| y2ks2k |
| I searched and read all the towing threads. Most of those threads have not been updated in a long time so I just wanted to get an updated opinion thread. I want to buy a Bayliner 185 or 195 and they run between 3000-3500 pounds dry. I would get a trailer with 4 wheels and brakes. I’m within 10 miles of most the places I would launch from with a few yearly trips 100ish miles round trip. My 05 Pilot has the tow package. It seems like the real problem would be launching. Any experienced opinions would be appreciated! Maybe from some of those guys who said they were towing boats this weight but have different opinions now a few years later. Thanks! |
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| jestmaty |
Hey, welcome to the forum!!!
Not a bad question for your first post.
Notice in my avatar the boat? It is an '05 Bayliner 175, weighs about 2400lbs according to a CAT scale ( the one the truckers sometimes use to weigh their rigs ) That is with 1/2 tank of gas and a bunch of towables, 2 sets of skis, and misc. junk usually found on boats..
I've towed it a BUNCH since May '05. Our favorite lake, which happens to be the closest, freshwater lake is about 72 miles away. :3: I could launch it a bit closer, but it is salt water and I am just gun-shy about boating this small bowrider in salt...
Never had any problems whatsoever except that my '04 cannot hold 5th gear to save its life. With that relatively light load behind me, any attempt to hold my speed, whether it be 55, 65, or 70 causes excessive transmission hunt. Even on flat ground, I'll be cruising along at 55 and notice that I've gotten down to 52ish. The slightest pressure on the accelerator causes the torque convertor to unlock, then shifting down to 4th or even 3rd gear, then back up to fifth.
It really is tiring to try to keep the tranny in one gear. The alternative is to drive in 3rd. Good thing about 3rd is the tranny is 'locked' in that gear, which prevents excessive heat buildup from constant shifting. Overheated tranny fluid=death of tranny.
I've seen the 'powerband' sweet spot for our Pilots somewhere in print and +/- 3500 rpms is the happy spot. Now, driving in D3 gets you about 3500 rpms at 60 mph. Terrible for fuel economy, good for wear and tear on the drivetrain.
I would KILL for a 4th gear lockout/towing mode like the early Acura MDX's had. 65mph in 4th gear spins about 2900 rpms on the engine.
As far as launching/retrieving a boat, no problems either, ever... I've never engaged the manual VTM button, but I do put the gear selector in D2, or D1 when pulling the boat out after cruising the lake..
I'd be curious how the Pilot would tow 3500-4000 lbs over a long distance. It sounds like the majority of your towing would be short trips and the Pilot would be stellar for that kind of duty.. 150 miles r/t to the lake and back in D3, going 60 mph, while all the other boats and cars fly by you is tiring.
But probably a whole lot safer
:4: |
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| y2ks2k |
quote:
Originally posted by jestmaty
Hey, welcome to the forum!!!
Not a bad question for your first post.
Notice in my avatar the boat? It is an '05 Bayliner 175, weighs about 2400lbs according to a CAT scale ( the one the truckers sometimes use to weigh their rigs ) That is with 1/2 tank of gas and a bunch of towables, 2 sets of skis, and misc. junk usually found on boats..
I've towed it a BUNCH since May '05. Our favorite lake, which happens to be the closest, freshwater lake is about 72 miles away. :3: I could launch it a bit closer, but it is salt water and I am just gun-shy about boating this small bowrider in salt...
Never had any problems whatsoever except that my '04 cannot hold 5th gear to save its life. With that relatively light load behind me, any attempt to hold my speed, whether it be 55, 65, or 70 causes excessive transmission hunt. Even on flat ground, I'll be cruising along at 55 and notice that I've gotten down to 52ish. The slightest pressure on the accelerator causes the torque convertor to unlock, then shifting down to 4th or even 3rd gear, then back up to fifth.
It really is tiring to try to keep the tranny in one gear. The alternative is to drive in 3rd. Good thing about 3rd is the tranny is 'locked' in that gear, which prevents excessive heat buildup from constant shifting. Overheated tranny fluid=death of tranny.
I've seen the 'powerband' sweet spot for our Pilots somewhere in print and +/- 3500 rpms is the happy spot. Now, driving in D3 gets you about 3500 rpms at 60 mph. Terrible for fuel economy, good for wear and tear on the drivetrain.
