Just wondering what other people drive, pull, and what type of MPG they get.

I'll start:

I currently drive a 03 Jeep Liberty Renegade, I pull a Hobie 16 with a pretty heavy sail tube, probably pulling about 650lbs total maybe a little less.
Without the boat in optimal conditions I get 17 but I average closer 15.3-15.8, mostly highway at 75-78mph
With the boat I get 12.5-13.5, mostly highway at 70-73mph

Backup vehicle is a 05 Honda Odyssey, usually about 26 highway without the boat, only pulled the boat once and didn't really pay attention, I'll be pulling with it this weekend though.

It drinks like a 19 year old boy at a frat party. I know, I've experienced both, first hand.

The reason I'm asking is because I'm looking into adding a car to the fleet, probably a mid size something, just wondering how other people do with what they drive.

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Cesar (Cez) S.
Hobie 16 (had a few)
Nacra 5.2 "Hull Yeah"
Vectorworks XJ - A class (not named yet)
West Michigan (Grand Rapids/Holland Area)
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I pull with a full size Z71 pickup and got 14.5 mpg pulling my Viper from Florida with a no boxes on the trailer. The
At couple races I've gone to I've gotten 7.8 mpg with the boat, 2 boxes slam full of stuff, and beach wheels. Btw that was with the motorhome hahaha.

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Mac
Midlands South Carolina
AHPC Viper USA 366
A Cat USA 366
Super Cat 17
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I haul with an '04 Nissan Xterra. My Hobie 16 is on a trailer with 3 different storage boxes. It has 1 12" sail tube, 1 fiberglass coffin box, and 1 tool chest on the front. That all has to weigh a lot. I've never weighed it but it is pretty heavy. I put on 12" tires on her which may help a bit with mpg but mostly saves the bearings from overheating.

Here's are some pictures of me moving to Florida this summer:



I had that thing packed full of extra stuff. There was a spare mast, 2 spare frames, extra rudder hardware, a kayak, and a bunch of other random things. Now it is much lighter, but for the move I had it packed to the brim.

I have never really checked my mpg when I was pulling. I'd rather not know because it seems to suck gas like crazy. If I had to guess, I am probably getting 11-12mpg fully loaded with my rear seats down and moving boxes packed to the ceiling.

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-Zach
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Tow Vehicle: 1998 Lexus LX470 AWD with 235k miles. This thing is a beast with fat tires and perfect for the soft sands of the Gulf Coast. Usually when I'm towing, the truck is also full of beach stuff, coolers, Corona, etc so I'm rolling "heavy". Last I checked, I'm getting 11-12 mpg on the highway with the boat.



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Karl, Captain of Stayin' Thirsty
2011 Hobie 16SE
Atlanta, GA
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i used to pull with a honda accord ex (4 banger). no idea what my mpg were
i now use a lexus ES 330 (6) and get about 16 mpg going slow (40mph) to the beach, and about 13-14mpg on the highway (70mph)

I have used several cars pulling my nacra 20 with a full load of gear.

04 Xterra 11-13mpg
01 crv 13-15
1980 Toyota hilux 4x4 10mpg 50mph top speed as well.
04 dodge 3500 diesel, 21mpg!

I use the dodge mostly for longer trips and the crv in town.

--
Greenville SC

Offering sails and other go fast parts for A-class catamarans
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I use a F350 Diesel Dually, pulls anything from my 16' Prindle to my 35' Cigarette at 13MPG if I keep it below 70MPH.

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16' Prindle
Emerald Coast of Florida
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Hobie 18 total load less then 800 lbs

2004 Toyota 4Runner 4.0L V6 2WD Auto 211K mi. 20-22 (avg mixed city/hwy) without trailer, 16-17 with trailer (mostly hwy), and for some reason 24 with a pair of beach wheels tied to the top.

2011 Toyota Sequoia 5.7L V8 2WD Auto 16-18 with or without trailer.

My guess is that the hulls stick out further compared to the 4Runner than the Sequoia and the weight doesn't affect the MPG as much as drag.

If I ever get an M35 Deuce and a half, I'll report back. But I imagine it'll be 8mpg or so



Edited by presto99 on Jun 27, 2012 - 09:57 AM.

