Towing a boat with a minivan
Corey Norton
Country (3.8 v6) to replace our current Nissan Quest minivan. The
quest only has a 3.0 v6 front drive engine with over 100,000 miles.
We currently have a small Bayliner, about 1,900 lbs. The quest pulls
it ok, except in the hills, and usually has no trouble on the ramps
unless they are very wet or steep. Our drive to the lake is about 40
miles. We are considering a little bit bigger boat, maybe 2500 lbs,
but don't want to buy an SUV or truck. I would like to hear from
owners of these vans or others about how well they pull, how well the
Astro comes out of the water with Rear wheel drive. What size boat do
you pull?, Etc...
Thank you,
Corey Norton
jcno...@usa.net
Russ Glindmeier
Corey Norton wrote in message
<1387e2cd.01082...@posting.google.com>...
All other things being equal (condition, etc.) the Astro will out-tow the
Chrysler hands down. In addition to having much more available torque, the
Astro is a full-frame vehicle and as you mentioned, rear wheel drive.
You're really comparing a truck to a car here. I towed a 5000 pound 21' Sea
Ray cuddy with an '89 Astro years ago. It was absolutely the practical
limit for that vehicle and perhaps a bit beyond, but towing 2500-3000 pounds
would be a perfect fit for that vehicle. The Astros were (are?) available
with various rear-end ratios and also a locking differential to assist in
towing.
Russ
Russ
Rich Stern
>Country (3.8 v6) to replace our current Nissan Quest minivan. The
>quest only has a 3.0 v6 front drive engine with over 100,000 miles.
>We currently have a small Bayliner, about 1,900 lbs. The quest pulls
>it ok,
I've often towed with a 97 Dodge Grand Caravan 3.8 V6, in situations very much
like the ones you describe, with similar weights. The vehicle has no problem
with a 2000lb load. Actually tows it nicely, and does a decent job on the ramp
with it's traction control. Brakes are up to the job, too.
However, two negatives: First, it's very tough to find a DamChryco minivan
with the tow pacakge on a dealer lot. You would probably have to order one.
Don't even consider anything less than the new 2001/2002 models, which have far
more room for a transmission cooler under the hood than the 2000 and earlier
models. There is simply no more cooling left to be had under the hood of the
last generation models.
Second, DamChryco minivans do not have great transmission reliability, some say
due to inadequate cooling. Towing further stresses an already weak link.
They are incredibly comfortable vehicles, quiet, easy to drive, handle and
brake well, and move a single axle trailer and moderate load with ease.
Sure wish the quality problem wasn't there.
The Astro is definitely a more rugged tow vehicle, but it is like the dark ages
in terms of comfort vs. the Town and Country.
If you continue to look at the Town and Country, plan to spend on the extended
warranty. It's one of those vehicle that usually justifies buying extra
warranty.
Honda Odyssey isn't a bad choice, nor is the Toyota Sienna.
All of these vehicles will move Bayliner better than your current Quest.
-- Rich Stern
Sylvain Sirois
The best minivan to tow.
I have tow a 26' 4500lbs boat for a ride of 2600 km without any
problem. The safari have 190 000 Km.
Only down side, it is a truck, it suck plenty of gaz. With a full tank,
104 l a can drive no more than 500 Km. Wen i tow the boat.... i dont
want to think at it again... :)
Sylvain
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Ken Stross
vehicle. We have a '96 Astro and have used it for the past six years to tow
our boats. Started with a 20' Bayliner, which weighed-in at approx 2500lbs
plus trailer, gas, and gear. Traded-up this year to a 21' Malibu which
weighs even more (I'm guessing close to 5000lbs with all the trimmings), and
we still tow without any problems. I wouldn't pull anything heavier than
the Malibu, and truthfully, we are hoping to trade it in on a large SUV next
year, but that's only because we want to, not anything to do with the
Astro's capabilities.
When we bought it, the dealer told us it had the same drive-train as the
Chevy S10, and it definitely handles like a truck, but with the body of a
van we have never had an incident of spinning tires at the ramp, which I see
quite regularly on even very large and powerful pick-ups. Hope this helps.
Corey Norton <jcno...@usa.net> wrote in message
news:1387e2cd.01082...@posting.google.com...
Jeremy Stratton
As far as regular hauling I would go with the astro because they are basicly
the same drivetrain as a S-10 not a front drive car. Also if you could swing
it I would go with AWD then you don't have to worry about what condition the
ramp is in.
