Will I have problems towing a 20 foot pontoon boat with 40 HP motor with a Dodge Grand Caravan? The van has 3.3 Litre V6. Should I plan on using a class III, 5,000# hitch?
I tow an 18' Sea Ray with a Dodge GrandCaravan. It's got the bigger V6 and it also has the towing package which Dodge says is mandatory to tow that much weight. The towing package has a bigger radiator, beefier brakes, bigger tranny cooler, etc... I think the max towing capacity without the towing package is 1500#.
It tows okay but not great. Very slow going up hills, brakes are smokin' hot at the bottom of hills. It is a comfortable ride though for families and a cheaper option than a large SUV.
Yes - you will have a problem towing that load. The boat, trailer, and all the stuff on board will put the weight well over 3000# which is more than a 3.3 V6 and it's tranny will be comfortable with. But then it depends a little on how far you plan to tow and what the terrain is. If you have to tow in hilly country, you will not be happy. The last factor to consider is towing into a headwind. A pontoon is like towing a barn door through the wind which places a great deal of extra loading on the tow vehicle so it's not just about weight. I tow an 18 footer with an S10 Crew Cab 4.3 V6 that has a much higher tow rating than the 3700# rating for the Caravan. I would not want any less power than I have but many of my trips are around 500 miles round trip.
I towed an 18 footer with a 140 for years. Mine was a 1988 Grand Caravan with the Mitsubishi 3.0. Would I recommend it? Definitely not! Even with the 3.3 you will be putting a lot of strain on the drivetrain. Mine shuddered when pulling away from stoplights and I put three transmissions in it. Once at cruise speed though, it traveled nicely with no nasty handling surprises. Only positive was that it was excellent pulling up the ramps. I never had a problem with wheel spin.
Remember though: The whole front wheel assembly is held with rubber bushings and these are not designed for the stresses of towing. When they wear, you will experience nasty torque steer when accelerating and shifting gears.
If you absolutely need to use it, it will be acceptable for a while, but think seriously about a rear wheel drive tow vehicle.
Thanks to all 4 of you for your replies. I appreciate it. My Caravan is a 2002. I live in the low country, 20 miles South of Savannah, GA, so there are no hills to contend with. I plan on towing 30 miles, one way, at the most. I'm thinking I might risk it.
i wouldnt.... i have heard and SEEN horror stories of caravans with the wheel chair lifts in them wrecking havoc on everything. much less a boat that weighs much much more.
these vehicle were barley designed to carry a vehicle full of kids much less a vehicle full of small kids and towing anything what so ever.
brakes are very undersized for all years makes and models even with said towing package, many cars of half the size have bigger brakes than the caravans...
i very STRONGLY advise AGAINST it.
This coming from a mechanic who has seem his fair share of vehicles.
I had problems towing my 18 footer with my Caravan. It pulled it along OK, but the front wheel drive created problems hauling the rig out. Sometimes I lost traction at the ramp because of the added weight of the boat on the hitch. The front wheels would just spin.
Nightstalker
The Caravans with the tow package have the same size brakes as those without, IIRC. Good trailer brakes are an absolute must. Be sure to add a larger auxiliary transmission cooler and change the fluid (ATF+4 ONLY). Also go with the Class 3 hitch.
What is the total weight of your boat, motor, and trailer?
i have a 1999 Chyrsler T&C AWD 3.8 engine with 4 wheel disk brakes and tow package. i tow a 16 ft Lund rebel and a small tent trailer with it. the boat fully loaded is probably 1500lbs and the tent trailer less. it handles both just fine up hill and down. but i wouldn't tow anything any heavier with it. i think i could handle maybe another 2-300lbs. after that i think i would just be condeming the tranny to death. and i don't tow fast because the gas mileage drops like a rock after 65mph. at 62-64 mph i get an average 16 mpg on a 2-300 mile trip. at 65mph i go to 14 mpg and it only gets worse after that. this is on a van that averages 18-19 mpg around town and 21 hwy when i am not towing. my theory has always been that when your gas milege starts to drop drastically you have reached the point where you are over working the vehicle.
I tow an 18 foot fishing boat with a 2002 3.3 liter grand caravan.I never had a problem towing unless I was going up a very steep wet slope.But an extra person in the front solved that problem.
What you must consider is not so much the power to tow,but the power to stop.
I used my town and country with a 3.3 once to pull my 20 foot monterey. Only had to go about 10 miles. Seemed to pull okay, just could not stop. The boat shoved my van a good 50 feet or so when stopping quick. Dont do it. No stopping power at all with the front wheel drive mini vans. I used a friends all wheel drive ford aerostar to pull a large camper once. Wish they still made those. Plenty of power,traction and stopping ability.
I used to pull my 18' bayliner cuddy with a 1999 3.8ltr Grand Caravan with the tow package. I never really had any issues unless I had to go up hills and stuff. I replaced the brakes more often than I would have liked to though.
I personally thought that was the limit of the vehicle, braking was difficult at times (down hill). I would not advise pulling the pontoon for very long, look into a cheap tow truck or something.
My brother spent a summer pulling our 19.5'/4.3L Sunbird, 30-35 mi one way, semi-flat, some rolling hills with his '00 T&C (I thought they were 3.5's). Including a family of 5-6.
Boat/trailer have to be in the 3k range.
Probably made 10-15 round trips.
We always thought it did pretty well. Never pushed it too hard. It would run ~60 fairy comfortably. As usual the biggest concern is braking. Did great around the ramp.
With our 9 year old fwd minivan we tow an 18 footer with a dry weight of 2,950 lbs plus roller trailer plus 35 gallons of gas and gear. The trailer has brakes so stopping has been trouble free. All but the slippery ramps have been trouble free. The trick I learned (the hard way) is that when you back down make sure you are straight. If when you pull back out, your front wheels are the slightest bit turned, it will just spin and you will look silly with the clouds of smoke billowing out. Our max trip has been 100 miles per way.
