Well no, it is a 1989 200 Bowrider, 2500 lb. Custom trailer is 500 lbs as
stated on the sale receipt and label on
the trailer (not tandam axle/brakes) You are right about the gas and
contents.

My MIL pulls her 19ft Cuddy cabin behind her Chevy 1500 and then pulled ours
to the marinia. She said pulling
ours is nothing like pulling hers, felt like it wasn't even there.

Actually, my ex-husband used to pull it some behind his Chevy Impala which
was only rated at 2000 lbs!! He got lucky
that it didn't damage his car.

Thanks to all who replied. That gives us some good ideas.

"Tony Thomas" wrote in message
news:Bnupc.7503$qA.851534@attbi_s51...
First of all - I think you have drastically underestimated the weight.
According to the SeaRay website - the 21' Sport has a dry weight of 3150
lbs. Add 40 gallons of fuel (240 lbs) battery, life jackets, all your
stuff
and your at 3500 lbs for the boat. Now add another 1000 lbs (or more) for
the 21' trailer (I assume it is tandem axle w/ brakes) and your at 4500
lbs.
4500 lbs is way too much for a minivan to tow and not destroy the
transmission.
Look at SUVs or 4 door trucks. And remember, if the vehicle is rated for
4900 lbs, 4500 is going to be a real load at highway speeds and you will
not
maintain 70 mph going up an kind of a hill. You need something rated for
5500 lbs or so to make it a comfortable tow.

--
Tony
my boats at http://t.thomas.home.mchsi.com



"V Crenshaw" wrote in message
m...
My husband and I have a 21 foot Searay. We have it in a slip at a
marina
now.
Together it and the trailer weighs 3000 lbs.

We are going to buy a new vehicle and we are trying to decide what kind
would
most closely meet our criteria of
1) hauling misc things like building materials, tools, an occasional
sofa or washing machine
2) Holding 4 or more people
3) towing the boat
4) As fuel efficent as possible

Truck would be great for everything except the people and fuel. We were
thinking about
a minivan, but don't know how good it would be at towing the boat and
more
specifically
launching the boat. I say minivan because he likes them better than
SUV's.

Any advice would be appreciated.

V Crenshaw

"V Crenshaw" wrote in message
m...
Well no, it is a 1989 200 Bowrider, 2500 lb. Custom trailer is 500 lbs as
stated on the sale receipt and label on
the trailer (not tandam axle/brakes) You are right about the gas and
contents.

I might have missed it in the thread - for a boat this weight a minivan like
a Chevy Astro (and it's GM counterpart) would pull it. I don't even know if
they make them anymore. But those vans were/are? built on a truck chassis,
so the capacity would be there. Reliability, repair records, etc. are a
different story. FWIW

Cam

PS: rather than argue with the folks who think you might be underestimating
the weight, I'd suggest taking it to a scale and actually weighing it - full
of gas and all the gear you might be trailering. Even if you're confident
about the wt. estimate (which it sounds like it's a reasonable estimate to
me), it's still a good idea before you actually narrow your vehicle choices.
The data might help you narrow the field.

C.

Hello V,

The minivans all tow about 3500# max with a trailer towing package. That is
cutting it pretty close.

A Toyota Tacoma double cab with a V6 and a towing package can pull ~5000#
max.

To be safe I would think that you would want to have a vehicle that can tow
~5000#.

This will probably be a 4 door pickup or an SUV ? but they won't get 30mpg
on the free way. Maybe 20 not pulling.

If you don't need to tow your boat all the time, I would get a new mini van
and get someone to pull your boat.

Bill Kiene

Kiene's Fly Shop
Sacramento, CA, USA

Web site: www.kiene.com


"V Crenshaw" wrote in message
m...
My husband and I have a 21 foot Searay. We have it in a slip at a marina
now.
Together it and the trailer weighs 3000 lbs.

We are going to buy a new vehicle and we are trying to decide what kind
would
most closely meet our criteria of
1) hauling misc things like building materials, tools, an occasional
sofa or washing machine
2) Holding 4 or more people
3) towing the boat
4) As fuel efficent as possible

Truck would be great for everything except the people and fuel. We were
thinking about
a minivan, but don't know how good it would be at towing the boat and more
specifically
launching the boat. I say minivan because he likes them better than
SUV's.

Any advice would be appreciated.

V Crenshaw

"Bill Kiene" wrote in message
om...
Hello V,

The minivans all tow about 3500# max with a trailer towing package. That
is
cutting it pretty close.

A Toyota Tacoma double cab with a V6 and a towing package can pull ~5000#
max.

To be safe I would think that you would want to have a vehicle that can
tow
~5000#.

This will probably be a 4 door pickup or an SUV ? but they won't get 30mpg
on the free way. Maybe 20 not pulling.

If you don't need to tow your boat all the time, I would get a new mini
van
and get someone to pull your boat.

Bill Kiene

As a benchmark for the OP, my Tacoma gets 20-21 mpg on the highway NOT
towing, assuming I pay very close attention to when to use cruise control,
and when cc is NOT the best idea. Measured this on about 30 identical 200
mile trips.

On Sat, 15 May 2004 15:49:16 GMT, "V Crenshaw"
wrote:

My husband and I have a 21 foot Searay. We have it in a slip at a marina
now.
Together it and the trailer weighs 3000 lbs.

