Association Forum - Renting a pick up to tow a Catalina 25 (C250)?

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Renting a pick up to tow a Catalina 25 (C250)?

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

Arlington
Navigator

Member Avatar

USA
196 Posts

Initially Posted - 02/18/2012 : 21:56:06

I know there has been a lot of discussion on the forum about the preferred vehicle to use to tow a C25 (C250?). It seems that there is agreement that the bigger the truck, the better.

Is it possible to rent a bigger pickup, maybe a Ford F250, F350 or a Chevy 2500 or 3500 and use it to tow a C25 from say TX to FL? Can you rent a truck, if you tell Hertz or Avis… that you intend to use it to tow a boat across country

When you consider the wear and tear on your truck and that getting about 10-mpg towing A C25 may be typical, would renting a truck be the lesser of the evils? My little Chevy 1500 V-6, does fine from the boatyard to the boat ramp, but it is only a block.

Owning a big truck that you only need once or twice a year, doesn’t seem to be too handy. It sure would be nice to have a safer alternative for the once or twice a year trip to a far away port.
Doug

God created the Seas as a blessing to Sailors.
Doug, Jenny & First Mate Taylor, Arlington TX
No. 5842 "Promise"�
1989 C25, TR/WK, Inboard Diesel,
1995 Stratos 278, 115 HP Evinrude
1978 14' Dolphin Sr.

Edited by - Arlington on 02/18/2012 22:05:36

JimGo
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
962 Posts

Response Posted - 02/18/2012 : 23:04:42

Doug,
Some car dealers actually rent vehicles, too. You might try calling a Ford/Chevy dealer and asking them about rentals. If they don't know, they probably can point you in the right direction.

Edited by - on

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

Members Avatar

USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 02/18/2012 : 23:33:06

If you're going to rent a truck to tow a trailer that you're not also renting from the same place, I'd probably be circumspect about telling them what I'm renting it for.

I have to agree with you, buying a big truck and only use it a few times a year isn't the wisest move. We did exactly that when we thought we'd be day sailing the boat. The reality is I'm more likely to go pick up lumber or whatever than tow the boat (or any other trailer). Given the choice now, I'd rather be driving my old Toyota 4x4 than my F-250. I know enough people with large trucks that I could borrow from, that other than the long trip from Bend, Oregon home with the boat, I've never needed the big Ford for much that the Toyota couldn't have dealt with. I still wouldn't want to tow the boat with anything than a big enough truck (which the F-250 definitely is), I wish I hadn't spent the money on the Ford. I could have rented a similar truck dozens of times and still be thousands of dollars ahead. And the depreciation on the truck won't allow me to recover anywhere near what I paid for it. I might be able to get 1/3 of what I paid...maybe.

Edited by - on

hewebb
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
761 Posts

Response Posted - 02/19/2012 : 05:23:23

I rented a Chevy 2500 from Avis several years ago and I suspect you still can. Here is Budget's WEB for trucks http://www.budgettruck.com/home.aspx?couponcode=20dis&eadid=pd_20dis&kw=budget+rental

Edited by - on

Novi
1st Mate

Members Avatar

Canada
59 Posts

Response Posted - 02/19/2012 : 06:20:44

I used a U-Haul, cheap one way rental! Available everywhere and they're not fussy about what your doing with the vehicle.

The 17' U-haul has 10,000lb towing capacity and LOTS of room for the dinghy and all kinds of gear I'd rather not stuff in the boat.

Todd

Edited by - on

dmpilc
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
4593 Posts

Response Posted - 02/19/2012 : 07:51:52

Also check out van rental places, if there is one in your area. An E350 12-passenger van with a tow package would work well.

Edited by - on

Prospector
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Canada
3159 Posts

Response Posted - 02/19/2012 : 15:29:52

Although I would never rent from U-haul itself, many of their trucks come equipped to tow a car behind them. The windage on the box combined with the windage on the boat might be a factor though.

You might want to try some of U-Haul's competitors who have a better reputation before calling U-haul. For instance, Penske.

Discount (I think) carries the full Ford product line, although many renatl places do not have tow-equipped vehicles, at least not around here.

Edited by - on

Arlington
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
196 Posts

Response Posted - 02/19/2012 : 20:22:28

Thanks for the insight and suggestions. The possibility of using UHaul or a similar operation sounds promising. I hadn't thought of he use of a van, it would be nice to be able to carry supplies inside too.

After checking Hertz, Avis, Enterprise and National, I can't find a truck, but maybe I will have better luck during normal business hours, by phone. UHaul has pick ups, but it looks like they want to keep it for local use only. I did find a 10-ft UHaul online, that it looks like it has a trailer hitch.
Doug

Edited by - on

dmpilc
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
4593 Posts

Response Posted - 02/19/2012 : 21:06:15

I bet you'll find out that the smaller U-Haul trucks have a bumper hitch and can't handle the weight of the C-25.

Edited by - on

GaryB
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
4309 Posts

Response Posted - 02/19/2012 : 21:27:10

Be sure you check the ball size if renting from any of the above. If I'm not mistaken U-Haul used to have an oddball size ball so you could only use their trailers.

Edited by - on

Tom Potter
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1913 Posts

Response Posted - 02/20/2012 : 08:11:01

Arlington,
Check with Hertz Equipment Rental. Not the Hertz car rental. I know they have trucks for rent. I work for them. You may have to give them some notice to pull you one in. They rent F250's for construction job sites. It won't be a spic and span clean truck, but its still a F250. Most locations will put any size hitch you request on the truck for you.

Edited by - on

GaryB
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
4309 Posts

Response Posted - 02/20/2012 : 17:17:20

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Tom Potter
 Arlington,
Check with Hertz Equipment Rental. Not the Hertz car rental. I know they have trucks for rent. I work for them. You may have to give them some notice to pull you one in. They rent F250's for construction job sites. It won't be a spic and span clean truck, but its still a F250. Most locations will put any size hitch you request on the truck for you.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Hey Tom I work for RSC.

Edited by - on

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.