I'm searching high and low for a new sailboat to haul around with my astro van between lake michigan and bloomington indiana. i live in indy. anyway, the REAL determinant of what boat i get isn't it's length, but it's displacement plus the weight of the trailer. some 26' boats are lighter than some 23' boats, so it's been somewhat hard to figure out how to search. my question for everyone out there is - does anyone know where i can find a list of boat displacements, in order? that way, i can simply begin my search at the cutoff for what my van can pull. then, i can screen out those that don't come with hydraulic brakes on the trailer... thanks, dan
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Towing capacity of your astro van?
Hi Dan, We're also from Indy and tow a Hunter 240 with a Chevy Silverado Half Ton. Our Trailer plus boat weight is right around 4,000 lbs. I used to pull that boat with a 3.0 Liter Ford Ranger with beefed up back shocks. It didn't do too badly but you definitely know the boat was back there. I'd imagine the next step up is a Hunter 26 or a newer H260. The 240 is a water ballast boat so there is a trade off between trailerable and the sailing characteristics. The water ballast boats tend to heel faster and higher than a fixed keel boat. They are however much more road friendly. Drive over to the dry dock at Eagle Creek (end of parking lot at Rick's Boat Yard Cafe) and take a look at the differences between the fixed keel boats on the trailer and one of the Hunter water ballast boats. We're at Lake Monroe this summer but have been at Eagle Creek in the past. Surge brakes are a must. Let me know if you have questions I'm in the owners directory on this site. Our boat name is Orion. Ken
Hi Dan, We're also from Indy and tow a Hunter 240 with a Chevy Silverado Half Ton. Our Trailer plus boat weight is right around 4,000 lbs. I used to pull that boat with a 3.0 Liter Ford Ranger with beefed up back shocks. It didn't do too badly but you definitely know the boat was back there. I'd imagine the next step up is a Hunter 26 or a newer H260. The 240 is a water ballast boat so there is a trade off between trailerable and the sailing characteristics. The water ballast boats tend to heel faster and higher than a fixed keel boat. They are however much more road friendly. Drive over to the dry dock at Eagle Creek (end of parking lot at Rick's Boat Yard Cafe) and take a look at the differences between the fixed keel boats on the trailer and one of the Hunter water ballast boats. We're at Lake Monroe this summer but have been at Eagle Creek in the past. Surge brakes are a must. Let me know if you have questions I'm in the owners directory on this site. Our boat name is Orion. Ken
- Jan 22, 2008
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go to the database
on this website. It does not let you sort by displacement but it does let you sort by rating, and the displacement is posted, so at least you can work your way down the list. http://www.ipass.net/sailboat/
on this website. It does not let you sort by displacement but it does let you sort by rating, and the displacement is posted, so at least you can work your way down the list. http://www.ipass.net/sailboat/
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