>>Anyone out there have any experiance with towing small boats or watercraft >>with your vanagons? Anything to be cocerned about. I have a friend who >>wants to by an 82 Westy. It has a new motor but he is concerned about the >>lack of power to pull his small boat. I've pulled a 14 ft aluminum boat and trailer with my 84 GL successfully a number of times. One certainly notices the lack of power! There will be far more times using 3rd (or even 2nd) gear than otherwise. My trips with Vanagon and boat were into the eastern Sierras in California. Be prepared to go very slowly up steep grades, and possibly even stop to rest if the temp gauge gets too high. On the steepest grades, going sloooowly in 2nd gear, I use my manual radiator fan switch plus both inside heaters on high, and that can keep the temp within safe region. If the CV joints are worn, the extra load may possibly cause them to start making loud clacking noises. But it can be done.
|
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.