Towing your boat?

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AZ_Path
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Location: Phoenix, AZ

Towing your boat?

Postby AZ_Path » Thu Jul 03, 2008 9:11 pm

Eventually I hope to use the Path to pull a wakeboarding boat (That is if gas prices don't completely crush such recreation). Most of the boats I'm looking at are around 3500+ lbs. and I don't think that includes the trailer or gas in the tank. 40 gallon tank * 6 lbs / gallon adds 240 lbs. plus gear in the boat and I think I'll be about as close to the tow max as I am comfortable with. I've read the posts about suspension. The two things I'm most interested in are braking and pulling up the launch ramp. Most all of the trailers have surge brakes which helps but with serveral passengers in the vehicle and all of the gear that's alot of weight to stop. Does anyone have experience with a boat this size?

Also, do you have any issues coming up the launch ramp? A friend of mine has a 4wd vehicle to tow his boat but he only uses 2wd. He said you don't need to the 4wd, just control the throttle. Any one have experience here either?


nissan4me
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Postby nissan4me » Fri Jul 04, 2008 2:53 am

Depends on the boat ramp. I have needed to put it in 4wd several times, but my boat weighed more. That might have made a difference. Sometimes the ramps at Canyon and Bartlett can get very slick, easy throttle management and patience usually works. You are going to need airbags with that kind of weight. I have been towing around 2800# of quads and the back end gets very bouncy. The bags made a huge!!!! difference. I would recommend them (only like $80 bucks and easy to install).

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AZ_Path
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Postby AZ_Path » Fri Jul 04, 2008 1:04 pm

Yeah I know the airbags will be necessary. I'm glad those are cheap and easy. You said you use 4wd sometimes, but your sig says 2wd. Are you using a different vehicle to tow your boat?

How is the braking with the quad trailer? Does it have surge or electric brakes?

NVRDONE
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Postby NVRDONE » Fri Jul 04, 2008 2:22 pm

Up here in Seattle I tow a 19.5' cuddy that weighs 4200 # on the trailer with full tank & all the gear.
My '06 LE has a 7200# tow rating & does a great job. Freeway speeds are hard to keep down to 60 mph & stopping is great. I had to do a panic stop last week & with surge brakes on the trailer I didnt hit the car in front of me. I also get about 14.5 mpg average when towing.
Pulling up some of our moss covered ramps is also easy - just turn the knob into awd & no slip at all. Makes you look like a pro.
I did install air bags in the rear with the Rancho shoks off the offroad pathy. Those changes helped with stability when being passed by a semi.
Hope this helps & good towing.

nissan4me
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Postby nissan4me » Fri Jul 04, 2008 2:33 pm

Sorry I didn't clarify, I could not tow my boat with a Pathfinder.... it's 5000#. My F150 V8 got tossed around with it on the back. I cant imagine how the Path would react. I don't have brakes on my quad trailer, it stops "ok".

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AZ_Path
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Postby AZ_Path » Fri Jul 04, 2008 3:12 pm

NVRDONE wrote:My '06 LE has a 7200# tow rating & does a great job.
You must have a Pathfinder Armada. I don't think any Pathfinder has a towing capacity that high. When Nissan first introduced the full size SUV they named it "Pathfinder Armada" just because the Pathfinder has a following and they thought it would help it gain market acceptance. They later dropped the "Patherfinder" from the name and now it's just the Armada. I'm guessing this is what you have unless I'm missing something because even the V8 Pathfinder doesn't have a tow rating that high.

nissan4me
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Postby nissan4me » Fri Jul 04, 2008 5:31 pm

Ya no kidding...... I dont think I would feel comfortable even with 4500# behind the Patrhfinder. You would be going 25mph up the hills around here.

NVRDONE
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Joined: Wed May 07, 2008 1:35 pm
Location: seattle

Postby NVRDONE » Fri Jul 04, 2008 8:29 pm

ok, I mis spoke. My 06 le has a tow rating of 6000#. But it still gets the job done great.
I run I90 east from Seattle to Moses Lake over a 3100 ft pass and can run 60 mph with no problem.

amr40509
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Postby amr40509 » Sat Jul 05, 2008 4:53 am

We tow a boat that in 'normal' trim on the trailer is about 4000lbs. We often end up putting all of the 'stuff' like coolers in the boat and then putting 5-6 adults in the truck, so that would add another 1000lbs to normal load easily.

We'll be pulling the boat again today.

I've probably used the Pathfinder to tow this rig about 7500 miles since '06 w/ no problems at all. I did add airbags after the first season, they really are a good idea.

The only times I've needed 4wd (out of a LOT of launches) have been the time someone had a breakdown on the ramp about 25 feet from the water line and got oil all over the ramp and the time a ramp had washed out and the trailer 'fell off' the end of the ramp and dropped over about a 1 foot ledge. These two times it was WELL worth being able to pop into 4wd. Where I use it more often is in a grass field/hill that I park the boat on at a near by campground, I need 4wd to get up the hill w/ the boat on the back w/o spinning.

I actually get my best fuel economey if I run OD off at about 72mph. That keeps the revs up so the torque convertor doesn't unlock (Kentucky has long/big hills on the interstate). Basically if I run 60-65 I end up having the torque convertor unlock, if I run 72-75 it stays locked and I have basically exactly the same RPM on a hill at both speeds. I can do about 14mpg at that speed, about 11.5 at 65mph.


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