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Jeff
Houston TX
1986 Hobie 18 Sail# 13031
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I just delivered my P18 to buyer down in Hot Springs, AR, a 7 hr drive, drove through the Ozark Mountains and averaged 18 mpg at 65 mph towing with 2010 Chrysler T&C with a 4.0L motor. Conditions were perfect though, I was traveling south and the wind was slight, out of the NE, so it pushed me down. July Last year I started out for FL with the P18 but hit a 10-15 mph headwind, fuel consumption dropped down to 10 mpg, so I dropped boat off at a buddies place.

When I used an ethanol mix, which has been mandated here in the MidWest on both 83 and 87 octane fuel, I got 24-26 mpg fully loaded, when I used non-ethanol mix in other States, I got 28-30 mpg, on that same trip down to FL. So you have to factor that in as well.

When I used my 95 Ford F-150, 4.9L straight 6, to pull my P18 I was getting 10-12 mpg.

I have now downsized to a G-Cat 5.0, trailer and boat are much lighter, I also picked up a 94 Buick Le Sabre from my neighbour for $800, it has a 3.8L motor, I have ordered a class II hitch for that which I will install and will use this vehicle to pull the G-Cat.

Because I trailer everywhere to go sail, mpg has become a big factor in my life of sailing, from my place to the lake is a 1.5 hr drive, 80 miles, and I would use an entire tank of gas to go sailing. So I'm hoping that this change will be for the better, I will know pretty soon and will post the results here. My only other option is to store my boat up at the lake but that would cost me $80 a month and that's not even a secure storage area. Price used to be $50 a month but I guess because of rising fuel costs more people are looking to store their boats near the water so marina owner made full use of the opportunity.

I have always wondered if trailering a cat with the tramp on increased mpg, the tramp would act like a sail behind a vehicle increasing drag, I'm almost positive that if the tramp was removed, the drag factor would be eliminated increasing mpg......?

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TurboHobo
H14T
H16
P18
G-Cat 5.0
P16
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slow down to 68-70mph on the interstate, should help mpg by a couple of points.

i'm always using different vehicles and my drives are usually < 5 miles



Edited by matt922 on Jun 27, 2012 - 10:38 AM.

If you're in the market for something, I would suggest looking into a getting a light pickup if you don't have to tow too far. Having the truck bed to throw gear in and get dirty, rather than carefully pack it into a trunk or on nice clean seats, is very convenient. And reversing down a launch ramp with the tailgate down, able to see everything, was nice to learn with.

It sounds like you guys in FL and the gulf get to drive on sand a lot, only problem is driving on sand in a pickup truck with barely any weight on the back tires doesn't go very well, 4WD is a huge help, but I think the overall weight of a capable SUV would be best.

I tow everywhere I sail, with a 2005 Tacoma PreRunner (2wd), 140k miles. It has beefy tires but I have been stuck on the beach before, fortunately I tucked a towel under the tire and got enough traction to start rolling.

My truck has a 2.7L 4cyl, which is okay for my (estimated) 500lb trailer/boat, maybe another 150lb of gear in the bed. Fortunately I have a stick shift so it has full torque in all gears, which is great for the launch ramp and keeping up speed going up hills. But there is sufficient planning to be done when accelerating on the freeway or onto a busy street, ESPECIALLY if my passenger (usually girlfriend) wants the A/C on full blast during a warm summer day - then it sort of feels like the little engine that could.

Mileage on the freeway without a trailer, at 70mph is 16-18mpg (Pretty poor because of my larger tires). While towing I have to stay in 4th gear at 65mph and it gets 13-15mpg.

There's a guy I see towing a Nacra 5.something with an early 90's Honda CRX, I believe that's a 1.3L engine, I'd be surprised if it had 110hp and less than 200k miles, so, good for that guy.

The best I saw once was in San Diego, A Dodge 3500 dually was towing a large 5th-wheel camper, a hobie ontop of that roof with the mast, and a 21ft Mastercraft behind all that. He said it was about 8ft over the maximum length in CA, but he had a truckers class license so was usually able to convince police not to write a ticket. Pretty impressive, it was like a train going down the road.

I am taking a road trip with my P16 for about 400 miles next week, then a few 100 mile trips to lakes up in Northern California, so if anything remarkable happens I'll update my mpg stats.

