Tow Vehicle for Investigator

[LIMNASailing]

Hi all,

Limna here, I'm from the Lakes Entrance area of Victoria. I am unable to post a new topic, and this one seems to be close to what I want to ask, apologizes if this is outside the etiquette / convention of the forum.

I'm in the process of looking for a vehicle to two a Investigator (yet to purchase, but once car sorted will strike when a good one pops up), and am concerned about launching from ramps, particularly highly used and occasionally mossy ones, what kind of vehicle is ideal? Presumably 4WD is best.

Ideally my budget would allow for a newish small SUV AWD or an older vehicle like a 2013 abouts vintage Xtrail 4WD.

I'm also not sure I fully understand weight of the boat and trailer, is it correct to assume the boat is 750kg, then trailer be it 200-300? Then fuel, supplies and outboard, perhaps taking it to around 1100-1300kg?

Appreciate any assistance and considered responses.

Thank you

Limna

[Geoff]

G'day Limna,

It's an anti-spam issue unfortunately. But you seem legit, so I have given you full permissions - you can start your own topics now or post as you like.

I have also made your post into its own topic as you would have liked.


In answer to your questions - your estimates are pretty good. I weighed mine at a weighbridge with outboard, fuel and water and normal sailing gear and got 1300 kgs.

I have used two different tow cars, both mid-size suv awd. Mazda Tribute and Hyundai Tucson. Easy tow launch and recovery for both.

Hope that helps!

[Ozzie]

Welcome to the forum Limna. Geoff has the good oil on weight. If you use the “search” function and put in say “tilt” or try “launching “ you will find lots of links to posts on here regarding your topic. The 563, though a long keel vessel is not to hard to launch other than maybe flat shallow ramps. On average ramps, no problem using the tilt function on the standard trailer. I used dogsbody Falcons for years to retrieve mine with minimal issues .

Good luck with your search. Now you’re on the forum, somewhere we may have a member or viewer looking to sell and they will contact you.

[Andrew]

Gday Limna,

My tow vehicle is a 2004 Toyota workmate ute 4x2. with 2.7 L petrol engine, a very reliable simple economical car which gets serviced regularly. It's towng capacity is 1800kg, which is ok around town and ramp and Its stable at speed (85-90ks).

Of course it would be better to have a bit more power and capacity. , say 2500kg tow capacity or more and 3 L engine plus if doing long highways.

I already had the ute first, then selected the boat by it's towing spec's. The I563 fit the bill, i'm 500-600kgs under the ute's rated towing capacity which is a fairly safe margin. (Can load allot water, fuel, gear etc at home base for extended trips)

4x2s do the towing job ok, as long as good dry concrete ramps are used. (I sail in northern dry seasons)

Regarding the slippery mossy ramps, yes if your climate is like that then 4x4 would be safer. Low 4x4 is also ultimate for loaded ramp take off and climb.

I built an extended drawbar on my trailer (1m longer) which now keeps the back wheels away from the slippery wet wateredge on ramps , so get more traction and fewer wheel spins when going upramp fully loaded.

[LIMNASailing]

Thanks Geoff, Ozzie and Andrew.

Really helpful! The extended draw bar sounds practical, I'll need to check this out, think it's a good long term method to keep the car sound.

Totally understand spam controls, appreciate your help setting up this post.

It looks like there are some good options open to me, AWD and 4WD, thanks for sharing your examples. Will also search those keywords and do some reading!

Appreciate your time.

Limna

[Peter T]

Hi Limna, my tow vehicle is a pajero, but I need that to also tow the caravan and it has 3 ton tow capacity so it's a bit of overkill just for the Investigator.
If you think of the boat weighing around the 1500 + kg with added gear then you won't go too far wrong. Always best to be over than under though with tow capacity.
As for the extendable hitch, I have posts on here relating to that as well as my new trailer build, but see below my extendable draw bar that provides 1330mm extra tow bar length. This can be made to fit any trailer so long as you have one side of the tow bar clear of things like spare wheels and jockey wheels. See below. The same pin and R clip hold the extendable bar in both the home position as well as the extended position. It takes no more than about 30 seconds to extend it so long as you have enough side room to swing it around
Cheers