Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2000 13:06:44 -0600
Reply-To: HERMANN DE BOER <hdeboer@BSSD.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: HERMANN DE BOER <hdeboer@BSSD.NET>
Subject: Re: Towing Across The USA!
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
I used to tow my 19' West Wight Potter sailboat with my Westy. Fully loaded
about 1500lbs. The VW pulled it out of the water w/o problems. Used to amaze
all those Ford Diesel p/u guys at our lake.
Cheers,
Hermann de Boer
87 Westy GL
-----Original Message-----
From: John Klun
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Sent: 11/30/00 12:17 PM
Subject: Re: Towing Across The USA!
Hi Volks!-
Let me add that my wife and I moved from Virginia Beach, VA to Concord,
NH in 1969. We
towed the largest single axle enclosed U-Haul trailer behind a 1968 VW
Squareback (Type
3). My wife was pregnant at the time and had to sit cross-legged on the
passenger's
seat. We had the back seat folded down and the SB was totally loaded to
the point stuff
would occasionally fall into the front or hit our heads. . The trailer
was so loaded
that when we opened the door at our destination, our stuff fell out.
The trip took 19
hours straight, stopping only for gas and food. We averaged about 20
mpg; up some hills
we had to downshift and were barely able to make it at 35 mph; down some
hills we
actually had to speed up to keep from jackknifing- at one point we did
80 mph!
2 1/12 years ago, we moved from NH to CO. I came out first and I drove
our '86 Jetta GL-
loaded to the gills- pulling an enclosed 5x8 U-Haul single axle trailer.
This trip was
over 2200 miles and the Jetta was incredible! I average nearly 20 mpg
for the entire
trip, maintained around 55-60mph on the 'flats' and when an 18 wheeler
passed me- I could
get up to around 65-67mph.
I thought the true test of my trip out would be Highway 50- a 2 lane
twisting and curving
highway west from Colo Springs to Gunnison over 11,800' Monarch Pass- in
February. I had
absolutely no problem on the winding and curving part. I kept the Jetta
in 4th gear and
had no problem maintaining and average of around 50 mph. When it came
to Monarch Pass, I
down shifted to 3rd and kept it at a steady 35 mph. The Jetta just kept
going and going
and... On top of Monarch it had snowed but the Jetta had no problem
maintaining
traction. On the way down the other side, I maintained 3rd gear and
lightly tapped the
brakes now and then until I cleared the snow. I had absolute confidence
in the Jetta and
not once on the trip did the load or the Jetta fishtail.
When I reached my destination, all I did was change the oil!
Steve Shane wrote:
> Greetings Volks! Steve and Stephanie here. We just wanted to say THANK
YOU
> to all the wonderful invitations and offers we got from everyone on
our
> coast to coast trip.
>
> It is so nice to know that such a wonderful community of VW friends
are out
> there. For all of you who let us hang for a night and whom lent us a
hand,
> we are so very grateful. Thank you a million times over.
>
> For those of you whom want to see some of the details on our adventure
of
> towing two sportbikes from coast to coast Via our Westy, point your
browser
> to...
>
> http://wherearethey.homepage.com/usa_01/hitch.htm
>
> Thanks again my friends! Wish us luck on our winter adventures here in
N
> Caly.
>
> Take care all!
> Steve and Stephanie
>
> Check out how the adventure is going at
http://WhereAreThey.homepage.com
>
>
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