How much towing will you be doing? Are hills or mountains involved? I'd
suggest that you "should" stay within the car's rating, but...

If your just going back and forth to a ramp, on level streets, short
distance, I'd say you'd be okay, but consider the risks. I had a friend
who regularly launched a 19' wood boat w/ o/b using a 10yr old Civic
manual trans. He said he could only get up the ramp at high tide and
wondered how much longer his clutch would last... but he did it. I towed
and launched my 19' fiberglass boat with 150 merc o/b (about 2500 lbs)
with a 5.0 Mustang automatic rated at 1500 lbs tow capacity, for about
10 seasons, quarter mile round trip to the ramp, level streets... no
problems ever.









wrote:
I've read many other threads here about towing small boats with small
cars. The information has been great: safety, overloading
transmissions, just getting a boat up the ramp! Now, I've got the same
question, with different inputs.

I am looking to buy a 16' trihull (fiberglass) boat with 75HP Mercury
outboard and EZ Load trailer. I think the boat actually measures 15',
and the model is the National 150, implying that it's 15'. It's a very
narrow boat. The reason I mention that is that I'm trying to make the
boat sound lighter! The rated capacity of the boat is 1,411 lbs. for 6
people at 150 lbs. each and the motor, which I assume means 511 lbs. is
the max motor weight. I don't know how much the whole setup, boat
motor and trailer weighs, though I am trying to find out.

I have a 1997 Audi A4 1.8L 4 cylinder front wheel drive non-turbo
non-quattro car. It (obviously!) doesn't have a tow package, but I'd
get a Drawtite or Reese and install it. The rated tow capacity is
1,400 lbs.

So- can I swing getting a 16 foot trihull with 75HP Mercury and tow it
behind my Audi?

Related questions: does anyone have any idea how much the boat I'm
looking to buy actually weighs? My best estimate is: Mercury 75HP, 380
lbs.; Boat, 750 lbs.; Trailer, 250 lbs.; total weight 1,380 lbs., not
counting stuff in the boat. It's hard to find weight data on
fiberglass trihull boats, though- does anyone know what is the weight
range, very generally, for 16' fiberglass boats?

Thanks!
David