C-Dory 22 All up weight and tow Vehicle

[mjsiega]

What is the approx. all up weight of a C-Dory 22, boat, motor, trailer, and gear? And what are some of the smaller sized tow vehicles some of you are using to pull this. Thanks.

-Mark

[jlastofka]

Hi,

Rather than waiting for a few replies to trickle in, you could do what I just tried as an experiment. I hit the search button near the top center of the menu bar on this site and typed in C-Dory and 22 and weight and tow and vehicle

I got a couple dozen links to places where this has already been discussed. You could get your information in minutes instead of days this way.

I don't know if it matters if you type the "and" word in caps like AND as they show in the search method description. I got the results anyway.....

I think I'll go back and try it in caps to test the difference.

I'm back for an edit here: It worked the same way with AND instead of and.

Jeff

[thataway]

Of course it depends on the trailer and gear--but generally accepted limits are about from 3500 to 4500 lbs on the trailer. We used a Honda Pilot, as well as a 30 foot RV to tow our 22. I suspect that with a small 2 stroke engine and no gear, or liquids you might get it down to a little less, and with a lot of heavy "junk"--you could get over 5,000 lbs...

[Tommy J]

Initially we pulled our 1991 22 crusier with a ford ranger 4.0 liter V6(max tow wt around 5600#). The total wt of the CD,trailer and gear was around 4300 to 4500#. The ranger had plenty of power for around puget sound and did fine however it would be under powered to go over the mountain passess plus it's alittle light (the truck) for stopping power. We currently have a full size Dodge cummins diesel which is a dream come true. An ideal lighter wt vehicle would probably be a 1/2 ton truck/SVV with a smaller V8 or a very strong V6 if you are trying to economize. Look for the vehicles max towing wt and make sure you are quite aways under it.

[mjsiega]

I have a Honda Odyssey with a 3.5 liter V6. Max towing is 3500 lbs. but I don't think that's going to cut it for a C-Dory 22...

[jlastofka]

My CD22 weighs 4500 with the trailer. I use a Silverado 1500 V8 and it works great. A smaller vehicle would work with care, but it would age faster and if you get in an emergency maneuvering situation it could easily be real trouble.

And then I always figure a lawyer would see the tow rating's been exceeded and you'd be in a real bad position if something bad happened, whether it's really a cause or not. Plus your insurance company might not help you. I don't know that, but I'd sure suspect it.

In addition to tow rating, there's the Gross Combined Vehicle Weight rating, for those of us who might put too much in their truck and too much in the boat also.

[Sea Wolf]

I've done a detailed item by item accounting of my CD-22, including the ~1300 lb tandem axle trailer, and it comes in at just under 4400 lbs, which is about what it weighs on the truck scales.

I've towed it with two Ford E-150 vans with the 351 V-8, and with a Dodge Durango with a 360 V-8. The larger wheel based vans vans ride and tow a little better, but the Durango is fine, and excels when you need 4WD, like a gravely or icy ramp, or when towing in snow.

As said elsewhere today, it's not so much towing power that's the real issue, it's stopping power, which is OK with these vehicles, but you quickly get it trouble when you try to marginalize things!

If you have a lighter tow vehicle, get electric over hydraulic brakes so the trailer pretty much takes care of itself in a panic stop!

Joe.

[Don and Brenda]

I tow my 22 with a Honda Pilot 4500# rating for boats. It tows just fine for short hauls. I however will not use that setup for mountain passes or long hauls as the back feels too mushy for my taste. The other vehicle is a Toyota Tacoma 6500# rating and this is what I use for towing between our 2 houses, as there are numerous mountain passes between Calif and Washington. I get 13-15 mpg on the 850 mile run.

[NewMoon]

We towed our 1991 22 Cruiser, fully loaded for long cruises, with a 1989? Nissan Pathfinder with a manual transmission and the higher-grade off-road suspension. It didn't have great acceleration, with its relatively low hp V6, but it got good mileage. The older Pathfinders were more torquey, less peak-hp oriented than most more current SUV's.

The Pathfinder towed beautifully, all over the mountainous west. Seems to me that suspension robustness and quality is a major factor for trailer control and safety.

We also towed it once with a late 80's Chev 1/2 ton pickup. The pickup had more power, but the Pathfinder did a considerably better job overall.

[thataway]

The Honda Odyssey and Pilot have the same drive train. There is a difference in the frames, and I suspect that is the difference between the tow capacity. The pilot is rated for house trailers at 3500 and boats 4500. In fact, I suspect that the C Dory is really clowhiser to the house trailer (in windage) than a runabout, which may fall within the wind shadow of the tow vehicle. I have towed boats short distances, with vehicles which one might consider "undersized"--with no problems, but would not tow any distance or on freeways etc. Our personal experience with the Pilot was fine, on most Western Grades, including the Hurricane Grade going to Powell (both up and down). But you want to feel comfortable with the tow vehicle and heavier is better. There are some real buys in 2000 diesel SUV's which give good mileage on the road, non towing, and as good mileage when towing as the lighter SUV's or trucks.
Our main tow vehicle is a beefed up Ford Excursion with 7.3 L diesel.

[C-Green]

I have an '06 grand caravan sxt with towing package (extra transmission and engine cooling, large battery, and automatic load leveling) and a 3.8L engine. I usually tow around town but have towed up to 175 miles one way. Dodge specs say I can tow up to 3800 lbs if the van is only carrying two people and luggage and 3350 lbs with 5 people, and 3000 lbs with 7 people. I've done tows with 2 and 4 people and it works though slower on hills. That said, no way would I go with a smaller vehicle/engine for road trips and I would prefer a larger vehicle and engine for road trips. You feel the boat back there; it pushes and pulls you. Around town smaller might work if town is low key like here in the U.P. (where the heck is that?) with no expressways. We also have used a E150 Ford van (a full sized conversion van - approximately 6000 lbs empty) with a 5.2L V8 to tow and you hardly know the boat is back there with it. As an aside the Ford gets around 16 to 18 mpg on the road and it only dropped some with the tow but I'm not sure how much. The Dodge gets a nice 27 mpg at 55mph (24 mpg at 70 mph) but drops to around 17 mpg with the tow and a top speed of 55 mph. Never have weighed the boat and trailer but it wouldn't be called light, probably around 3500 lbs. Also the trailer only has surge brakes; I'm sure electric brakes would help reduce the push the trailer gives.

Jay

[Sneaks]

Full tanks and gear with a tandem axle trailer, the Jenny B weighed in at 4200 lbs. Smallest I towed it with was a 4Runner 6 cyl and had no problems, though I did slow down on 6+ % grades. Didn't have to slow down if towing with my Silverado HD Duramax or the Ford V10 Class C RV.

Don

[Fishhawk]

As a couple who recenly did a bit of a down country trailering with a 22, (1800-2000 mi.). We can say quite emphaticaly that for any kind of Interstate movement of a 22, a full sized 1/2 ton pickup, suburban, avalanche shoud be considered an absolute minimum for long distance travel, unless your route is downhill the whole way.

Our $00.02

Dan