DaySailer.org Forum

Thanks guys. Yeah, PT Cruiser. Apparently I have grossly underestimated it's ability to tow a DS, even on our flat roads here at sea level. The manual says it should be able to, but it *is* ten years old. We bought it used, so no warranties. My mechanic has not had a chance to look at it yet, but I have a feeling I know what he's gonna tell me when he does ...

Tim,

I’m sorry to hear about your transmission woes. I had the transmission go out on my 2000 Dodge minivan this summer. I had the Daysailer in tow, the van was loaded for a weeks vacation and there were three of us barreling down the Interstate at 65 mph. We were about an hour into the trip when it went out. It made for a much more expensive vacation than I had planned for. It’s pretty pricey to have a van and a boat towed to the dealership.

It’s hard to decide if towing the Daysailer behind the minivan is what did the transmission in. It has 130,000 miles on it and those transmissions are notorious for going out by 160,000. Normally I feel like the minivan doesn’t even notice that there’s a boat behind it. Whereas, the backup vehicle for towing is a Honda CRV and that one definitely feels underpowered for the job. My previous tow vehicle was a Volvo 740 Turbo, not exactly what one would expect. Though, I sold that one with 200,000 miles on it and it still had the original clutch. I even towed a slightly heavier boat with that car. Maybe it was the manual transmission that held up better than an automatic.

I did have the transmission replaced at a rather hefty charge at the dealership. But… I was not on home territory and I needed to do something or just write it off. I suppose it’s time to start looking for a replacement tow vehicle, though.

Good luck on solving your transmission problems.

One thing you might want to consider for a tow vehicle is to have a transmission cooler added as part of your towing package. My Jeep Commander (with the smallest engine option, 3.7L) has one and it helps keep the transmission from overheating due to the towing load.

K.C., you think towing a van and boat to a dealer is expensive. Several years ago I was hauling 8 horses with a one-ton pickup at night and had a breakdown on the highway in east Texas. Had to have it all towed in. Had very fast service tho. My big Ford pickup ended up at a GM dealer. When the GM service folks got in that morning they found my truck, the trailer, 4 men, and 8 horses camped out in their used car area. Repairs went fast, I think they wanted us to leave as soon as possible. At least a boat sits there and doesn't make a mess like horses.

John

Have a friend who uses a PT Cruiser to tow various small boats, but usually a bit smaller than a DS. Haven't heard anything other than that he loves the car. It's not really flat here, but he may be able to avoid most of the hills when he tows in the boat for the weekly beer cans.

I had a thread on towing vehicles, perhaps we need to add to that one. Now, where was that.

GreenLake,

When you do find the thread, this might be helpful to post there if you think it's appropriate to move it, but in the meantime:

http://www.automobilemag.com/features/n ... niff_test/

The major auto manufacturers have gotten together with the Society of Automotive Engineers and developed a common towing standard, so if you look up your vehicle's towing capacity online, you may find that it's suddenly a lot lower than you thought when you bought the vehicle.

Toyota has put it into practice already, although it's not required until 2013, with the result that the 2011 version of our 2008 Sequoia, equipped with the snorty engine and a tow package, is downrated from 9600 pounds to 7400 pounds.

It's a lot more realistic. And unlikely as we are to tow a trailer full of Daysailers, adding up to 7400 pounds, twelve miles up an average 5 percent grade with the ambient temp above 100F and the AC on full, it's nice to know there's the extra capacity. Who knows what we might get up to.

The thread on towing vehicles is here

http://www.daysailer.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3202

And BTW, it is the first hit on this google query:

Code: Select all

site:daysailer.org "tow vehicle"

This is by far the best way to locate content on this forum.

I know I'm probably stating the obvious, but hopefully everyone knows about taking their cars out of overdrive while towing Even though the boat's relatively light, there's still a lot of extra pulling and pushing going on. A little more $ on gas vs. a lot less $ on transmissions!

Tim Webb,

Now that you're back on the road and GL has given us our very own thread for our ICW Cruise discussion, did you have a range of dates in mind? I was thinking that the winter might be a good time to plan this; cooler weather, northerly winds, and Mosquito Lagoon might not completely live up to its name! The occasional cold spell would not bother me; I have plenty of warm camping gear. Let me know your thoughts.