"Corey Norton" <jcno...@usa.net> wrote in message
news:1387e2cd.01082...@posting.google.com...
seeray28
it, I have no idea what the weight is, he uses a 92 Astro. Tows fine brakes
fine, the only problem is backing down the damn ramp. Its a panal van No
windows. the mirrors are too small.
"Jeremy Stratton" <time...@chartermi.net> wrote in message
news:to5t24q...@corp.supernews.com...
Don
Bayliner Cuddy that it pulled fine. It had no problem at the ramp. The
only problem I had was, the trailer didn't have trailer brakes. I thought
it was fine till the boat pushed it through a couple of stoplights on wet
roads. Make sure you have trailer brakes. Rear wheel drive vans are great
on a ramp.
Don
LOBO
Danny Dickerson
no major problems EXCEPT that the front wheel drive
limited the ramps that I could use. If some ramps were
even slightly wet, the front wheels would spin so much
that I could not pull the boat out of the water. This was in
TX with lots of steep ramps.
Also, it appears to have seriously damaged the transmission.
The boat was a 17' fish and ski.
If you buy a heavier boat, you may or may not have this
problem.
Danny
Sylvain Sirois <ssi...@virtuel.net> wrote in message
news:3B82CB00...@virtuel.net...
Mark Pilcher
>From: "Danny Dickerson" dan...@dallas.net
>Also, it appears to have seriously damaged the transmission.
>
Tranny coolers are good, cheap insurance.
Delete ImtheNRA in order to spam me.
The Second Amendment isn't about deer hunting.
Rich Stern
>no major problems EXCEPT that the front wheel drive
>limited the ramps that I could use. If some ramps were
>even slightly wet, the front wheels would spin so much
>that I could not pull the boat out of the water. This was in
>TX with lots of steep ramps.
>
>Also, it appears to have seriously damaged the transmission.
Danny, my guess is the transmission wouldn't have lasted either way. You are
one of many, many who had tranny problems with a ChryCo minivan. Did you have
the 3 speed or 4 speed automatic? The 4 speed is known to be unreliable, while
the 3 speed seems to be quite a bit better.
-- Rich Stern
Matt Schertz
boat and trailer weigh about 3500lbs. These vans have no problem pulling
the boat even up hills although for some reason the 89 will stop the boat
a lot easier than the 95 will. NEver had a problem on the ramps even if
they were wet.
Calif Bill
A switch reduced the rear braking as it thought it was in 4 wd all the time.
bill
Matt Schertz wrote in message <3B848A57...@mtco.com>...
Don White
and the only trouble with the transmission was in the 3rd year.
The trans. would slip a bit if backing up from parking on a slight
forward slope. (my driveway)
Trouble fixed under warranty.
note: I only have 76,000 kilometers on odometer.
Michael Palme
option, it will help on those boat ramps. The gas mileage penalty is only
about 1 mpg. I have a 93 safari (230,000km) with the All Wheel Drive option
and it is a dream to drive on the snow covered roads in the winter even when
towing our snowmobiles
Mwag
(2000 lbs plus an ezloader trailer) with no problem.
front wheels will slip on very steep ramps
m wagner
Richard Bonnett
The single axle trailer without brakes for a 17 footer like your boat is
half the weight that a dual axle trailer for a 23/24 foot boat.
I have two trailers...the single axle without brakes is suited for 17/19 foot boat [ it weighs about 700 pounds ].......
But the trailer for the larger boat is about 1300 pounds and has two axles and one set of brakes on on axle.
If I had serious tire slippage on ramps with the front wheel drive vehicle. I would
consider putting an additional ball on [ one at the front ] and launch with front of vehicle where the traction would be.
When towing smaller boats , the trailers can be a larger percentage of the total weight of the combination.
[my GVWR of trailer is 10,000 on the larger trailer ...but the larger boat is nearly 6500 pounds]
[my GVWR of trailer is 2800 on the smaller trailer .... for a 17/19 foot boat which could be about 2000 pounds.]
No Brakes would be required on GVWR less than 3000 pounds in most states.
Additional axles are not needed on trailers for 19 foot boats. [Which is a good thing because of less cost and weight of the larger trailers.]
The price jumps a lot ...
I paid around 1200 bucks for the smaller trailer many years ago[ 12 years]...but 4800 bucks last year for the big trailer.
......................................................................
It does come down to weights /costs/...... and capacities of vehicle and trailer .