Towing Question

[helmswatch]

We are in the final stages of buying our Ranger 21 and realized that we need to check our towing capacity. We have a 2006 Suzuki XL7. We need to know if we can pull our tug and King trailer with it from New Jersey to North Carolina. The Suzuki has a 3500# towing capacity. Been decades since I have had to trailer a boat.

Duke

 

[ron cowan]

Duke, I have a 2006 tug with a king trailer. If I remember I think the dry boat goes at about 2400 lbs and I am not sure about the trailer. If like mine (single axle) it would put your load at about the max. on your vehicle. They tow well but you would know it was there and stopping would be my concern if you get in a tight. The trailer should have surge brakes but in a bind it could be a hand full. Does your vehicle have a circuit to override the brake solenoid in reverse? Having done a lot of trailering in the past few years, I probably would risk a "get it home" trip but if you plan a lot trailering I would consider a different tow vehicle. Without the lockout circuit I would not think you would want to block out the surge brakes or if the trailer did not have them I think you should borrow or rent another vehicle for the trip. You could rent a nice Penski truck with enough capacity for the job. They tow very well and I have run mine back and forth to Orlando three time (700 mi.) each way with a Nissian Frontier. Good luck and enjoy the tug.
Ron P.S. Make sure you are pulling the dry boat without all of the added things that may have collected over the years.

 

[helmswatch]

Ron,

We thank you for all the information. We will check out all of those things. It's killing us to be so close yet so far! lol You would think over 40 years of being on the water and all the boats we have owned, we wouldn't be acting like kids a week before Christmas! Gawd!!! I never want to grow up!

Thanks again and we hope to meet you sometime, tug to tug.

Duke

 

[Texas Steve]

I tow my R21-EC with my 08 Honda Pilot which is rated at 3500 pounds with no problems at all. It will tow at 60 mph all day. I did have the transmission cooler and tow package installed, but the vehicle handles the load surprisingly well. If I were you, I would at least test the current vehicle before you go larger. The earlier comment regarding brakes is important. I had my fifth pin on my flat plug wired to the back up lights so the lock out works when the car is in reverse. It always makes sense to over engineer if you have the option, but this is my two cents worth...

Steve

 

[Tom Ray]

You're going to be very close to your rated tow capacity, if not over it. Make sure the brakes are working on the trailer.

 

[rt11002003]

I just got home with our new R-21 EC. Towed it thru about 60 miles of Atlanta traffic. It towed very well. I tow with a Toyota LandCruiser with all wheel drive, stability control and everything else available to help these old bones keep things under control. It has 6,500 pounds towing capacity, more than 250 HP and it's not a light weight SUV. I knew the tug was back there all the time, except downgrade. With all that weight, it picked up speed nicely (without me feeling the tug push the SUV) and then lost it all on the next upgrade. Winds were very strong here today, m/b 15-18 knots right on the beam. No swaying at all. Tractor trailers didn't affect us either.

I recall towing my J80 with a Toyota 4Runner several years ago. I was towing about 600 pounds less weight than the towing capacity. It was a load going up the hills and it pushed me down grade.

I'm comfortable with the LandCruiser' towing capacity and its capability to manage the load of the R-21, including stopping. I'd think long and hard about towing the R-21 with less than 5,000 pounds of towing capacity and a vehicle weighing less than 4,000 pounds. I tend to be conserative.

Gene