from the airflow, unbalanced loads and even the wrong ball for the coupler... Just to name a few.

Sea Angel
 
I have an 04 Ford explorer Sport Trac. It's rated at 5000 lbs. I only get about 10 mpg while towing and about 15 in city driving. It does pretty good pulling my 22' on the flats. It actually doesn't do too bad over the mountains but it really is working to do it and I wish I had a bigger tow vehicle. I have a dual axle trailer with disc brakes and don't notice the boat while stopping.
 
I tow with a 2001 Dodge Ram 2500 V-10. 488 Cubic INches and it'll pass anything on the road but a gas station. Gets 10MPG no matter what I do, tow/not tow. I tow, besides the C-Dory, a flatbed with my Kubota Tractor on it, a 6x12 cargo trailer, and a 28ft Coachmen Travel Trailer that grosses out at about 11000. Don't tow but one at a time though... :shock: :shock: Not much different in pulling any of them, stopping is a little longer with the bigger ones....

Just had non-stock dual exhaust system installed, the mileage seemed to go up to about 11. A 10% increase, whoopee!! :lol:

Lots of info on the 'net about towing, just google it...

Charlie
 
Well, I agree with the posts that suggest the max gvw load rating possible for the job at hand. On the other hand, I pulled C-Alaska (CD-25) out and home with my 95 V6 4-Runner this weekend. I got as high as second gear high two coming up the hill on the half mile drive home. Used (and needed) four-by low-range to pull her up the ramp and out of the harbor. Point being, pulling is not usually the problem. My experience with long haul big rigs tells me that stopping power is pretty darned important as is road stability. The heavier the pull vehicle and the greater the braking horsepower, the higher the comfort rating at tow. Gears can do a lot to overcome horsepower and weight demands but stopping and road stability can be pretty important. Gas mileage will never be made up for via a blown engine especially in this day and age.
 
Jennykatz....... I'm towing my 22 Cdory Cruiser loaded full gas & water with my Jeep Cherokee with a 5,000 lb tow package..... does real fine. Have to tow in "3", not "drive", but both 3 & drive both "lock up". Last trip up to Crystal River for service, went up on 19, a lot of stop and go and averaged 12.6 MPG..... towing when I could about 60MPH. I'm happy with that. :xlol
 
Fran Sea: I too tow with a Jeep Grand Cherokee, and am wondering what you mean by gears "locking up"?
 
"12.6 MPG" -- I get 11 with the Liberty (V6). Avg. 20 not towing.
 
Alma..... on automatic transmissions, there's a certain amount of slippage in the torque converter in the lower gears, but in top gear the tranny "locks" up to eliminate the slippage and thus improve the gas mileage. On many tranny's the position just below drive, usually "3" does not lock up and thus gets less them optimum fuel economy in that gear, especially when towing. The tranny in my Jeep Cherokee locks up in "3" and "drive" positions. You can see this when driving, even without towing. When you reach a certain speed, the RPM will reduce about 4 or 5 hundred RPM's when it goes into lockup, and when you give it the gas, a moderate amount, the RMP's won't increase dramatically until it down shifts.
 
Alma's Only":2rr2ftqz said:
Fran Sea: I too tow with a Jeep Grand Cherokee, and am wondering what you mean by gears "locking up"?
Click to expand...
My Dakota has a button on the gear shift which forces lockup in lower gears when needed for towing, and locks out 4th when I push it in. I use it for some engine braking on downhill stretches. Your Cherokee may have a manual lockup button, also, aside from the automatic lockup in 4th (or whichever is your highest gear).
 
flagold wrote:
I get 11 with the Liberty (V6). Avg. 20 not towing.
Click to expand...
Does that 20 mpg avg include city driving? Also do you have any hills to contend with, I thought Florida was fairly flat. My Dodge Durango has plenty of power and is good on braking but I'm very unhappy with the (barely) 10 mpg in the city. :(
 
Back
Top