--
Redondo Beach, CA
'80 Prindle 16.
(Got it for free!)
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2005 Ford Excursion diesel limited. (I love my truck) 20 MPG highway with boat cruisin' in style. No cat box needed- sails, boom, rigging, rudders, boards, life vests and beer all fit inside and can still carry 4 people. (2 non-sailors) The only problem is my truck weighs in at about 8,000 lbs, the boat and trailer about 500, and I forget the boat is back there. I'm afraid I'll pull a "fail" sometime. Usually have to wipe off a small amount of diesel soot from the starboard hull once I get to the water, but who cares? With a 10,000 pound towing capacity, I figure I could tow about 20 cats with trailers. Bacho and panic can pull more than that, I'll bet.

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Eric C

Force 5 project boat
Unnamed

Previous boat
1980 Nacra 5.2
"Double Vision"
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Tow vehicles I've used:

Dodge/Chrystler K-car (my friend's). Worked, but the hitch we bolted to his bumper through the plastic bumper cover was ugly.

1st gen RX-7 with a more professionally installed hitch. Dumbest idea I've ever put on the road, but it worked. Getting up the ramp was terrifying at times. (Only car I had at that time.)

Jeep Cherokee Sport (2WD 6CYL). This was my favorite, by far. Space, seats, and plenty of capacity. Gas mileage wasn't great, but neither was the RX-7 (which had lost at least one apex seal in the engine before I installed the hitch.)

Current tow vehicle: '93 Jeep Wrangler 4cyl. My boat and trailer weighs in the neighborhood of 1100 pounds. The place we put in is less than 5 miles from my house, but it's 2500' of altitude lower than my house. Gas mileage getting there is GREAT! Coming back? Eeeeh... It balances out to about 15mpg. I get about 20 without the boat.

Only catch with the Jeep is the seating: With gear I can only fit one passenger in my car. (No sail tubes or boxes on the trailer.) I sail with five people on the boat. So I'm looking for some other vehicle in the not too distant future that'll seat five and take all the gear, or a new vehicle and a trailer box. Good thread! I'm learning a lot about what my choices are.

Tom

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Tom Benedict
Island of Hawaii
P-Cat 18 / Sail# 361 / HA 7633 H / "Smilodon"
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I pull my Hobie 16 with sail tube, extra's , a 200lb buddy and a cooler full of beer about 2 hrs away to sardis lake almost every weekend with my super charged 2003 MINI cooper @ 70 mph and never get less than 24 mpg.... Pulls it easily.

Just my $0.02
Tim

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Tim Grover
1996 Hobie Miracle 20
Two Hobie 14's
1983 G-Cat Restored
Memphis TN / North Mississippi
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2001 chevy z71 5.2l v8...18 mpg hwy boat or not. can drive over any beach if you have to. used to haul with jeep cherokee 6cyl, about the same...

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Check out "Prindle Sailors" on Facebook!
bill harris
hattiesburg, mississippi
prindle 16- "BLUE RIBBON"
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I used to have an old GMC Suburban that did most of the towing but I got rid of it and now use my Chevy Ventura Mini-Van. Doesn't do to bad. I get around 20 MPG normal and I get about 15mpg towing the boat.

But If I could fit all my stuff in it I'd go for the Mini Cooper :)

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Dustin Finlinson • Magna, UT
Member: Utah Sailing Association
1982 Prindle 18
1986 Hobie 17
1982 Prindle 16
1980 Prindle 16(mostly)
1976 Prindle 16(mostly)
Check out "Prindle Sailors" on Facebook.
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With all the cats and all the miles I have towed, it has nothing to do with the size of the cat or the weight of the boat trailer combination (within reason). It is all about the windage of the hulls outside of the slipstream of the car. Same for pontoon boats vs ski boats.

I have towed with a Datsun (old enough to remember Datsun?) 200 SX, mini pick up, mini van (toyota shuttle craft) astro van, full size pick up, suburban etc. All of them will do the job but the more truck you have the better it will tow and the longer the tow vehicle will last. We have seen guys tear up overdrive transmissions from towing in OD and overheating the transmission. If you travel often to regattas and economy and reliability are desired, the astro van was probably the best, you can sleep in it, it does decent on gas and is really a chevy pick up with a different body so it has the capacity to tow the windage. The minivan overheated if we pushed it, the mini pick up would not go up hill in a big wind well. The suburban just did everything well, had two of them and now have an diesel Excursion, do not know the boat is back there with it. Got it to tow the travel trailer.

MPG, WTF, who cares, if you drive 200 miles and you get 10 mpg or 20 mpg the difference is 35 or something bucks. Pretty cheap compared to the fun of sailing. If you store your boat at a place you can put it in the water with anything that has a hitch, we had a guy with a Geo Metro, but he only had to go 2 miles, worked fine.