Chris

Now that this topic has its own thread, I want to join you even more than I did before! Though, I think the 22 + hour drive might put a damper on it for me.

KC,

You could always hop a plane and join one of us as crew. Consider the invitation extended.

Chris

KC,

If you hop on a plane you might want to consider crewing the Tx200 in 2013. That is a week of sailing up the Texas ICW. A few people came last year to crew on boats. Some of the folks without thier own boat changed boats along the way to experience different boats.

Anyone else that might be interested, the Tx200 will be the 2nd week of June 2013. 200 miles of sailing up the Texas ICW, 5 days sailing, 4 nights camping.

John

ChrisB wrote:Tim Webb,

Now that you're back on the road and GL has given us our very own thread for our ICW Cruise discussion, did you have a range of dates in mind? I was thinking that the winter might be a good time to plan this; cooler weather, northerly winds, and Mosquito Lagoon might not completely live up to its name! The occasional cold spell would not bother me; I have plenty of warm camping gear. Let me know your thoughts.

Chris

Haven't really considered any dates as of yet, but I wouldn't be opposed to sometime over the Winter. Actually prefer sailing in the cooler wx, although wind direction is certainly not a given like it is the other 3/4 of the year, when you can count on the afternoon seabreeze ...

At least we wouldn't have to worry about lightning!

The company I work for goes on shutdown the week between Xmas and New Years, so maybe a couple days during that time would work? 'Course, it depends on the wife and daughter's plans for me then (read: honey do list!).

Is that a doable time frame for you? Not sure I could go before that (always too much going on leading up to the holidays), and getting into January almost guarantees a week or two of overnight freezes. Maybe go in Feb/Mar?

Anyone else is more than welcome to tag along (KC, John, etc.)! And thanks for our own thread GL!

Christmas >>> New Years is out for me. I'm still in the process of relocating from NC to Fla and I'll be in NC that week. My "honey do" list is lengthly.

I'd be open to January, February, or March. The threat of "cold" weather doesn't scare me off. I've camped in weather much colder than Central Florida can throw at me.

I actually live in the town of Grant Valkaria, about 10 mi south of Melbourne. There is a launch ramp on the west shore of the Indian River about 3 miles from my house. Its located just north of Trout Creek @ ICW markers 34A & 35. Easy access to I-95. I was thinking about that as an end point of the trip. Will that work for you?

Yeah, no worries, that's prolly not the best time to go anyways. I'm not "skeert" of the cold either, but would rather avoid anything below 32F overnight if at all possible, just to eliminate any possibilities of anything "important" turning from a liquid into a solid, if ya know what I mean!

I've also camped in much colder weather: once shoveled enough snow outta the way in Ohio just to pitch a tent that would later that night get covered in snow! Thanks Boy Scouts ...

Valkaria was actually the place I was looking at that seemed to have the most spoil islands available. I wouldn't be opposed to launching there and heading North, if the winds favored it? As an end point for a 2-3 day cruise heading South, I'd think we'd want to start at least as far South as Cocoa, no?

The "important" liquids (read: Jim Beam) don't turn solid until well below 32 degrees. Trust me, I've done the research.

As for starting and endpoints, its 90 miles one-way from Ponce Inlet to Grant. Very doable for a one-way trip over three days. Doing that distance in two days would be a push. If you wanted to make it a weekend trip, its 50 miles from the Titusville city marina to Grant. There are some spoil islands around Cocoa (20 miles from Titusville) that would make a nice overnight stop. I'd recommend making the final call on direction as the trip got closer; if the forecast was for northerly winds, we "go with the flow" and head south.

On the other hand, if you wanted to make it a round trip and launch/retrieve from the same location, I'd be up for that also. From Grant we could go north or south depending on the weather and have our choice of dozens of island destinations. Titusville & Cocoa have numerous island destionations for round trips also. Take a look at the charts and see what you're inclined toward.

http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/11485.shtml
http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/11472.shtml

- Chris