tow vehicle for 18' bass boat

kylake

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Jan 15, 2015
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Have a 18' bass boat used to tow with old pickup that know has died.wife needs newer vehicle just wounding could I tow boat with mini van.Will not be towing far I am about 4 minutes from our boat launch in subdivision.the farthest would be about 8 -10 miles from house mostly flat road.she really wants mini van and I have car,just don't wantv3 vehicles again.
 

Chad Flaugher

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Jan 2, 2015
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Do you know the weight of your boat + trailer + gear? Right out of the gate myself and probably others are going to want to say not a good idea. Research the tow capacities and tongue weights of your proposed tow vehicles, and compare to your trailered weight. The most important thing is stopping. Also need to consider how steep your boat ramps are. An SUV will probably be your better choice.
 

Maclin

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May 27, 2007
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Front drive minivans are not the optimum ramp vehicle, just sayin' be aware of the retrieval process.
 

Blind Date

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Mar 5, 2014
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The thing about minivans is they aren't "mini" anymore. They are big, heavy, powerful vehicles nowadays. I rode with my buddy in his Sienna while towing an 18 OB glass boat with a 4.3 sterndrive sitting on a nice heavy duty trailer with brakes. I'm guessing the rig easily weighed around 3K pounds. It was pretty hard to tell that boat was even back there in any shape way or form. Ramps could be a problem, although they aren't for him.
 

Frank Acampora

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Really depends upon the size of the minivan. I towed an 18 foot closed bow runabout for years with a 1988 Dodge Gran Caravan with a 3.0 Mitsubisi. Because of the length of the vehicle, ramps were not a problem. Front wheels were almost always on dry pavement and the tongue weight really did not unload them much. At that time they did not sell a hitch for the van so I fabricated one myself out of square tubing and angle iron.

Reason I sold it and stepped up to a truck was because it failed inspection and the air conditioning went.
 

Chad Flaugher

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Jan 2, 2015
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Well yeah, a couple votes for the family van! I know a few models are AWD as well. So it has been done! I've never seen it at our favorite lakes, but I'll be watching! :pop2:
 

Watermann

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Talk her into a beautiful semi manly SUV that can do anything a van does and then some.
 

joetheis

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Apr 21, 2014
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My buddy pulls his 20' almn. boat with a 90 Honda 4 banger out of the water on a good pitched ramp with a 2014 Subbie Outback.
I'm gonna yank my Grumman 19' with 70 HP Evinrude 2 smoker outta the water with a 2014 Honda CRV.
You not going far.
Before I attempt to yank mine out, I'm gonna try it on a slight grade in front of my house just to make sure, (my CRV is rated #2000).
It's stopping that can be scary if your on the highway or at speed.
A friend of mine talked to a guy who hauls his #4500 sailboat with a mini van from N.J. to Pa. on a regular basis, (trailer has E-lectric brakes, my buddy THINKS).
If you look on line over in Europe you see VW attached to HUGE sailboats!
A block er 2 ,you should be good.
Just saying..............
Joe
As always take any advice I give with a can of beer er 2!
 

ron nh

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Sep 19, 2014
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most mini vans are rated for 1,000lbs. even if it works you could get in a world of trouble if something goes wrong. 1st insurance company will bale immediately. and the other party will surely take everything they can get from you, be careful.
 

H20Rat

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Mar 8, 2009
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The thing about minivans is they aren't "mini" anymore. They are big, heavy, powerful vehicles nowadays.

no, not really... They aren't body-on-frame. Any halfway serious tow vehicle needs to be body on frame design. Unibody vehicles are really poor choices for tow vehicles. Even if they have the weight, power, and brakes, they suffer from not having a good spot to attach a solid hitch. Like ron nh mentioned, most are rated for 1000#. There are going to be a couple that are at 2000#, and maybe a rare one at 3500#. Those are still considered very light-duty tow vehicles.

All the power in the world doesn't make a difference if you don't have a solid frame to attach the hitch to, and that is where minivans fail.
 
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H20Rat

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Mar 8, 2009
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most mini vans are rated for 1,000lbs. even if it works you could get in a world of trouble if something goes wrong. 1st insurance company will bale immediately. and the other party will surely take everything they can get from you, be careful.

Although I completely agree, you need the proper tow vehicle for the load, insurance is NOT a factor here... Your insurance will cover you towing a load WAAAAAY past the recommended load for the vehicle. Keep in mind there are no legal requirements for non-commercial towing. It is not actually illegal to overload a vehicle if you are staying with the limits of a non-commercial license.
 
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