Towing a flats boat
 

Hello, I own a '09 Honda fit sport manual transmission. I know that the Jazz is rated for 1000 kg (~2000 pounds) with a trailer with brake and 450 kg (w/ brake).

The boat weighs 280 lbs + poling and casting platform (75 lbs) + trailer (275 lbs) + 15HP 4 strokes outboard (115 lbs) + gas (10 lbs) = 755 lbs.

So the fit can tow this, but my question would be the launching? Most of my friends do not submerse their trailers whilst launching. The trailer does not get wet since the boat is gently pushed in the water. The retrieval is made with the winch.

Comments welcome.
Thanks.

Hydro.

keep your front tires from hitting the water and you should be fine

Personally, I'd be reluctant to try it. Most boat ramps I've seen are kinda steep and slick. The fit doesn't really have low end torque which is what you really need for that sort of situation.

I think it would be ok as Long as there is a good launch I meN don't do it if it looks like your wheels might slip at all I have lauched a few jet skis with cars and submerged the trailers no prob just make shurethe car dosent slip in lol

engines got plenty of power, It's going to come down to the tires.

A steep slippery ramp could be a little scary but I think your Fit would be able to do it.

Yea worse comes to worse, spin the tires, .. it'll dry up the surface and get traction. I towed jet skis with my Toyota corolla 5 speed.. nothing wrong with some spinnin. ; )

and bring us back pics! :)

when you get the boat to the ramp see if someone else (with a truck) is willing to hitch up and pull it out for you maybe.

First the Jazz has entirely different springs and shocks.
Second, and most important, the lawyers for Honda USA are correctly afraid of the sue-happy customers in America.
Our advice is Fits can tow as much as Jazz only when equipped with airlift shocks that you will find described in the suspension section. Thus equipped we have towed a lawn tractor on a trailer very nicely.
As far as launching why would there be a problem unless you anticipate the axle under water? I suspect your boat trailer already has sealed bearings or can easily be obtained.

He's concerned with pulling power / traction to make it up the ramp when its time to pull it out of the water..

Which is exactly why the airlifts are needed. Though I expect the tongue weight to be no more than a 150 lb or so the location of the tongue so far behind the rear wheels means the front end will rise and thus take weight off the front wheels. Add the loss from the ramp and you see why a raised tongue pylon is necessary. Had the same problem with our trailer in soft ground and ramps.

Yea my corolla looked like it was slammed in the rear and lifted in the rear. Poor car has 217k .. used to tow 2 4 wheelers lol.. Like u said, the weight comes off the front tires. . Taking turns in the rain under throttle was fun lol

If the tires spin and you can't get anywhere, have one or two guys sit on the front fenders to put more weight on the tires. Nobody around? Lower the tire pressure up front, really low, but have a pump to bring them back up after you get the boat out.

I bet the engine will have no problem pulling the load you describe, wheel spin at the ramp will probably be the problem since the weight on the back and the incline will lighten up the front.

Good luck, and let us know how it worked out.


Flea

Thanks for all the answers (and sorry to check this so late). The trailer wheels will not hit the water. The trailer has rollers on it, so it just slides back gently in the water. This allow the front tires of the vehicle to stay high on the dry side of the ramp. The tongue weight and the trailer weight can indeed be a problem since it will alleviate some weight at the front.
I think the best would be to try with the flats boat of my friend (which is about 1000 lbs all included). I will off course will need his truck as back up just in case something goes wrong.

Thanks a lot guys. I was one of the first who drilled holes in his roof to put a yakima rack for my kayak (tower system). I love it.

Cheers to all.
Hydro

I own a 2010 fit sport a/t. Some just gave us a 14ft alluminum jon boat with a 15hsp motor on it. We have the fit and an 02si we are trying to decide which will pull it the best. The only problem is the si is lowered we are worried about that. Anyone have any suggestions or advice?

My 2008 Fit (standard manual) tows my homemade sailboat like a dream. The boat and trailer weigh about 1000 lbs and I do not have trailer brakes. That is about the maximum the Honda Jazz is rated for without trailer brakes and seems pretty reasonable to me. The trick is to properly balance your trailer rig: keep the tongue weight down to around 5% like they do in Europe, not the 10 to 20% sometimes recommended in the US. Also, be safe. Drive slow and don't tailgate. (All typical towing advice, regardless of size of towing vehicle).

I've never seen any of these "slick and steep" boat ramps everyone is talking about. The ones I use have a LOT of traction and are not very steep at all. The fit can power right up them and you barely notice you have a boat attached unless you look in your rear view mirror. Hah, you won't need someone sitting on your hood to make it up the ramp, don't worry.

I thought I should litter this forum with pics of my fit towing ... since I couldn't find many on the web.


https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Z...0/IMG_4484.JPG

For local towing{less than 30 miles} and a boat like yours I used to do it with my vw bug with less than half the hp, no problem.

I bought a Curt towing trailer hitch for my fit and I started hauling a Harbor Freight Tools trailer (rated for 1070lbs). No problem doing the job. Once I am comfortable enough, the next step will be the flats boat (~1000lbs).

Cheers to all.
Hydro

Not quite sure I understand your question. If you have a trailer with surge or active brakes certainly the Fit can tow 2200 pounds (1000 kg)
If the trailer has no brakes its not rated to tow 755 pounds (343 kg).

As far as launching is concerned many trailers have sealed wheel bearings so that getting them wet is not a problem; however, if the wheel bearings are not sealed - and many European ones aren't - there is a problem if the whheel bearings are in the water. Once or twice you may get away with it but a lot not so good. If you don't get the wheel bearings immersed the what is the concern?
Hope that answers your interest.