thinking about towing mac with 2006 hyundai tuscon

[curtis from carlsbad]

I am thinking about towing the mac26m on very level ground 7 miles to and from my house in Carlsbad,Ca. to Oceanside Ca.The vehicle weight is 3450 lbs and my nearly unloaded mac is about 3300 plus anchor,chain &rode(roughly 60lbs).My wife and kids could simply meet me at the launch ramp in a seperate vehicle after I have raised mast and am ready to launch.I could choose to always pull out on medium or high tides up the launchramp.Listed towing capacity for this 4 cylinder suv is 1000 lbs.I used to pull a hobie 16 and couldn't even feel it .Truck is a manual transmission with a lot of power during our normal driving.My Mac has the E-tec 60 on it.This truck is paid off so if I blow engine I could slap in a rebuilt and wouldnt cry about it too much,just no more towing the Mac. The trip is 85% freeway. I would not use this truck to drive 85 miles to Long Beach for our future planned Catalina Island trips.I'll just rent the U-haul GMC Sierra that we have been using(59 cents amile plus $29.95 a day).It cost me $50 total with gas & mileage to just go to Oceanside for one day so that is why I am considering just nursing it there with the hyundai tuscon and save some cash.I know the insurance would not pay and I would be sued and in financial ruin if something happened but if the hyundai could do it with relative safety(flat ground whole way,less than 10 % grades at any stage of trip),I think I would like to save some money.Also I can only park two vehicles in front of my house( mac is taking up entire driveway)and my taxicab and wife's hyundai tuscon takes these curb spots up.How crazy is this idea ?

[curtis from carlsbad]

I forgot to mention that the hitch reciever that is on the tuscon is rated at 3500lbs and has a 2 inch opening.Thanks- Curtis Becker

[Kelly Hanson East]

Unless the launch ramp is 100 metres from your driveway or closer....

No.

Try to find mast up storage at a ramp near you.

On edit - I posted this during a nasty flu bug. I soften my rhetoric....

For the 7 mile trip - if you can do it at <30 mph (like Ray says) on backroads, maybe.

For the freeway, no.

Im a bit intrigued as to who would put a 3500# rated hitch on a 1500# rated vehicle...

[Québec 1]

I use a 6 cylinder 15 year old Buick with class 3 hitch , new cargo coils, new shocks and a reconditioned transmission cooler (cost me 700$ to upgrade) and I have crossed mountains with it. Don't think I could do mountains with a 4 cylinder tho!
Q1

[raycarlson]

find a route off the freeway where you can chug along at 35mph or less.at that speed you can stop in a reasonable distance and have little chance of losing control of your rig. you can tow a mac with a lawn mower tractor if you willing to go slow enough.

[Québec 1]

you can tow a mac with a lawn mower tractor if you willing to go slow enough.

So true
and you can also cross the Atlantic in a row boat

[seahouse]

Hi Curtis --

Not to burst your dream in any way, but you might want to alter it a bit;

How crazy is this idea ?

To give you an idea of where this lies on the "crazy scale" continuum... It would be a far less crazy idea to rob Fort Knox and use the money to buy a proper tow vehicle.

And getting sued and/ or ending up in financial ruin as you suggest would be the least of your worries if you killed someone. And this is not as extreme a statement as you might think.

There are economical choices in "pre-owned" trucks that would tow your Mac safely. Confirm that the towing capacity given by the manufacturer of the vehicle is always greater than what your Mac and trailer will weigh when fully-equiped.

Regards - Brian.

[curtis from carlsbad]

Thank for the input everyone. Is the problem that I might get dragged around by Mac in a sudden swerve to avoid someone who stops suddenly in front of me,or total breakaway of vehicle from boat,or just the fact that the vehicle weighs only 100-150 lbs more than mac with trailer (no provisions on my day trips)?Or is everyone concerned that I will toast the engine?Remembr that the 3500 lbs max hitches are frequently made to fit several diffrent vehicles and are often installed on vehicles with lesser rated tow capacities(1000 lbs).Also yes there are street routes that I could take for the entire 7 miles at slow speeds(15-25mph) the whole way.I still am not conviced 100% that this is a bad idea.I please request more responses from the forum members. Sock it to me good or bad and why exactly? Thanks everyone-Curtis Becker.

[waternwaves]

It seems what you are really asking for is..............."how long will this towing setup last?"

I have owned my share of vehicles, and everything I have had has had a trailer hitch on it of some type, most of the time rated to match the manufacturers specifications.

however...Whenever you get to the maximum rating for any rig.........some manufacturer optimism is involved.

For example, I have had 4wdF250' rated at 13,700 with a 5th wheel rig,10000 BP, a mazda B2000 only rated to 1500# factory, F250 2wd, 4wd F150, 2wd F150, 4wdC1500, D2500,

I am convinced the current Generations of 1/2 ton crew cab Ford/GM and Dodge offerings are up to the task, I prefer the F-150 SuperCrew shortbed, for the ease in which it moves the boat/trailer around the back yard.

But, comparing the two ends of the exremes
Both are ludicrous. The first was rated to tow a 5th almost 2 and 1/2 times the weght of the truck, with total tire contact area only 1.4 times the trailer tire contact area........ it was rated to tow 9800 with a frame hitch, almost twice the weight of the truck. Even the version I had with a diesel was no match for carrying another F-250 supercab down the road on a trailer. One hard stop on a down hill freeway section, because of an agressive motorist trying to get through traffic put me on going sideways down the hill at 50 mph.......... not to mention the wind buffeting towing a 4 horse trailer at almost 9000, on the bumper with the weight equalizer. Realisticly, for my style of conservative driving anything over 8K on the bumper had to be handled far more gently than I like, 10K was the tail wagging the dog. yet the manufacutrers still continue to list 2 to one towing to truck weights for these vehicles.

