Towing weight

J

jennykatz

New member
Well we finally weighed the cape Cruiser 23 with about 25-30 gallons of fuel and two anchors full camper canvas S/S fittings ,Fenders 6 , Lines ,Cushions, some tools , and electronics . with a 1100 lb trailer Alum with torsion suspension disc brakes .


So the weight was 5100lbs
Bare boat is 2900-3000lbs
eng. and batteries 500lbs
trailer is 1100 lbs
fuel is 200lbs or so
elec and
assorted boat
stuff
is 300lbs or so


So thats where the weight is it comes up to about 5000lbs or so

So I'm thinking about finally getting a new tow rig since the Honda is right at the top of it tow rating 4500lb plus 660lb in cab . I want to be safe and legal, but also I only tow a few times a year so I want to be practical . I've looked at the Nissan Frontier and Tacoma 4whl drive . the nissan is rated for 6100lb tow and weighs 4600lbs .Has any one towed with one of these ?If the Honda ridgeline would have a higher rating 5000lbs I would buy one of those but I want to be legal and safe for my few times of towing a year .Maybe once a year we might take a longer trip but most times it's just to do maintenance.When i think of all the Brats that tow c-25's with 5500lb trucks towing 7000-8000 lbs I feel the Nissan or tacoma would fill the bill. I also have been looking at tahoes, Sequoias Expedition's etc.I will surely miss my Honda Pilot what a great tow vehicle for 4000lb or less .I almost thought of selling the boat before my Pilot but then I snapped out of it . So if any of you have experience with the Nissan Pathfinder , Frontier,toyota Tacoma or 4runner chime in please .Thanks
 
Hi,
We brought our boat home from Wefings Florida (1100 miles) with our 01 Chevy 4x4 half ton pickup. I weighed the truck, boat, trailer, combination on a certified truck scale very little gas maybe 10 gallons of water it weighed 10,000 pounds almost exactly with my wife and I in the truck. The 01 did a fine job but when traveling up to the Erie Canal last year long pulls maybe me wonder about how long the transmission would handle it. A lot depends were you are going to be towing. Towing in coastal areas is one thing. But if you are going to be towing thru mountains thats another. I want go go longer distances and not have my my flashers on and worring about a transmission getting smoked. I want to trailer to Yellowstone next year and for me a 3/4 ton 4x4 diesel was my choice. I wanted room to bring a lot of stuff. Everyones different, I wanted to be loaded for bear. Most of the smaller Japanese stuff has to wound up to make power and gets pretty thirsty towing where the hills are present. If you plan on staying local anything you mention will get the job done. The Pathfinders seem to be a little buzzy but make good power. Toyota 4 Runners have an excellent reputation if a V8 is available I'd get it. I'm sure someone will chime in that they are pulling a 25'er with a Honda Civic with no problem. Just my 2 cents.
D.D.
 
I tow our 22 with twins motors with the Honda Pilot and know I am right up to the limit, usually only tow it the couple miles to the ramp. The main towing was done with out 2007 Tacoma 4x4 with 6500# tow limit. It towed the boat quite well from Washington to Calif. Did well on the hills, however I sold it just before all the recalls due to numerous issues with the truck and lack of dealer response and bought a 2006 Titan with all the options. Now that may be a bit over kill for the 22 but sure tows it nice. As I tow back and forth between our houses with lots of hill climbing inbetween it just made good sense and the fuel mileage is only 1 mpg difference in real use, 2 mpg less when towing.
 
I have a Nissan Frontier with a 6 speed stick. It pulls my 22' fine and with no lack of power. I get about 14-16 mpg towing on fairly level ground. It also pulled the boat uphill with very little effort. The only thing I don't like is the turning radius of the Frontier compared to my Ranger. I also don't know if I would use buy a stick if again if I was going to launching the boat all the time. As I only launch to get the boat to my dock at home it's not such a big deal, but I sometime smoke the clutch in getting out of a steep ramp. I also looked at the Tacoma 4whl drive. It does not have the same towing capacity and I think they want you to use premium gas. I like the Tacoma truck, but they also wanted $4-5K more than the Frontier. In New Jersey you can get a Frontier SE 4x4 king cab for $22k-23K. Maybe Toyota has gotten cheaper now with all the stuff going on. Good luck with you hunt.

Jim
 
I have a 2009 GMC with the towing package rated up to 8,500lbs and have towed my new 25 cruiser with twin Hondas only once for 160 miles so I can't claim a lot of experience with this boat/SUV. But here's what I like about my GMC.

First Onstar. Great comfort in knowing that in an emergency even if I can't make a call on my mobile phone, I can push a button by the mirror and the Onstar operator can help. We also have the directions package so I no longer carry a GPS.

Second, the info from the computer includes transmission temerature, tire pressure, instant mileage, etc and all the things you want to check when towing.

Third, when you select tow mode for the tranmission, lot's of things become automatic. The shifts change, and if you put the vehicle in cruise control on the highway it does things like transmission braking and tries to manage the mileage in the most favorable way.

It's my third Yukon and although I've been happy with the others, this one is by far the best.

Just my 2 cents...
 
I bought a new 2008 Nissan Frontier for the purpose of towing our CD-22 and it does just fine. Our model is the Extra cab 4WD and I use the 4WD quite a bit. Because the truck is lighter than a full-size truck, I do feel the boat back there but it pulls her and stops her just fine.

