Pulling a boat with the van....

[My96z]

I was wanting to hear from those experienced with pulling with a front wheel drive vehicle, particularly a boat.

I have a 16' Lowe bassboat with a 70HP ouboard. I would like to put a hitch on my van so I could use it to pull instead of sharing the truck with my wife.

I am not concerned powerwise if the van is capable, what I am concerned about is getting the boat out of the water. Somtimes those ramps are slippery and wet and I am wondering if the front wheels will spin pulling the boat up the ramp and out of the water since all the weight would be in the back.

I am guessing the boat/trailer weighs 2000lbs. Here is a pic.

[shadow88]

If the boat launch is your only concern, try pulling the boat up a similar hill when it's raing from a dead stop. If it's not going to rain for a while, bring water with you. That should give you an idea if you'll be able to pull the boat out, or just smoke one tire and look like a spectacle.

[Tony Hanna]

I sold my old 19' cuddy cabin Starcraft to a friend who pulled it with a Grand Am. I doubt power will be an issue at all. He got it in the water just fine like that, but if memory serves he had to hook the trailer to a pickup to get it back out because he couldn't get enough traction to bring the boat back up the ramp.
Might be a different story with a lighter boat, but a limited slip diff definitely couldn't hurt.