Towing a boat with a FWD car.....

[danyeates]

Hi,

I’ve sold my Audi S4 as I need something cheaper to run. I’m currently looking at the Skoda Octavia VRS TDI, 170hp, although I am aware that it’s FWD and lighter than my Audi. Does anyone else tow a boat with a FWD car? I’ve only ever towed with Audi Quattro cars or the company 4x4’s so have no experience towing with a FWD car. I'm not too worried about the towing side, just whether they will be enough traction to pull it all up a slipway.

The towing limit on the Skoda is 1,400kg, whereas my Audi was 1,800kg, so that might be an issue too. I had the boat and trailer weighed at 1,320kg with almost a full tank of fuel so it will be close to the limit there too.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Dan

[MartG]

As you suspect, FWD cars usually have great difficulty in getting up a slipway covered in sand/mud/ etc. - I've lost count of the number of times I've ended up either towing them up or hitching their boat up to another RWD/4WD car

[Condi]

Fine on the roads, but you wont get it up a slipway too easily.

[B3njamin]

MartG said:

As you suspect, FWD cars usually have great difficulty in getting up a slipway covered in sand/mud/ etc. - I've lost count of the number of times I've ended up either towing them up or hitching their boat up to another RWD/4WD car

I have no knowledge at all of this, but wouldn't rear wheel drive face similar problems? Obviously AWD gives a significant traction advantage.

[Condi]

B3njamin said:

MartG said:

As you suspect, FWD cars usually have great difficulty in getting up a slipway covered in sand/mud/ etc. - I've lost count of the number of times I've ended up either towing them up or hitching their boat up to another RWD/4WD car

I have no knowledge at all of this, but wouldn't rear wheel drive face similar problems? Obviously AWD gives a significant traction advantage.

No, with RWD your transferring all the weight onto the rear - driven - axle, with a FWD car your taking all the weight off the driven axle so you end up spinning tyres.

You think, your facing uphill, with about 250kgs on the towbar and a dead weight of 1500kgs. When you try and pull off all the weight shifts backwards. AWD doesnt really offer much of an advantage over RWD, and unless you have a limited slip diff or lockable diff then 4WD could be more useless than RWD

Edited by Condi on Tuesday 2nd November 16:05

[danyeates]

I've given it a lot of thought today and spoken to my father who has towed a lot of boats with various cars and we've come to the conclusion it should be ok. It's the car I want and I won't be towing often. Towing to my local slipway I can use the Shogun we have at work. When I go to Cornwall I'll just have to make do with people sitting on the bonnet!

[danyeates]

This is the slipway in Cornwall...



It's well maintained and never has weed or sand on it, it's just concrete. It is steep though!

Edited by danyeates on Tuesday 2nd November 16:36

[MartG]

danyeates said:

I'll just have to make do with people sitting on the bonnet!

Didn't work for my mates Rover 827 trying to get up the slipway at Trearddur

[richardxjr]

You'll be fine on there with a (long) rope.

[DBSV8]

richardxjr said:

You'll be fine on there with a (long) rope.

seconded

if you find you have difficulty on the slipway ie: spinning rear wheels , detach the trailer and boat and attach a long sling / good rope ( 10m ) from the trailer towbar to your car towbar . then drive your car onto the flat road section at the top of the slipway , take up the strain and pull the boat trailer up onto the road , chock the wheels then simply reverse the car and hitch up as normal.

no problem

[jenkotvr]

DBSV8 said:

richardxjr said:

You'll be fine on there with a (long) rope.

seconded

if you find you have difficulty on the slipway ie: spinning rear wheels , detach the trailer and boat and attach a long sling / good rope ( 10m ) from the trailer towbar to your car towbar . then drive your car onto the flat road section at the top of the slipway , take up the strain and pull the boat trailer up onto the road , chock the wheels then simply reverse the car and hitch up as normal.

no problem

Yes exactly what we used to do. Mind you the slipway at Conwy was always covered in sand and even that used to result in no traction.

I chopped my car in last month and bought an L200, shouldn't be an issue now.

(Dan i havent forgot about that fusion head unit, ive decided to sell my 15ft and buy a 17ft so will buy once all is complete, just prefer the bowrider for wakeboarding)

[jenkotvr]

PM Sent Dan

[scubadude]

I tow a 5mtr RIB with a 1.9Turbo Diesel Megane, no problems towing, launching of recovering.

The only thing I do do is sweep the slipway with a stiff broom, once moving I never have an issue, have occasionally had alittle wheel spin getting going but as its a dive club boat there is always 5-6 drysuited divers happy to give alittle push :-)

If in doubt we "long-rope" it, so the car is higher up the slip on dryer/flatter bit and pulling the trailer via a rope, but you ideally need a sand skipper front wheel to do it safely.

Best launching/recovery car I ever used was my Mum's Toyota RAV4, automatic all-wheel drive, would out-tow much more manly machinery up wet sand and gravel due to its smooth gearbox, complete dog on the road with regards economy though!

[thinfourth2]

Long rope

Another advantage is if it all goes wrong then its only your boat and trailer get wet while your car stays dry. Get stuck with you car attached to the trailer and the tide is coming could make things a tad interesting

[maser_spyder]

I've used my Expert van for launching in the past, no worries at all, but it was fairly light boats.

I'm a little spoilt if we drop a jet boat in the water, using the Landcruiser in low range is a doddle....

[danyeates]

Jenkotvr, got your email but busy with end of year and stock checking! Would be interested in putting it on brokerage and will drop you an email tomorrow.

I bought the Skoda in the end so we'll see how it performs when towing in the spring. Picking it up on Saturday!

[jenkotvr]

danyeates said:

Jenkotvr, got your email but busy with end of year and stock checking! Would be interested in putting it on brokerage and will drop you an email tomorrow.

I bought the Skoda in the end so we'll see how it performs when towing in the spring. Picking it up on Saturday!

Great look forward to your mail! The skoda is a great car, im sure youll be very happy with it

[duncansaunders]

danyeates said:

This is the slipway in Cornwall...



It's well maintained and never has weed or sand on it, it's just concrete. It is steep though!

Edited by danyeates on Tuesday 2nd November 16:36

Mylor?

[jains15]

Long rope method... i once saw a guy use this at rutland after struggling with traction. Trouble is he gunned it up the ramp and once at the top pulled up sharply. The boat, still on the ramp had it's momentum still and carried on with the rope going slack. Tow hook of the trailer hits the bumper of the car and bounces back. The boat then rolled back until the rope stopped it. luckily the rope didn't snap the boat just bounced a couple if times Would have been carnage if the rope snapped it was a reasonably sized 20ft keelboat trailer sailer thing and a BH weekend the slipway was busy

[DBSV8]

thats not gone well ................