I would KILL for a 4th gear lockout/towing mode like the early Acura MDX's had. 65mph in 4th gear spins about 2900 rpms on the engine.
As far as launching/retrieving a boat, no problems either, ever... I've never engaged the manual VTM button, but I do put the gear selector in D2, or D1 when pulling the boat out after cruising the lake..
I'd be curious how the Pilot would tow 3500-4000 lbs over a long distance. It sounds like the majority of your towing would be short trips and the Pilot would be stellar for that kind of duty.. 150 miles r/t to the lake and back in D3, going 60 mph, while all the other boats and cars fly by you is tiring.
But probably a whole lot safer
:4:
Awesome info thanks! Do you park the Bayliner in a garage? I measured a 195 and 185 at about 22 foot max length with trailer and my garage is exactly 25' deep. I would like to park it in there. |
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| jestmaty |
Yep!! Give me 10 minutes, I'll show you something that'll freak you out!!
Pics to follow in about 10 minutes... |
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| jestmaty |
quote:
Originally posted by jestmaty
Yep!! Give me 10 minutes, I'll show you something that'll freak you out!!
Pics to follow in about 10 minutes...
Believe it or not, I had the boat out last Wednesday, Thurs, and Friday. Got home Friday evening and didn't get to putting it up until Sunday pm. It only takes about 20 minutes to clear out all the junk to get it out of the garage. Which measures about 20 ft deep and 20 wide. |
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| jestmaty |
| I have to turn the drive and lower it almost all the way.... this is literally 1/2" away from the rear wall. |
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| jestmaty |
| This is the ONLY way I get this thing straight in the garage. I guess if the tongue didn't fold, I could just put it in at a greater angle. As it is right now, it goes straight back, allowing me to use the rest of the garage for storage :2: :eek: :D :4: :p |
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| jestmaty |
It clears the front garage by about a half inch too!!!!
It would make sense that if you're looking at a 185/195, it would measure about 1-2 feet longer than my rig.
I have to be aware when I retrieve from the water exactly how far on my bunks I've gone. There is plenty of room from the bow of my boat to the fold-away hitch, like a couple of feet. It I don't get far enough on the bunks, I can't go all the way back into the garage.
So I've learned to winch the boat up until I see about 2-3 inches of bunk material at the stern. Only problem is , you don't get to see that until you're out of the water. By now, after 3 years, I pretty much get it right the first time. |
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| y2ks2k |
quote:
Originally posted by jestmaty
It clears the front garage by about a half inch too!!!!
It would make sense that if you're looking at a 185/195, it would measure about 1-2 feet longer than my rig.
I have to be aware when I retrieve from the water exactly how far on my bunks I've gone. There is plenty of room from the bow of my boat to the fold-away hitch, like a couple of feet. It I don't get far enough on the bunks, I can't go all the way back into the garage.
So I've learned to winch the boat up until I see about 2-3 inches of bunk material at the stern. Only problem is , you don't get to see that until you're out of the water. By now, after 3 years, I pretty much get it right the first time.
Holy hell thats close! Looks like I can do it ok'ish with 3 feet. Are the wake board bars easy to lower to get into the garage? |
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| jestmaty |
Lastly.... the obligatory pic of my Pilot hooked up to my 4th love of my life... my boat.
The first 3 are my wife and 2 sons. :2: |
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| jestmaty |
quote:
Originally posted by y2ks2k
Holy hell thats close! Looks like I can do it ok'ish with 3 feet. Are the wake board bars easy to lower to get into the garage?
Very, very easy to lower....
Just remove 2 frontmost bolts and drop em down.. I secure them with bungee and put rolled up towels where they contact the side window frame.
Don't hesistate to email me or pm if/when you buy your boat, I'm a new boat owner and have learned a lot over the last 3 years. |
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| youbetcha |
| jestmaty: LOL when I saw the second picture, with the wall scarred up from the "attempts" to get the boat in there, I'm sure the first jab in the wall came with a bit of cursing! |
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| jestmaty |
quote:
Originally posted by youbetcha
jestmaty: LOL when I saw the second picture, with the wall scarred up from the "attempts" to get the boat in there, I'm sure the first jab in the wall came with a bit of cursing!
