I pulled my trailer a couple of days ago and noticed the reduced MPG - no surprise there. So, I did some math, which might actually be correct.

I drove 33 miles, uphill and down, pulling an old Skidoo flatbed trailer. I tried to figure the weight. Putting a scale under each wheel and the tongue, I got 52 lb per wheel and 17 lb for the tongue, but that seems awfully light for a 6 X 8' trailer. I carried two sheets of plywood with a total weight of 122 lb.

Driving round trip without the trailer, I averaged 46 MPG. With the trailer, I got 36 MPG. So, here's my math.

Without the trailer
33 miles @ 46 MPG = .717g X $2.75 per gallon = $1.97 to drive round trip into town. $1.97/33 miles = $0.059 per mile.
.717gal/33 = .021gal per mile

With the trailer
33 miles @ 36 MPG = .916g X $2.75 per gallon = $2.52 to pull the trailer.
$2.52/33 miles = $0.076 per mile to pull the trailer.
.916gal/33 miles = .027 gal per mile.

I doubt that I will ever have anything heavier that two sheets of plywood on the trailer.

Of course one thing I didn't figure in is the roughly 40 lb hitch that is now always on the car. I don't think that will make any calculable difference, though.

 

One run is not enough. I doubt that such a small and lightweight trailer is causing you a 10MPG hit on your mileage. 2-3 MPG perhaps, but not 10.

 

Silver, even if there is a 10mpg penalty for pulling a trailer, look at the bright side, you're still able to get better MPGs with one than most get without one.

 

It's not about the weight.



Years ago I had a tiny little 40 mpg car. I put a Christmas tree on the roof, hit the highway for a few hours and got a 20 mpg tank.

 

Normally mileage is around 39-40mpg without a trailer. With my 5x8 Sure Trac empty and the ramp folded down I'm around 32 mpg. With about 800 pounds of cargo and mixed terrain (highway and city side streets) I was around 26-29mpg


The ramp though its grated, it still acts like a wind sail and causes me to lose mpg. Weight is not so much of an issue, its aerodynamics too.

 

No, weight isn't everything, but a sheet of plywood on a flatbed trailer in the aerodynamic shadow of the car is hardly a parachute.

 

Unless the trailer's an actual flatbed, the trailer is the parachute. Most of them have sides of a foot or two.

 

Every time I tow it, I'll do the comparison.

 

The sides on this one are about 3" high.

 

Is it wider than the car? If it is in the aerodynamic shadow of the car it shouldn't contribute much drag. OTOH, if it sticks out it is increasing your frontal area.

 

Making a quick measurement with a tape measure, it looks like the car is about 63" wide, and the trailer is about 79" wide.

 

One of these old Home Depot trailers was what I wanted:


Nice and small, but you can't get them any more. I've got one of these:

Except mine has the horizontal boards flush with each other. Capable as all get out, but large. Once I get my hitch on, this thing's going to hurt some tank averages.

 

That would do it. You're increasing your frontal area by about 25% with rather unaerodynamic wheels and fenders. A narrower trailer wouldn't have as profound an effect.

Places like Northern Tool and Harbor Freight carry minimalist trailers that will work well with the Fit. 4x6 is plenty big to carry most stuff and you won't be tempted to overload.

 

My trailer is only slightly wider than the GK. The 5ft ramp when in the upright position is way over the roof of the fit causing drag. laying the ramp forward and flat drastically reduces drag.



Added a toolbox awhile back from Harbor Freight.

 

Those heavy wooden sides are removable, right? Mine has a plywood deck that's due for replacement again. I replaced it in 1994, and it's starting to show its age. Not bad, considering that it's been sitting outside all that time.

 

You mentioned that the tailgate is a big drag producer and that is definitely so. The fact that it is perforated mesh actually makes it worse than a flat plate would be. When the design drag brakes for airplanes they have perferations to increase turbulance and drag.

The ramp tailgate is handy if you're loading wheeled vehicles on the trailer. Otherwise you are better off without it. Any load in a trailer should be tied down even if the trailer has sides, as is often attested to by roadside debris that was once someone's furniture.

 

Those rear ramps must be easily removable, right? That's a lot of extra, unnecessary weight at the extreme rear.

 

Correct, easily removable with two pins. Ramp weighs around 80 pounds I estimate. Recently I've been using one of those net tailgates for trucks on there. Sure Trac does not make a solid tailgate for their utility trailers unfortunately. See example below.


As a result of removing the ramp the tongue weight increases slightly when empty since I'm taking weight off the rear. Easily compensated for by loading more towards the rear of the axle to keep the tongue weight around 100 pounds or so.

 

Yeah, but I never carry anything that I'd just strap onto a true flatbed. To make it even less aerodynamic, I screwed cleats onto the posts for tie downs. I got it in 07 and stained the wood in 09. It's seen lots of dirt, gravel and general junk, and lives outside. Still going strong.

Basically, it's bigger and more effective than any pickup bed, and I don't have to haul it around when I'm not using it. So I don't worry about its bad aero.

 

Mine is forty-six years old, a tilting Skidoo trailer. I've replaced the deck a couple of times, replaced the lights with LED's, new wheels/tires, new coupler. I have no idea how much it cost in 1969, but I bet it wasn't much.