[Rhodes22-list] Short haul tow vehicle

[brad haslett]

Bill,

You can't be that much of a lefty or you would have
bought a Volkswagon diesel, 50 mpg.  There's an
interesting article in todays NY Times on burning used
vegatable oil.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/22/science/earth/22FUEL.html

If I hadn't given my old Mercedes diesel to a charity
I'd buy the conversion kit just for grins.  

Seriously though, your car should be fine for your
stated intentions.  Years ago I was interested in
importing Haflingers, an Austrian based breed of
horse, and visited several shows each year in Europe. 
Here in the US, horse people use Suburbans and duelley
trucks to pull horse trailers.  The Europeans use
their Volkswagon Golf to pull through the Alps on the
way to the shows. Amazing! I pulled my ski-boat, which
weighs about the same as the R-22, with a 4 cyl Izuzu
Trooper with a lot less horsepower than your Volvo. 
Power will not be the problem, weight on the drive
axle coming out of the water on the ramp may be.  As
long as the ramp is dry you'll be fine.  

The worse that could happen is you find your Volvo
struggles pulling the boat up the ramp.  Put the boat
back in the water and borrow someone elses vehichle. 
I think you will be pleasantly suprised how well the
Volvo handles it.  I got frustrated a few times
pulling with the Isuzu in headwinds because it was so
underpowered but you won't be doing that anyway.

Good Luck with your new yuppiemobile!

Brad Haslett
--- bberner at optonline.net wrote:
> 
>    A variation on the oft discussed tow vehicle
> question.
> 
> 
>    The lease ended on my Grand Cherokee, and we
> decided that we were
>    doing so little towing that we couldn't justify
> another polluting gas
>    guzzler.
> 
> 
>    Acting like the typical lefties that we are
> perceived to be, we have
>    wound up with a Volvo XC-70 wagon (6 cyl AWD. It
> has a rated towing
>    capacity of 3500#.  I'm putting a hitch on with
> the intent of just
>    getting the boat 100 yards from the yard to down
> the ramp, and the
>    reverse at the end of the season.  I'll also use
> it to get the unladen
>    trailer to and from my house under 10 miles away.
> 
> 
>    I wasn't planning on adding a transmission cooler
> since it's such a
>    short trip with the boat on the trailer.
> 
> 
>    Seems to me that it should be fine, but I'm
> having nightmares of the
>    trailer and boat dragging the acr down the ramp. 
> I wouldn't mind, but
>    the power boat guys would laugh.
> 
> 
>    Anybody have any experience using a class 2 tow
> vehicle for short
>    runs?  Opinions also welcome.
>    Bill Berner
>    v: 914.478.2896
>    f: 914.478.3856
>    e: BBerner at optonline.net
> __________________________________________________
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