Nah.... it'll buff right out!!:2:
I gave up after the first couple of bumps to the wall. It isn't rocket science to get some drywall compound and a spatula to repair the gouges. I figure I'll address it whenever I move.
Our past history has us moving about every 10 years and I'm only 2 years at this house.
As far as hitting the wall almost every time I put 'er in the garage.... you would think I would have 'not hitting the wall' down by now. Nope!:2: :rolleyes:
Just put another cut in there 4 days ago.... sort of like notches on a headpost :eek: :eek:
Oh BTW, this boat has the smallest sterndrive engine available... a 3.0 liter inline 4 cylinder rated at 135 horsepower. It is reasonably fast at top-end, 42 mph.... but where it really shines in my book is in acceleration!! It is only moving a 17.5 foot long boat. In fact, the boat/motor weighs about 1900 lbs, with the engine/drive weighing about 700 lbs of that total number!!! It also sips gas relative to the giant V8's you frequently see on the water. |
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| jestmaty |
Notice in pic #3, the one with the folded tongue...
You can see my General Grabber UHP's just waiting to be mounted :mad:
I bought em' July 3rd because they were on sale and had a rebate. My darn Goodyear Integrities won't WEAR OUT!!!!
Now at 54,700 as of Aug 21 and they still have 4-5/32" on the edges with 5/32" in the middles! Gotta admit, they were pretty squirrely during tropical storm Eduard which blew through here a week ago.
Drove my mom and her parents to the main Houston airport which is about 50 miles each way. Hydroplaning was excessive that day. I'm not sure if brand new, aggressively treaded tires would have made driving much easier.
Back to towing.... I also tow a 1500lb pop-up camper with my Pilot too. It does a little bit better staying in gear, but only barely. We sometimes camp at unimproved, bare earth campsites which can have loose, unpacked soil. We got caught during a rainy weekend and the camper got just a little 'settled' during that time.
The AWD came in handy for the initial 'humphh' pulling it out. The tiny pop up was purchased to tow behind my wife's Pontiac Vibe. The Vibe has a 1500lb tow max and we are very close.
Actually, the Vibe tows the camper better than my Pilot. It is only a 4sp automatic and will pretty much stay in 4th and... we have a brake controller wired in to activate the camper's electric brakes. Looks kind of funny seeing a brake controller in a Vibe. Usually, you see 'em in pickups and SUVs. Cool thing is... you can manually squeeze a lever and it'll make the camper brake... slowing down the tow vehicle without touching the brakes.:4:
I don't like to play too often with that feature as it probably wears down the trailer brakes prematurely and it is mainly to help stop trailer sway if it occurs.
Old pic from an old cell phone, but you get the idea |
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| y2ks2k |
I don’t know what crack I was smoking the first time I measured my garage but I just did again and mine is only 21' deep. Looks like I would be in the same situation as you!
Here is the best pic I have of it (I was storing some home theater chairs so there’s a ton of crap in it that’s not there now)
When I measured both the 185 and 195 with trailor they were like 22' |
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| Bowzer |
quote:
Originally posted by jestmaty
Lastly.... the obligatory pic of my Pilot hooked up to my 4th love of my life... my boat.
The first 3 are my wife and 2 sons. :2:
Hey jestmaty...Just let me know if you ever run short on a running partner some day! Your setup looks great.
Okay...enough threadjacking...back to the important stuff. |
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| jestmaty |
Whoops!!!!
Measure twice, cut once..... :2:
Couple o' things to note....
The Bayliner website lists overall rigged length for all their boats..I guess that is how long it is on the trailer.
You could park it over where the door is and just leave it open for the outdrive!! :D :D Outdrives take up about 1 1/2 feet behind the boat. ( Mine is exactly 18" past the swim platform )
I remeasured my garage length and got..........20 feet 9 inches ! You can extend that another 3" by poking the prop through the sheetrock, LOL!
When I moved into this house in July 2006, I went 2 steps forward and 1 step back. Let me explain..
