WHy don't people buy Proper Tow Vehicles?

[kyle f]

Ther other night, I was hanging out at the Marina and saw a pet peeve of mine play out. I never understood why people insist on towing boats with Cars/Cross overs/SUVs not made to tow that kind of weight.

So, we are setting on the back of my friends house boat where we can see the ramp. Anyone up on Norris Lake here in TN will know.. the water is way way down. Well below winter pool. Anyway, this makes the ramp very long and steep. We see a nice, newer Malibu backing down the ramp being moved by a BMW X5.

Yea, nice SUV, sub-frame so it drive like a car.

So, here they go down the ramp... being drug by the boat... literally. THe breaks were locked, but the wheels are sliding. Not Sliding on slime or anything, just skidding. I am thinking... here we go. I am goign to get to see my first one go under and I am going to have to get my $1500 Bronco to pull it out.

Though, once the boat transom started to float, he did regain control. TO be honest, I was kind of hoping to see the BMW go under. Its not a tow vehicle, its a freaking subframe car like my mustang, but with a AWD system and bigger tires.

If you have enough money to buya boat, do you really not have a couple of thousand to buy something decent to tow with?

 

[gonefishie]

Re: WHy don't people buy Proper Tow Vehicles?

Dude, if that's your pet peeve then I must forewarns you to not go to Europe. I was in England 3 weeks ago and I'll tell ya, they put a hitch on anything that got wheels on them. These were the little itty bitty cars too that were towing camper and boat, and etc..

 

[rob711]

Re: WHy don't people buy Proper Tow Vehicles?

i think they do it to entertain the rest of us!!!

 

[mrfixitman40]

Re: WHy don't people buy Proper Tow Vehicles?

I wouldn't mind useing my mustang i could get there faster lol .don't think the slicks would work well pulling out of the water though.

 

[rndn]

Re: WHy don't people buy Proper Tow Vehicles?

I agree, people buy an expensive boat and cheap out on the tow vehicle. My brother bought a decent boat, 3100lbs fully loaded, and tried to tow it with his brand new Tacoma four cylinder five speed. He thens blames Toyota because it states the truck can pull 3500lbs, so it's all Toyotas fault. Truth is he saved four thousand by not buying the V-6 version and now 5 months later he was forced to trade in his less than one year old Tacoma to buy a Trailblazer. So by saving four grand he has now spent 9 grand. He wonders why he is so far in debt. I try to tell him that his thought is that he can't afford to do it right the first time so he ends up doing it twice and in the end, spending much more money. Penny wise and a dollar foolish.

 

[Bart Sr.]

Re: WHy don't people buy Proper Tow Vehicles?

Scotty to Captain Kirk:"I can't change the laws of physics."

There are so so so many people that have NO clue about the PHYSICS involved in everyday life.It's sad but true.

 

[kyle f]

Re: WHy don't people buy Proper Tow Vehicles?

I agree, people buy an expensive boat and cheap out on the tow vehicle. My brother bought a decent boat, 3100lbs fully loaded, and tried to tow it with his brand new Tacoma four cylinder five speed. He thens blames Toyota because it states the truck can pull 3500lbs, so it's all Toyotas fault. Truth is he saved four thousand by not buying the V-6 version and now 5 months later he was forced to trade in his less than one year old Tacoma to buy a Trailblazer. So by saving four grand he has now spent 9 grand. He wonders why he is so far in debt. I try to tell him that his thought is that he can't afford to do it right the first time so he ends up doing it twice and in the end, spending much more money. Penny wise and a dollar foolish.

HE didn't have to do that. When I was goign to buy the boat, knowing the weight, I went out and got me a mechanically sound, rusyt Bronco with a C6 and a V8. Sure it doesn't have a lot of HP, but it has torque, and 4X4 for those slippery ramp conditions. Cost, $1500... didn't have to go trade my new Mustang in for a new F-150 and go deeper in debt. It was tempting though, I really like the new F-150's

You need torque and mass. Another thing a lot of people rely too heavily on is the trailor brakes. Do they not understand for the surge brake to work that the trailor has to be pushing on the vehicle?

 

[hbski]

Re: WHy don't people buy Proper Tow Vehicles?

Hmmm, well if it really was an X5 then he should weigh more than your Bronco. Couldn't find specs for an '84 Bronco, but Edmunds lists the curb weight at 4430 for a 1990 bronco, but then that's a 6 cylinder so giving you 400lbs more for the V8 over the inline 6 puts it at 4830. The smallest engined X5 weighs in at 4982. The V8 version weighs in at 5335. And they're both rated to tow 6000lbs according to Edmunds, so I would imagine the guy thought he had at least 1000lbs to spare to tow his 4000lb - 5000lb boat and trailer.

I wouldn't own an X5 for anything much less towing, just struck me that it wouldn't be much different weight and power-wise than any other typical mid-sized SUV and my assumption turned out to be correct.

But I hear ya with those folks launching. The lake we go to we launch from the beach and it is rather amusing watching the rest of those folks get stuck in the sand.