We are going to buy a new vehicle and we are trying to decide what kind
would
most closely meet our criteria of
1) hauling misc things like building materials, tools, an occasional
sofa or washing machine
2) Holding 4 or more people
3) towing the boat
4) As fuel efficent as possible

Truck would be great for everything except the people and fuel. We were
thinking about
a minivan, but don't know how good it would be at towing the boat and more
specifically
launching the boat. I say minivan because he likes them better than SUV's.

Any advice would be appreciated.

V Crenshaw


You do NOT want anything with front wheel drive if you plan on
launching and retrieving your boat at a ramp. This rules out most
minivans. The only ones I remember being RWD were the old Aerostars
and Safaris. Especially on steeper ramps, all of the weight will be
shifted away from your front wheels and you'll get no traction. I
usually only see FWD vehicles launching jet-skis and small fishing
boats. As a matter of fact, a few years ago a FWD minivan ended up at
the bottom of the lake at the ramp I go to because he lost traction...

"Slambram" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 15 May 2004 15:49:16 GMT, "V Crenshaw"
wrote:

My husband and I have a 21 foot Searay. We have it in a slip at a marina
now.
Together it and the trailer weighs 3000 lbs.

We are going to buy a new vehicle and we are trying to decide what kind
would
most closely meet our criteria of
1) hauling misc things like building materials, tools, an occasional
sofa or washing machine
2) Holding 4 or more people
3) towing the boat
4) As fuel efficent as possible

Truck would be great for everything except the people and fuel. We were
thinking about
a minivan, but don't know how good it would be at towing the boat and
more
specifically
launching the boat. I say minivan because he likes them better than
SUV's.

Any advice would be appreciated.

V Crenshaw


You do NOT want anything with front wheel drive if you plan on
launching and retrieving your boat at a ramp. This rules out most
minivans. The only ones I remember being RWD were the old Aerostars
and Safaris. Especially on steeper ramps, all of the weight will be
shifted away from your front wheels and you'll get no traction. I
usually only see FWD vehicles launching jet-skis and small fishing
boats. As a matter of fact, a few years ago a FWD minivan ended up at
the bottom of the lake at the ramp I go to because he lost traction...

He might check out the Crown Victoria. Rear wheel drive, and there's an
upgrade suspension available that's VERY nice - eliminates the "grandpa"
ride and makes the car almost the same as a police car. Comes with
self-leveling rear shocks. He'll get 25-28 mpg on the highway while NOT
towing. The major caveat is that at least as of two years ago, there was an
issue with the gas tank being more susceptible to igniting in high speed
rear-end collisions. A temporary fix was devised at the time while Ford
looked for a more elegant modification.

Doug Kanter wrote:



He might check out the Crown Victoria. Rear wheel drive, and there's an
upgrade suspension available that's VERY nice - eliminates the "grandpa"
ride and makes the car almost the same as a police car. Comes with
self-leveling rear shocks. He'll get 25-28 mpg on the highway while NOT
towing. The major caveat is that at least as of two years ago, there was an
issue with the gas tank being more susceptible to igniting in high speed
rear-end collisions. A temporary fix was devised at the time while Ford
looked for a more elegant modification.



Unfortunately, while capable of 5000 lbs, the Crown Vic is only rated to
2000 lbs. since 1995, even with the 41G package you reference.

Rob

Thanks, this helps a lot.

"Slambram" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 15 May 2004 15:49:16 GMT, "V Crenshaw"
wrote:

My husband and I have a 21 foot Searay. We have it in a slip at a marina
now.
Together it and the trailer weighs 3000 lbs.

We are going to buy a new vehicle and we are trying to decide what kind
would
most closely meet our criteria of
1) hauling misc things like building materials, tools, an occasional
sofa or washing machine
2) Holding 4 or more people
3) towing the boat
4) As fuel efficent as possible

Truck would be great for everything except the people and fuel. We were
thinking about
a minivan, but don't know how good it would be at towing the boat and
more
specifically
launching the boat. I say minivan because he likes them better than
SUV's.

Any advice would be appreciated.

V Crenshaw


You do NOT want anything with front wheel drive if you plan on
launching and retrieving your boat at a ramp. This rules out most
minivans. The only ones I remember being RWD were the old Aerostars
and Safaris. Especially on steeper ramps, all of the weight will be
shifted away from your front wheels and you'll get no traction. I
usually only see FWD vehicles launching jet-skis and small fishing
boats. As a matter of fact, a few years ago a FWD minivan ended up at
the bottom of the lake at the ramp I go to because he lost traction...

"V Crenshaw" wrote
You do NOT want anything with front wheel drive
Thanks, this helps a lot.

Don't forget to take free advice (including mine) for what it's worth. I
regularly pull my portly old 18' runabout up a steep ramp using my front
wheel drive Taurus wagon with no trouble atoll. When the pickup truck guys
have traction trouble, guess which wheels they lock in to get things going?
This is not to say you shouldn't get a big truck or suburban or something if
you can afford it, (I'd love to have one just for towing), but if you have
to make do with a compromise, you can. I don't take my boat on long trips
behind the Taurus, by the way, just ~10 miles to and from the ramp to plop
it in and pluck it out of the water.