On the other hand........some smal trucks weigh only 3400 lbs, yet have max rating of 1500. Its not just the weight and frame of the vehicle, gearing, torque, tire size....all have an effect on getting your towed load rolling safely, and even more of an effect slowing that load dow.

During one unemployed interval years back, I towed a lightly lowed mac X, 350 miles on mostly freeway up the I-5 corridor with mazda B-2000 ( every other truck was either loaned out or in the garage for service, and I needed to move the boat that day) Truck had sufficient power to tow it faster than the rig was stable...(both truck and trailer about 3700 loaded) but those tiny brakes got awfully warm on a couple of those hills, especially out toward the island here, at 55mph the only thing holding that rig straight for even a few seconds was divine intervention. Yet at 52 mph, you could do hard lane changes and panic stops....... go figure. That boat is a lot of surface area to the wind. A tandem Semi woiuld launch the truck and the mac onto the shoulder. and realisticly, your vehicle is marignal to towing that boat at freeway speeds for the following reasons......1) insufficient brake size, 2) Insufficient wheel contact area, 3) wrong gearing.

However,

With the Drawtite frame hitch, listed towing capacity for that rig is 3500#, and if the mac and the truck was almost empty it is not too unreasonable for speeds 55 and below. But it will not be the same as a full size pickup with a proper hitch. But that clutch is not going to last as long towing that boat as a larger truck's would. The one to one ratio of truck weight to trailer weight is not obscene, you will find 60 lbs to a horsepower to be rather paltry.

your bigget problem is going to be stopping at an uphill stoplight , and trying to get started while the MAC is lifting the back of your truck off the ground.

Stay SAfe and sane.

I would find a route without too many hills.

Just practice once at 3:00 am on a steep hill going up, and see if you want that slip during the day in traffic.

[ROAD Soldier]

I use a 2004 Jeep liberty Renegade with the 6 cylinder. Just completed going to Pirate Sail in North Carolina from Virginia which was a 4-5 hour trip through back roads. Vehicle is rated for 5,000lbs towing. However I put it in fulltime 4wheel drive, and turn overdrive off, and don’t go above 55mph. I also put most Items in the boat up front especially with boat fuel tanks full. Try not to fill them until I get where I am going when possible. During the 2004 year there was only 2 Small SUV vehicles rated for 5,000lbs towing one was mine the Jeep Liberty and the other was a Nissan Xtera. Jeep had tried and true mechanical 4 wheel drive system the Xtera was electrical braking system otherwise known as traction control. I am a mechanic not an electrician or computer geek so and I am an American so I went with the Jeep. The vehicle also had more HP then the Xtera and gets 26mpg gallon for us and 10mpg towing the . The trailer is an aftermarket galvanized 4 wheel trailer with surge brakes. I am going to add electrical brakes because the braking control will be better with that. I also am going to add a sway leveling control so I will not have to move everything all the time. After those improvements it will be perfect because I can all ready accelerate outstandingly and pull out of any ramp without effort.

[quintamala]

OK...
I own one of these Hyundai and a 1998 MacX.
Last march I moved from Canary Islands to Spain (on a passenger boat obviously). I really got sacared when I climbed the Ferry to park inside.
In order to not exceed the total (iron trailer+boat) weight compared to car weight, I removed the spare wheel (into the car) and empty fuel cans. (I load the cans at shore).
It´s not easy.... drive carefully and be extremely careful in the ramp. Use trailer manual break and off course: Assume that you must get wet.

[Kelly Hanson East]

This has been hashed to death and this might start a new flame war, but the 'trailer towing specs" imho, are basically made up numbers for marketing purposes. Since there isnt a 'test' for towing how do you decide if it fails a 1600# vs a 1500# load??

Could I pull a 20,000# keelboat on a dolly trailer around my cul-de-sac with my Eurovan??

Probably for a few minutes.

Anyway, I guess if you had to pull it 7 miles to mast up storage twice a season (not that you CAL guys know what a season is.... ) I would say do it.

If you want to use this boat each weekend, thats too much. Trade the truck in for something beefier.

[Gazmn]

There are people who'll practically pay You, in order to sell their truck/SUV. Along with the Mac/boating learning curve comes the $pending curve. Find a Tow Beast, that can be justified by the admiral, as some sort of backup family vehicle. & it ain't a Hyundai

I know you work hard, take your time and in the meantime don't tow far or often
It's not success you've been getting, it's luck you're burning.

I bought a Truck on Ebay for 6 grand. It ain't pretty but it works great for moving stuff and hauling toys. We're 3 cars & 2 people with a boat & a camper. All toys are over 10 years old but new and dear to us. Eventually, find a way...

[curtis from carlsbad]

Yeah- I havent tried to tow yet with the Hyundai-probably won't do it.Saw a 73 suburban a block away for a grand then saw others 10-15 years newer on Craigs List for 1500-2500- still can't decide.Will keep renting U-hauls for the time being.Thanks everyone- Curtis Becker

[Boblee]

Why not give it a try around the block and see how it feels???? but to think you are going to tow it at more than 45mph comfortably is questionable.
For a 7mile trip depending on the roads???