My old house had about 3 feet longer overall length in the garage. There was a cut-out for maybe a freezer/refrigerator? that the outdrive fit in perfectly! The only drawback was the 8 ft wide single door widths :eek: As you do more research, you'll find that most trailers are 96" ( 8 feet ) wide from fender to fender. See the dilemma? 8 ft wide door and 8 ft wide trailer?
I literally had to remove some of the door trim to get the trailer in! Not an easy feat after a long, fun, hot day of boating. Not to mention the darkness of night. Boat was too heavy to push in by hand. Also, there was about an inch and a half lip of concrete I would have to go over, only a vehicle had enough juice to get over that lip.
Now the new house has one, continuous 16 ft wide door, yeahh baby. Except that now I've lost my extra depth. But, without a doubt, the single, wide door is the best arrangement. Plus the previous owner had the garage converted into a game room.
It has a/c pumped into it, and 2 really cool ceiling fans hanging from a 10 ft ceiling. When I work on my boat in the garage, I have a/c and fans to keep me cool. Oh, and carpet on the entire floor even running up about 6" up the side walls
:eek: |
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| y2ks2k |
Well, I ended up signing on my original purchase which is a Bayliner 245 cruiser. At over 6K there’s no way I can tow it or store it. I plan on wet docking it. Makes it nice and easy on the Pilot. I couldn’t pass up their deal, they threw in a full tank of gas (64 gallon), a $1750 GPS/Sonar system and a add 3 year war on the engine (5 years total on the 5.0 liter 260 hp MPI Bravo 3).
Thanks for all the advice! |
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| jestmaty |
quote:
Originally posted by y2ks2k
Well, I ended up signing on my original purchase which is a Bayliner 245 cruiser. At over 6K there’s no way I can tow it or store it. I plan on wet docking it. Makes it nice and easy on the Pilot. I couldn’t pass up their deal, they threw in a full tank of gas (64 gallon), a $1750 GPS/Sonar system and a add 3 year war on the engine (5 years total on the 5.0 liter 260 hp MPI Bravo 3).
Thanks for all the advice!
Jeezz!! I thought I just read about that particular boat in one of my 10 boating magazines I get each month. Sure enough, there is whole write up in the Sept/Oct 2008 issue of Boating World!
Congrats on your purchase!! That cruiser is an entire world away from the 175/185/195 Bowrider series. 25 feet long?!:eek:
Maybe you can post some pics in another, off topic thread here when you splash 'er. Oh BTW, go check out www.baylinerownersclub.org , I'm also jestmaty on that forum and they will welcome you with open arms there too!
Look forward to hearing about your new boat!!! |
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| y2ks2k |
quote:
Originally posted by jestmaty
Jeezz!! I thought I just read about that particular boat in one of my 10 boating magazines I get each month. Sure enough, there is whole write up in the Sept/Oct 2008 issue of Boating World!
Congrats on your purchase!! That cruiser is an entire world away from the 175/185/195 Bowrider series. 25 feet long?!:eek:
Maybe you can post some pics in another, off topic thread here when you splash 'er. Oh BTW, go check out www.baylinerownersclub.org , I'm also jestmaty on that forum and they will welcome you with open arms there too!
Look forward to hearing about your new boat!!!
Thanks!
Ya, I came back here (I was a member long time ago in 05 when I first bought my Pilot) when I thought the deal for the 245 was falling through to get towing advice. I'm already posting noob questions up at baylinersclub. Check out this thread:
http://baylinerownersclub.org/forum...ead.php?t=22162 |
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| y2ks2k |
Here she is waiting for us
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| jestmaty |
Oh my Gosh that looks great !!!!!!!
That is a real vessel!
Notice the small, puny, blue cork floating behind you? With the bimini top rolled up and stored? That appears to be a Bayliner 175 by the looks of the squared glass panels. Looks just like mine in the water, except mine has the factory wakeboard tower integrated.
Maybe you didn't even notice it when you departed, or you backed over it and never felt a thing! :2:
Just joking.... don't want to get things off to a rough start already..:2:
Congrats and congrats again, she looks beautiful ! |
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| y2ks2k |
| Hehehe thanks! See that boat in front of mine, that’s like a 320 or 340 and makes mine look extremely small. I even tried to keep it out of all my pictures because it made mine look tiny. |
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