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Town Country Minivan - Towing a boat?

4K views 4 replies 5 participants last post by  spaceranger1947 
#1 ·
Hi Gang! I would like to buy a minivan for the family in the next month, but would also like to buy a fishing boat in five years when my boys are old enough to appreciate it. The more I research the topic, the more confused I become. Some state that minivans should not be used for towing, even if they come with a towing package (Class II - 3500ibs for the town and country). One of the reasons listed is because its front wheel drive. I have a 98 Chevy Blazer that I pulled my dads bass boat that is ~2500 lb. It has less horse power and torque than the specs for the town country. But its a 4x4, I do not think I ever tested pulling the boat out with only two wheel drive. I do not recall ever seeing any minivans at the boat ramp over the last decade. My question to the team . . . has anyone sucessfully used their minivan to pull their boat? Was it able to easily pull the boat out the water on a wet boat ramp? I tired calling Chrysler and spoken with a dealer, but they just read me back the specs and stated it could pull `3XXX lbs with the towing package. Thanks!:biggrin:
 
#2 ·
I have towed snowmobile trailers,utility trailers,motorcycles,trailers full of dirt etc....... and never had a problem. I have also launched/loaded a few boats and jet skis on a dirt/sandy launch without a problem.
Best of all you don't have to drive around in a 4x4 the 99% of the time your not towing.
Hope you get yourself a van,you won't regret it.
 
#3 ·
I pulled a 1600 lb uhaul 4x6 enclosed trailer with my 97 and had no problems. Hooked on to a 17ft boat and it handled that ok too, although I never pulled it out of the water with the van.

For best results I would try to get a trailer with its own brakes. A weight distributing hitch can be great too if the boat is real heavy on the hitch.

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk 2
 
#4 ·
My inlaws have been using minivans and fwd focus towing forever. No problems. 16 foot bow rider put in and out no problems from 01 GC... towed camp.trailer too...never trans issue in GC or mercury van that preceded it... just focus which had a Sol go bad.

Sent from my DROID RAZR
 
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