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2006 V6/Tow. Towed a 3,500lb, 22' boat, easy. (Pics)

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Thundra

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Discussion starter · #1 · (Edited)
It had been since the spring of 2007 that the Rav needed to tow this boat as the boat is now my sisters and her 2003 MDX is the pull-vehicle for that boat now and also tows the boat just fine. I love to tow boats and had been waiting for the chance/right time to tow this particular boat with the Rav again. Yesterday was the day on account of the Hurricane/Tropical Storm coming up our way.

All in, the whole rig is right around 3,500lbs. 1,100 for the trailer, the boat hull is about 2,000lbs and the motor is around 500. The Rav did a great job of getting it around. I'm fairly sure that the drum brakes on the trailer don't work but the Rav's brakes did a decent job of getting everything down to speed from the 40 MPH max I had done on the roads from the ramp to their house.

The V6 did fine getting everything up the shallow ramp and accelerating up to speed. It was not like I did not feel the boat behind the Rav but the truck has no problem taking the 3,500+lb load and taking it where it needs to go. The rear of the truck didn't even sag as much as I though it might. Here, take a look;

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Rav now has just over 58,000 miles since new in Sept. of 2006 and has been flawless so far. Drove it home in the rain tonight and with the Michelin Latitude Tour's, a nice easy ride with total confidence.
 
#2 ·
I pulled around 3000# camper from Phoenix, AZ to Colorado Springs, CO with my 2010 Limited when I had it. I was really impressed with its ease of pulling the load. Replaced it with a new 4Runner for the extra towing capacity, size, and seeing around the camper. I would have no issue pulling it across the country with the RAV, just wish that they would have given it a larger gas tank (the decrease in mileage towing becomes painfully evident with such a small range due to the tank size).
 
#5 ·
brockeverly said:
I pulled around 3000# camper from Phoenix, AZ to Colorado Springs, CO with my 2010 Limited when I had it. I was really impressed with its ease of pulling the load.
I would have no issue pulling it across the country with the RAV, just wish that they would have given it a larger gas tank (the decrease in mileage towing becomes painfully evident with such a small range due to the tank size).
Click to expand...
Agree on both points. On our recent (8/22-26) 1000 mile round trip from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska towing about 2200 pounds of Scamp trailer the 2008 V6 RAV4 had no power problems in the mountains pulling them with probably no more than 1/2 throttle.
It also had no problem drinking gas! Over several fillups we'd figured the mileage at 14 mpg so we knew the last no-gas 214 mile run from Coldfoot to Deadhorse would be tight so we spent five minutes topping off (at $5.339/gal) and carried an extra 5 gallons. Ran the tank out and coasted to the sign that read "Gas 1 mile." Used that 5 gallon can several times including being able to skip the $5.339 gas at the Yukon River and get back to $3.79/gal at Fairbanks.
 
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Discussion starter · #6 ·
Thankfully I have my Tundra as a primary tow vehicle for my own boat;


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I used to tow that Aquasport with the Tundra too and it had a much, much easier time handling it.

The trailer for that Aquasport has a set of drum brakes but since no one tows the boat all that much no one has cared a whit if they work or not I wonder if they still work at all. For the roughly 4-5 mile ride from the boat ramp to the house, and the fact that there is not a hill around and no law on trailer brakes here in MA, there is no outstanding need for them and the Rav did well in stopping the entire rig from 40-0 as I did a test on a long, flat road just to see how things would work, the never practice for an emergency in an emergency.
 
#7 ·
Great to know that the RAV4 is so capable at towing such heavy loads. I've not towed anything that heavy yet!
 
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Discussion starter · #8 · (Edited)
This is a very small load but the Rav handles it just fine;

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The Rav is rated for 3,500 lbs and I know for sure that every bit of the 3,500 lbs is in and on that boat/trailer.

I do wonder though, how it would have done on the highway.
 
Discussion starter · #10 · (Edited)
RTexasF said:
I'm glad you said that. A four mile tow on flat land at 50 mph is hardly a test. I am surprised how little rear end sag there was though. What is that Tundra rated to tow...about 10K or so?
Click to expand...

I too, was surprised at how little sag there was at the rear. I do know that the trailer was level and I was/have been using a straight-3 way ball mount/2" ball since the receiver is already low on the Rav. Still, I had to have had the correct amount of tongue weight and the Rav was made for the load at 3,500 lbs and maybe even a little bit more.

I'll wager that the boat/trailer on the Rav wouldn't have done anything differently on the highway with 2 axles and all. I doubt it would have had any issue at all.

The boat/trailer on the Tundra goes at least 6,700lbs. 1,000lb trailer, 5,000lb hull. 700lb motor.
Even with that 800lb snowmobile trailer and the 500lb snowmobile, the mileage goes down quite a bit from the air resistance alone.
 
#11 ·
Adding my 2-cents worth on this. We've towed our ~3000-3400 lb. camper with our 2007 Rav4 Limited with no problems except for the 50% drop in gas mileage, for three seasons now. Just returned from a 6000-mile trip, including over the Rockies, with no problem towing. This includes using an after-market hitch receiver (Hidden Hitch) and dead-weight hitch (~300 lb. hitch weight). Some on this forum pooh-pooh after-market hitches as not having enough attachment points. And some of the concrete roads, like I-40 near Oklahoma City, are like washboards.
 
#12 ·
In Oct 2010 I towed a 6' X 12' U-Haul at about 1,800lbs total weight at 75-80mph from Idaho Falls ID to Boulder, CO. I got about 17mpg, and it pulled it pretty strongly. It SUCKED towing anything like that empty, as the hitch banging around in the receiver made all kinds of racket, but loaded it did a lot better. I would not trust the brakes coming down any serious hills at those speeds, but luckily it's pretty flat. I've found the brakes on the "Sport" fade quickly under spirited driving, I'm sure you'd have to use a lot of caution and downshift a lot going down any sort of hill. The few I had to do coming home, I mad esure to be in a lower gear and slow down.
 
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#13 ·
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