towing a 220 Sundeck with an Audi Q74.2

[pchansen]

Hi all! My first post. I'm looking at a 2005 220 Sundeck. My tow vehicle will be an Audi Q7 with the 4.2 V8. It has a tow rating of 6600 lbs. The 220 sundeck looks to be about 4400lbs dry. I'm guessing about 1500lbs for the trailer plus gear puts me right at the limit. Has anyone had any experience towing with the Audi?

 

[wish2fish]

I guess it depends how far and terrain but I couldn't imagine towing with a SUV. My previous truck was a 1/2 ton with a 5.2 liter 8 cylinder and I wasn't comfortable at times. Newer truck is a whole different story.

 

[quailrunner]

There are folks better qualified than me to answer, but consider: A full tank of gas (50 g, right?) will weigh another 300# or so, and with stuff that you will have in the boat, you will definitely be over 5K in weight without the trailer a lot of the time. This means you will be close to the limit of your vehicle (a tandem trailer almost certainly weighs more than 1K lbs). Information about tongue weight and actual weight (from a scale) then become fairly important for you; this appears to be one of the situations where you will want input from someone who really knows the situation. You can be under your towing limit (technically), but still see poor handling and other potential issues if you don't really have the towing capacity for your boat.

 

[Southpaw II]

Shouldn't be a problem. If your Audi has 4WD, it will be a big plus at the ramp. Towing questions always have lots of "ifs", but "if" you are towing a long distance, or in the mountains, keep an eye on the temps and the brakes.

Don

 

[pchansen]

Thanks for the input. Has anyone converted their trailer over to electric brakes?

 

[Banagy]

Get a GMC Arcida all wheel drive.

 

[pchansen]

Get a GMC Arcida all wheel drive.

We'll see. I kinda like the Audi. I talked to Audi yesterday and they said "no problem". Now, on to the next issue:
My garage is 2 1/4" too short to close the garage door with the boat in the garage!! This could be a deal breaker as I refuse to store something this nice outside, especially in the PacNW. The dealer is bringing in a trailer fabricator that makes custom trailers for their Cobalt line to see if it would be possible (and safe) to relocate the winch stanchion about 3" forward on the trailer, thus being able to pull the boat forward and shortening the overall length by 3". We'll see...:smt017

 

[Banagy]

See if you can have a fold away tong installed or buy a trailer with a fold away tong. Works great in myu situation.

 

[Vince_nj1]

We'll see. The dealer is bringing in a trailer fabricator that makes custom trailers for their Cobalt line to see if it would be possible (and safe) to relocate the winch stanchion about 3" forward on the trailer, thus being able to pull the boat forward and shortening the overall length by 3". We'll see...:smt017

My guess is that you will increase the tonge weight too much by doing that. The better solution would be the folding tongue recommended by Banagy

 

[SeaRide]

Can you gain another 3" by backing the trailer in at a slight angle?

 

[barefoot1999]

Be sure to check the height of your garage too before you purchase. The height was my problem into my garage, not the length.:smt009

 

[pchansen]

The dealer brought in a custom trailer guy that makes trailers for their Cobalt line. He's doing a mod that will shorten the overall length by about 3". This will also include weighing the end result to conform we don't exceed the 10% rule. Dealer is splitting the cost with me not to exceed $250. This includes repainting the affected parts of the trailer. I'll hopefully take delivery by Christmas.