 

[bucky7680]

Re: WHy don't people buy Proper Tow Vehicles?

I was at my local ramp last month and saw a guy with the same Bronco set up as you have Kyle. They were sliping and sliding trying to pull up a 20' openbow. They finaly put 3 big guys on the rear bumper (Jumping up and down) and got it up the ramp. I asked the guy why he didn't put it in 4 wheel. He said "It's to much trouble". Yeh, like putting 3 guys in danger on a bumper is not. HERE'S YOUR SIGN.

Moral of the story: You can have the right equipment but it does no good if you don't have the brains to use it properly.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: WHy don't people buy Proper Tow Vehicles?

Please re-size that photo to 640 x 480 !!!!

 

[The Bayliner BarBeeQ]

Re: WHy don't people buy Proper Tow Vehicles?

I can picture that car going that all the way to the bottom. I'm just curious about the driver and was he releaved to stop in a safe position once the baot started to float. I can't say for myself, but I would of had accident in my seat.

 

[JB]

Re: WHy don't people buy Proper Tow Vehicles?

You sell the X5 very short, Kyle. If it can't handle that boat your Bronco would drown trying.

 

[Grunt_Sculpin]

Re: WHy don't people buy Proper Tow Vehicles?

I have had similar problems with my durango, but I never have thought of it as a bad tow vehicle. There has been 3 times now where my durango will slide and the brakes just lock but it always catches in time before I hit the water. Do you have any suggestions about this? Do I need tires with different tread? Am I just not backing it down right? My boat is only a 18.5 foot 2008 glastron with a volvo 4.3. It is not even close to the rated towing capacity of my boat. It just seems to happen at steeper ramps. What do you do in this situation? Oh by the way its an automatic 4WD.

Thanks!

 

[KRS]

Re: WHy don't people buy Proper Tow Vehicles?

A little air out of the tires goes a LONG way

 

[kyle f]

Re: WHy don't people buy Proper Tow Vehicles?

Possibly I am selling the X5 short. Isn't this one of those Sub-Fram SUVs rather than a full frame? That I have seen bite more than one in the butt when things get just slightly out of line... which BTW, they wer enot even close to goign in straight. I am really surprised they weigh that much. Possibly that helps them controlling the boat and trailor in transit, but the boat, trailor, and weight of the X5 on the ramp was too much for the tires to hold?

Then again, I figure if I start going in, kill the engine hop out, and get someone to tow or pull me out. As long as the engine doesn't injest water, once it dries out everything should be ok... except fo maybe the radio and speakers.

As far as preventing the sliding. I always lock my hubs in before i go down the ramp. I do it in 2WD, but just incase, the 4WD is just at a reach of the stick. The engine brake if the tranny is in low gear or reverse will help control the slide a bit more.. as in... you can move slowly with out sliding. When the boat hits the water, some weight is going to come off anyway.

Same thign for pullign out. Hubs locked in before I even back the trailor down. Then, again if I need the 4WD, or god forbid 4LO, its just a flick of the stick.

I also run my tires around 40PSI in the front and 45 in the rear when towing... 40 for regular driving, and 30 when off road. Seems to give me great control and ride comfort this way. I picked these kinds of settings up when I had a pretty much dedicated off raod Bronco II that wouldn't pull crap with.

 

[the_mayor]

Re: WHy don't people buy Proper Tow Vehicles?

Speaking of pet peevs...........TRAILER

 

[brogsie]

Re: WHy don't people buy Proper Tow Vehicles?

Where they able to pull the boat back out with the BMW?

 

[KRS]

Re: WHy don't people buy Proper Tow Vehicles?

I now have a Dodge 2500 4x4 cummins diesel.

It tows the boat just fine

 

[Rob454]

Re: WHy don't people buy Proper Tow Vehicles?

The guy probably had too much speed going down the ramp. There is nothing wrong with the X5 towing. its rated to tow 6000 pounds. Most likely the guy was jsut going too fast down the ramp that makes him a idiot and the c ar cant choose its driver. ive seen all kinds of trucks loose traction and slide down the ramp. Some full size trucks some mid and minis also.
My GMC Jimmy ( the small S10 blazer twin) launches my boat absolutely flawlessly. and its a 2wd no limited slip. My dakota 4x4 locker rear axle is what I use when I go to the river or the dirt ramps because it has 4wd.
and Ive gone down launch ramps little too fast and I feel myself slipping back.
and my truck has the tires for grip lockers and 4wd but none of that means crap when youre sliding back and the boat is pulling you down. I jsut go slow when I go launch. Im not gonna hurry muself up because somebody else is waiting in the same line I jsut waited in
Rob

 

[kyle f]

Re: WHy don't people buy Proper Tow Vehicles?

Where they able to pull the boat back out with the BMW?

I don't know, I wasn;t there for the take out at the end of the weekend. I would assume he was able to.

He was not going fast at all dow the ramp. This was actually happening pretty much from a static state as he turned the wheels to manuver, he was sliding as he was trying to hold posistion.