2WD or 4WD?

[Cat-Ling]

My wife and I are purchasing our first Sun Cat this coming Summer. We live on the West Coast of Fl. and it's our semi-retirement "home away from home" gift for ourselves, as our kids have all grown up and are  on their own. In the last 25 years as a family we were able to have smaller boats, both sail and power, and had no need at the ramps for a 4WD vehicle. So, now the question, do we need 4WD for our Sun Cat or could we just go ahead and use the 2WD 6 cyl pickup?
We thank you in advance for all the advice you may have to offer us, and we hope to meet up with many of you for some fine sailing in the near future.

  Happy sailing!
  Cat-Ling
 

[fafnir]

This really depends a lot on the ramp that you are launching from.  If it is steep and algae has built up on the concrete and your rear tires come in contact with the algae it can be challenging to get up the ramp.  However there are other options then buying a 4x4.  One of the best things I have seen done is adding an extended tongue  to the trailer.  This way your vehicle does not have to get so close to the slippery part of the ramp.  I am thinking of adding this to my trailer as I have found I have had to get my back tires wet in order to float the boat off of the trailer.  --Chad

[fafnir]

Congrats on the new boat by the way and welcome - :-)

[Cat-Ling]

Thanks fafnir for your good advice. An extention for the trailer sounds like just the ticket!
   Happy sailing,
   Cat-Ling

[russ1481]

Are you going to use a hand made trailer extension or are you going to purchase one. I have been intrigued by the "extend a hitch" located at this link.
http://www.extendahitch.com/.

What do you think?

[fafnir]

Hi Russ,
The extend a hitch looks like what I have seen on other people's trailers.  I don't think I will be buying one though as it looks like a $20 tongue and about $15 dollars worth of 2" square stock and a couple of brackets of 1/4 sheet metal and an evening of fabrication without even breaking out the welder. :-)

[Craig Weis]

Two wheel drive for such a light load. 6 bangers are plenty at the ramp.

[Cat-Ling]

A six banger it is then. Thanks 'Comfort and Joy' . I have decided not to go with the trailer extension, after much thought. Will let you all know how things work next Spring when me and the misses wet the bottom of Cat-Ling for the very first time.

  Cat-Ling

[patch]

just trailered my suncat home to nh from atlantic city.glad i have the 4.0 big 6 in my ford ranger.some hills speed dropped to 50 mph.the performance trailer tows real nice.4x4 was used when parking trailer,ground is sand, grass and wet.needed 4x4 to get over the curb and put trailer in right spot.last yr in the fl.keys most ramps were covered with algee,slippery as hell.we got stuck at ramp on lake massebecic nh 3 yrs ago had to call AAA to tow us up the ramp.tow driver said he gets called all the time.we had car with front wheel drive,which is the worst for towing.why i dont know,thats what the tow truck driver said.

[Craig Weis]

Front wheel drive is not as good as rear wheel drive when the rear ball hitch is loaded with a boat and trailer only because of weight transfer. All the weight is over the rear wheels but all the drive is over the front. Plus a steep boat ramp transfers weight to the useless rear wheels. Well that was my thought,,,heck it is my birthday tomarrow on St Paddy's day and the guys at work got me loopy...a fellow should stay away from the keyboard when drinking...skip.