I am thinking of buying an 18-20 foot boat. How will CVT handle towing? Will hidden hitch be the option? Can somebody recommend the hitch? Also, I've heared that some people installed a transmission cooler (not MO's CVT). If there are MO owners that have boats and have the setup to tow, please share pics and suggestions.
Towing the boat
DrMurano
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I am thinking of buying an 18-20 foot boat. How will CVT handle towing? Will hidden hitch be the option? Can somebody recommend the hitch? Also, I've heared that some people installed a transmission cooler (not MO's CVT). If there are MO owners that have boats and have the setup to tow, please share pics and suggestions.
Hi Doc
18-20 Ft fiberglass boat will come in about 2,500- 3000 pounds with a motor, add the trailer in and all your equipment and you are pushing the limits. Aluminum hull would be fine though with an outboard.
Depending on the towball weight you might want to look at an airlift kit to improve your ride and reduce suspension sag. (there is another thread on this)
I've ordered a set as I tow a van,won't have it on for a few weeks though.
Go with a receiver hitch that takes 2" for the load, I went genuine for mine as they looked the sturdiest compared to aftermarket.
Obviously electric brakes are a must.
18-20 Ft fiberglass boat will come in about 2,500- 3000 pounds with a motor, add the trailer in and all your equipment and you are pushing the limits. Aluminum hull would be fine though with an outboard.
Depending on the towball weight you might want to look at an airlift kit to improve your ride and reduce suspension sag. (there is another thread on this)
I've ordered a set as I tow a van,won't have it on for a few weeks though.
Go with a receiver hitch that takes 2" for the load, I went genuine for mine as they looked the sturdiest compared to aftermarket.
Obviously electric brakes are a must.
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I have Nissan's hitch installed on my 2003 SE AWD. I tow an enclosed snowmobile trailer with 2 ~500lb snowmobiles in it. It handles very well and acceleration is pretty good on normal roads. I towed the trailer into Western Maryland (hills/mountains topping out at about 2400') this past Winter. My fuel economy was beyond pathetic; single digits if I remember correctly. Although the fuel economy was bad, the Murano towed it quite well.
I have neither the transmission cooler nor electric brakes and had no trouble.
I have neither the transmission cooler nor electric brakes and had no trouble.
I use the Murano to two a 17 foot aluminum bass boat with 40hp outboard. The whole outfit with gear and full fluids probably hits just under 2000 pounds. My 04 Murano with factory hitch and electrical harness with no additional towing equipment handles the towing just fine. I believe the key for anyone wishing to tow with the Murano is not to exceed the maximum tow capacity/tongue weight of 3,500/500 pounds and to use trailer brakes (surge or electric) for loads in excess of 2000 pounds. Fuel economy will, of course, drop.
http://photobucket.com/albums/y61/Nolanryan2/?action=view¤t=moboat1.jpg
http://photobucket.com/albums/y61/Nolanryan2/?action=view¤t=moboat.jpg
..tow a 17' fiberglass...total weight approx.2,400lbs...no additional towing enhancements....MO's big brakes are great...CVT is so smooth and always in the right "gear"....
http://photobucket.com/albums/y61/Nolanryan2/?action=view¤t=moboat.jpg
..tow a 17' fiberglass...total weight approx.2,400lbs...no additional towing enhancements....MO's big brakes are great...CVT is so smooth and always in the right "gear"....
I towed my utility trailer with 2800lbs of quickcrete in it.
I was very careful to balance the load juuuust a little heavy toward the tongue to keep the tongue weight light (around 300).
I did notice the push on stops, but Mo's brakes worked fine.
She scooted nicely as well.
If I were you I would def get the air bags and baby her up to speed.
A friend of mine who is a big time boater said that eectric brakes on boat trailers were a no-no because of corrosion. He said surge brakes were the way to go on boat trailers. After towing just a short distance with 2800 lbs of concrete I can tell you that in a panic stop going freeway speed with anything weighting more than that would be more than exciting without trailer brakes.
I have towed 6500lbs many times with a suburban and it was a handfull if your brakes weren't dialed up enough. Supreme pucker factor will definitely occur.
I was very careful to balance the load juuuust a little heavy toward the tongue to keep the tongue weight light (around 300).
I did notice the push on stops, but Mo's brakes worked fine.
She scooted nicely as well.
If I were you I would def get the air bags and baby her up to speed.
A friend of mine who is a big time boater said that eectric brakes on boat trailers were a no-no because of corrosion. He said surge brakes were the way to go on boat trailers. After towing just a short distance with 2800 lbs of concrete I can tell you that in a panic stop going freeway speed with anything weighting more than that would be more than exciting without trailer brakes.
I have towed 6500lbs many times with a suburban and it was a handfull if your brakes weren't dialed up enough. Supreme pucker factor will definitely occur.
Hello Gentlmen,
Hope you can help me out with this. I'm looking at buying a 2005 nissan murano FWD and installing a towhitch on it.. with this vehicle being fwd and not AWD does anyone think i might run into trouble. I"m just towing a 550 lb motorcycle from ky to fl. But may later on attempt to tow my 2500 lb boat...
Thanks for your advise.
Hope you can help me out with this. I'm looking at buying a 2005 nissan murano FWD and installing a towhitch on it.. with this vehicle being fwd and not AWD does anyone think i might run into trouble. I"m just towing a 550 lb motorcycle from ky to fl. But may later on attempt to tow my 2500 lb boat...
Thanks for your advise.
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The tow rating for both FWD and AWD Muranos is the same 3500lbs, and the AWD Murano operates in FWD 99.99% of the time anyways, so I doubt the act of towing would even lead to the wheel slippage that would trigger the AWD.
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Way to bump an 8 year old thread phillips.
Weight wise you're fine. The only thing I'd be concerned about with a FWD tow vehicle is retrieving the boat at a steep and slippery ramp. The ramp angle + tongue weight really put FWD at a disadvantage. I've seen many a mini-van furiously spinning one front wheel trying to pull boat trailers up the one steep launch ramp around here once the ramp gets wet from a few boats being pulled out.
That said, I don't believe I've felt my Mo's AWD kick in once towing my 3000lb boat out the last couple years but I can't be sure since it's pretty seamless.
Weight wise you're fine. The only thing I'd be concerned about with a FWD tow vehicle is retrieving the boat at a steep and slippery ramp. The ramp angle + tongue weight really put FWD at a disadvantage. I've seen many a mini-van furiously spinning one front wheel trying to pull boat trailers up the one steep launch ramp around here once the ramp gets wet from a few boats being pulled out.
That said, I don't believe I've felt my Mo's AWD kick in once towing my 3000lb boat out the last couple years but I can't be sure since it's pretty seamless.
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The tow rating of your boat is not likely to change in a significant manner unless you substantially increased the size of your engine. Engines typically remain the same all the way through a model’s generation.
Usually I done my boat towing from my state arizona by the help of Citizenshipper as my boat is of high lbs
Usually I done my boat towing from my state arizona by the help of Citizenshipper as my boat is of high lbs
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12,245 Posts
You are responding to a an 8-year-old post, and the discussion was about 1st generation Muranos. The 2nd and 3rd generations of the Murano have lower towing weight ratings than the first generation of the Murano.
The tow rating "of a boat" doesn't change. The tow ratings of vehicles vary.
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