I'm really happy with the Frontier and as an added bonus, it handled like a champ in the big snowstorm we encountered a year ago. Great handling and traction. :thup
 
I tow mine with usually full fuel and some water and a bunch of other equipment and stuff. I have the Honda 150. I have driven well over three million miles in trucks, so I may err on the side of safety. I tow with a Ford F250 Super Duty with the V10 engine. I don't want to have to worry about the tail wagging the dog. I want to be able to pass another vehicle on a two lane road. I like having disc brakes on all 4 wheels and both trailer axels. I really would not want less of a tow vehicle.

The Ridgeline is a really nice little truck. Why not just keep it and rent a larger truck as needed?
 
You know I always get these funny looks when I'm pulling my Tomcat up the ramp with my 6cyl Toyota Tacoma. I pulled it yesterday to get polished and waxed. My Tacoma would not be remotely capable of towing down the highway but in low range 4WD it pulls the Tomcat up a low ride ramp without lugging - pretty amazing actually. (Boat/trailer = approx. 10,000 lbs).

For the highway tow I rent an F250 HD Diesel or an F350 (both 4WD of course) from Hertz Equipment rentals (not to be confused with the other Hertz car rental).

https://www.hertzequip.com/herc/home/in ... meView.jsp

We considered buying a large vehicle for Napoleon but I truck it down the highway so infrequently (once to splash and once to bring home) that it did not make sense. I can rent a big truck from Hertz for $200 a day. For maintenance that requires dry land I can use my Tacoma to pull it up the ramp - do my work - then return it to the water.
 
Well I finally did it I bought an 07 Toyota Sequoia SR-5 . Its a 2 wheel drive with traction lock with a 6500lb tow rating . I miss my Honda I gave up leather , moonroof ,and 4wheel drive . but I think this Toyota is deffinatly up to the job of towing 5000lb.

I need to put on a tow bar with wiring (7pin) and a transmission cooler then in July off to Lake Tellico Tennessee.
 
Well I had a Hitch place put on a 7pin R/V style plug put on and a Hitch .

It looks great the only thing it does not work The Hitch place could not make it work ? So I took it to Toyota $60 they said I needed a Trailer relay switch and told me they could do it next week for $180 Is this somthing someone could do I cant find the part on toyota parts Is this just a plug and play ? Off course Toyota would not tell me where it was they said they needed to take apart the vehicle?? Just want to know if Im getting Skrewed
 
I located a Tundra owners forum website and found one thread relating to trailer wiring;
http://www.tundrasolutions.com/forums/1gen-sequoia/64001-need-help-w-03-sequoia-trailer/
His post was for an '03 though and reading down, there was a post about relay(s) under the hood missing on a non-tow package truck. :? :?:

Went to e-trailer, plugged in '07 Sequoia and voila:
http://www.etrailer.com/t1-2007_Toyota_Sequoia.htm

Seems plug and play to me. According to the owner's posting, all the Sequoias should have the plug in the wiring harness, wether it has a tow package or not. Worth a look for $30. Now the relay issue may need addressing, I don't know.

Hopefully, this will help.
 
jennykatz,

I've found there's a direct correlation between a vague explanation when they're charging you and getting screwed. Look under the rear as localboy mentions and go from there.

Boris
 
I have used etrailer twice, and I had to install their relay myself on a 2008 Toyota Highlander in addition to the hitch itself. They have utube videos of how to do it. I saved a fortune and would never do anything else. a couple of hours.
 
Well after 2 trips to toyota and 3 trips to Naples hitch finally got it working Toyota put in the trailer relay switch who knows where it went but the 5 way blue wire to lock out the disc brakes when backing up did not work Toyota said they could not test it because it was not their 7pin So back to Naples hitch they ran a wire from back up lights for free now everything works . Toyota does not sell 7pin or 5 way flat wires only 4way . I'm glad everything worked out now to see how this baby tows . I'm getting about 15mpg around town and about 18-20 on highway . Don't know what it will get towing ? Does any Tundra or Sequoia 07 owners with tow package know how big their tranny cooler are (dimensions please) thanks JIM
 
Well we did a 800 mile trip up to lake Tellico Tenn. What a wonderful place

The Toyota Sequoia towed just fine about 10-11mpg We ended up with some trailer problems one of the calipers stuck causing oozing grease so I thought it was a bad bearing it was a sticking caliper I called Continental trailers and hopefully they will send the parts to the trailer repair shop .Also the lights (rt side went out ) a loose wire repaired by me waiting for the marine mechanic to look at brakes

Also noticed mpg went from over 4mpg at (salt water sea level)to about 3.2 at 900 ft and fresh water ? I guess those no wake zones help with the mileage and maybe the salt water ??
 
Well we made it home no problems towed weight was about 5200lb we got 10mpg going up to lake Tellico Tennessee from Naples fl. On the way back with fixed brake caliper we got 11mpg -12 going home at 58-62 I noticed once I got to fl. I upped the speed to 65-67 mph and got 10mpg .

All in all what a fantastic trip if anyone has not done the Tennessee ,Tellico rivers what a treat .

On the way up we stayed in a RV park on the way back we got a hotel room.
My wife has a question do most of you stay in the boat trailering or do you get a hotel for the traveling day ?
 
Done both. But normally we stay in our 2009 class C motorhome with a V10 as it is by far the best tow vehicle we have right now. Kinda funny that you are only getting 10 mpg, I just did a 2800 mile trip and pulled another vehicle back (a 3500 lb pickup) up to AK and got 8.9 with the Ford V10. I was pretty shocked it was that good as it only gets around 9-11 without pulling. Maybe it was because I went slower? None the less, glad you had a great trip and tow rig worked out well for you.
 
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