Tow to Maine with Honda Odyssey

rfehon · Post by **rfehon** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 4:41 am

We are preparing to take the 26X up to Maine from New Jersey tomorrow. We go up every year to South Freeport and sail in the Casco Bay. Normally we are towing (and sailing) a West Wight Potter 15, a 450 pound boat.

Already I towed it from South Shore Marina which is on Greenwood Lake between NY and NJ. N ormally a 30 minute drive on back country roads. Noticed that whereas the motor normally operates at 2000 rpm or less, it needed to be closer to 3000. Handled well and I believe it will tow even better on the highway ...though dreading high traffic conditions.

Got a lesson at the marina on taking down and putting up the mast. The greatest gem of the entire lesson was to USE THE RAISING SYSTEM. A bit of a blow to my ego since I consider myself a particularly fit 44! But the last thing I need is a pulled muscle should something small go wrong and perhaps no mast ...or worse... if something big goes wrong! The whole set up procedure will be a badge of honor once completed!

Cannot wait for the expanded boating potential tha Mac will provide. Now we can actually make it out to Jewel Island, the last island out from us before hitting the Atlantic!

Can't wait to tell you all about our adventures... both sailing and towing! This board has been a real bounty of information and just plain good fun reading. Thanks!

Bob Fehon

[mod]ModEdit: Moving to T&T ~fc[/mod]

Paul S · Post by **Paul S** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 5:00 am

you should join the North East Trailor Sailors http://www.ne-ts.com/ unless you already have!

We are going to Casco bay next week!

to answer your qestion, it should be up to the task. I prefer something beefier myself.. but take it slow and easy, bump the tire presure up a bit.. you should be OK

hvolkhart · Post by **hvolkhart** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 7:06 am

We also tow with a Honda Odyssey.
We have towed from Chicago to Mackinaw Island (500 miles), several times to Door County (260 Miles) and on a weekly base to Lake Michigan (50 miles). We did all of this with no problems on the car.
So as long as you keep in mind that you tow a boat and you adjust your driving habit accordingly you should not have a problem.

KayakDan · Post by **KayakDan** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 9:53 am

Assuming your Oddy is a late model(02-up),it has the same torque and horsepower specs as a Pilot. I tow with a Pilot no problem,and the Pilot is rated at 4500lbs for 07. Honda used to list it at 3500 for RV,5000,for a boat.
Towing with an Oddy,same as a Pilot,you should have a trans cooler,and oil cooler on your vehicle,as these trans tend to run pretty hot.

Also a good idea to change the trans fluid at the end of every sailing season,and use only the genuine Honda Z1 ATF. It is different than the off the shelf stuff.

beene · Post by **beene** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 2:11 pm

I have a 2001 Toyota Sienna.

It does an alright job.

But does not like climbing hills for long periods.

Towed the M from Bill's B4S to Ontario nil probs.

G

Post by **kmclemore** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 3:57 pm

beene wrote:I have a 2001 Toyota Sienna.

It does an alright job.

But does not like climbing hills for long periods.

Towed the M from Bill's B4S to Ontario nil probs.

G

My 2004 Sienna does a nice job at pulling the Mac... hills are not a worry at all. Maybe they improved the performance? Ours goes like a jackrabbit.

johnnyonspot · Post by **johnnyonspot** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 4:28 pm

I saw a guy last weekend pulling a Hunter 260 with a Chevy conversion van. Good sized boat and trailer, but no 50+ horse iron genny. I concur with the AT cooler. Easily installed and can be worth its weight in gold if it means you avoid a tranny rebuild while out of warranty. BTDT.

Mac Ziggy · Post by **Mac Ziggy** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 6:08 pm

I have a Chevy 1500 with the tow package and as soon as you engage the button for tow/haul, the engine revs up about 50%. I have towed everything from a 16 ft landscape trailer to a 28 ft enclosed car hauler and the only difference is I only get 10 mpg, no matter what I am towing. No matter if the trailer is loaded or empty - still 10 mpg.

Post by **kmclemore** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 7:33 pm

johnnyonspot wrote:I concur with the AT cooler. Easily installed and can be worth its weight in gold if it means you avoid a tranny rebuild while out of warranty. BTDT.

Nice thing about the Toyota Sienna is that it comes with a towing package as standard equipment (cooler, etc). The only things I added was the 4-wheel disc-brake package for better stoping power and an Air-Lift kit to level the ride. (Not installed in the picture above, hence the sagging bottom!)

Mac Ziggy wrote:I have a Chevy 1500 with the tow package and as soon as you engage the button for tow/haul, the engine revs up about 50%.

I suspect what it's doing is locking out the overdrive in the tranny. This is a good idea for anyone who's towing something, particularly a *heavy* something - use the non-overdrive setting on your shifter. Check your owner's manual, but usually it's one notch back from the last 'drive' location. If you don't do this you run the risk of burning out the gearbox.

Dimitri-2000X-Tampa · Post by **Dimitri-2000X-Tampa** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 7:45 pm

I put the tranny cooler on my Odyssey the same day I bought it. I've heard a lot of these minivans start having tranny troubles when they get near to 75K miles (which is about where mine is at) so even if you don't use it to tow with, could be a good $125 investment.

My Odyssey towed very well too but you wouldn't want to put a whole lot of weight in the vehicle. Its actually only rated to tow a Mac if you have only 2 people in the van. But it always handled very well towing. Now I have a gas guzzlin large SUV (Sequoia) so that I can put all 7 of us in there and still tow the boat too if I choose.

Cam · Post by **Cam** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 12:32 am

How much weight is pushing down on the towball when towing a 26M?

Thanks
Cam

Cam · Post by **Cam** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 12:36 am

Also... being with the Oddy being a 2WD (i am guessing) do you have trouble dragging the Mac up boat ramps. Do the rear wheels touch the water or do they stay dry?

Cam

kziadie · Post by **kziadie** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 3:14 am

Cam,

That is a function of the horizontal orientation of your trailer which is controlled by the height of the ball on your tow vehicle. If the trailer tongue is higher than the rear of the trailer the tongue weight will be lighter and vice versa. With a level trailer you should have a tongue weight of about 300 lbs. Generally you want the tongue low enough to stop the trailer swaying while towing but try not to go past level if you can. Ideal heights/tongue weight will very a bit for every boat/vehicle combination.

Kelly

Cam · Post by **Cam** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 7:22 pm

thanks kelly

ZANDRAMADAS · Post by **ZANDRAMADAS** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 8:06 pm

i found flipping the tow bar, the insert the ball goes on, upside down, it gives alittle lift to the front of the boat, forcing alittle more weight to the axle of the trailor...the rear axle of the truck (2006, V6 toyota tundra) almost doesn't register the weight then and almost no sway....when we launch or retrieve the boat, the tires are in the water...gone up and down some STEEP launces and completely wet ones with never a problem...and i agree no OVERDIVE....

MacGregorSailors.com

MacGregorSailors.com

Tow to Maine with Honda Odyssey

Tow to Maine with Honda Odyssey