Mini rant to follow, no one will ever convince me to buy a car for MPG. It never adds up unless you drive a lot and I mean a lot of miles. The difference in annual cost from a car with 20 MPG to 40 MPG will never cover the cost of the car. For example if you have a car that gets 20 you can only spend 1,750 on the car that gets 40 mpg, and that is based on 20k a year and $3.50 a gallon for gas. Most people spend less than $3k a year on fuel and unless you can get the car for cheap it never adds up. A new prius Starts at 24K it would take 8 years to recover the cost of the car and that is driving over 20k a year. So you have to have it as a 3rd car to make it work. JMHO, YMMV (pun intended)

That being said, I do not drive the my Excursion every day, it is big loud and drinks Diesel, so I drive my little coupe that gets 25 or so. I am not immune to the costs of driving but making any vehicle decision based solely on MPG is just not making any sense to me. Richard.

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Lake Perry KS
H-18
N-5.5 UNI +spin
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I've put a lot of beachcats tow miles on my 2006 Xterra and find it is a near perfect partner for my Hobie 18, it has enough power to tow without noticing hills but it's not overkill like a F250 or something. Also has real 4-wheel drive for those soft sand areas and slippery boat ramps.

One of the nicest things about the Xterra is the cool ventilated hatch on the roof where I can put all the wet/nasty/muddy shoes, gloves, and shirts so they don't stink up the interior.

Without the boat I get 20 mpg on the highway and 15-16 around town. With the boat I get 15-16 on the highway as long as I don't go above 72 mph. I think the low gearing for 4-wheel drive causes the mpg to drop dramatically about 75 mph, so if the speed limit is either 65 or 70 I just put the cruise control on 72.

One thing I did when I needed new tires was replace the factory off-road tires with "All Season" tires which are quieter and save some fuel.
http://www.michelinman.co…titude-tour/tire-details



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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN

How To Create Your Signature

How To Create Your Own Cool Avatar

How To Display Pictures In The Forums.
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1992 Dodge W150. 318 FuelInjected engine, automatic, 4wd, overdrive, solid front alxe, and oversized Falken Rockey Mountain tires. I get around 15 MPG hauling a hobie 14 with lots of gear. I can take the truck anywhere without ever worrying about getting stuck. Without trailer I can get 18 on the HWY. Never had any trouble at ramps or really soft sand bars... in fact I pull other trucks out when they get stuck.



Back up vehicle: 1974 Crewcab chevy 1 ton. (saving that one for my big sailboat)

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Hobie cat 14 196?
Hobie cat 14 1976 Flamer
Coarsegold, CA
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Nice feedback, thanks for the input, sounds like my liberty is getting about average for a suv/truck.

I was most impressed with the Mini, I've always been a huge fan of those cars but didn't think that they were hitch friendly with the centered exhaust, after some google research I saw some pretty neat stuff including a mini pulling a decent size cat, and noticed that the hitch interface is actually pretty clean. I read 1400 lb tow capacity and usually 10% of that is your max tongue weight so 140 lbs, which I could probably do, the only think that I would be close on is tongue weight.
I've always wanted one, but I didn't think that it could handle my "take crap everywhere with me" lifestyle without the goofy looking roof rack (I like roof racks, just not the mini factory ones). Mini is back up on the list!

mpgs are definitely sensitive to how much you drive, but money adds up, and as gas prices go up, the ratio easily favors mpgs. To each their own.

Great input and pictures

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Cesar (Cez) S.
Hobie 16 (had a few)
Nacra 5.2 "Hull Yeah"
Vectorworks XJ - A class (not named yet)
West Michigan (Grand Rapids/Holland Area)
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i used to tow my hobie 16 with an MGB, but the MGB did not hold up near as well as the hobie did. now i tow it with a honda accord 4 cylinder. not sure of the gas mileage, probably around 30 on the highway.

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Kenneth Purdy
Hobie 16
Nacra 5.2 (2)
Banshee
First Coast, Florida
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92 Toyota Corolla 1.6l 5 spd. 30 MPG works great even over hills!



also before i sold it i used this: 1968 Jeep M-715. 8 mpg. EPIC.


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70's 18' Sol Cat "Venora"
70's 18' Sol Cat "Bumblebee"
60's 14' Sailstar Tallstar sloop "Arandora"

Heber City, UT
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