-
Trailer
-
Les, why would anyone want a Ram equipped with a V-6? Hemi (now up to 392 cubic inches) or Diesel (Cummings is out and a Fiat diesel is now the only choice new) are the best choices. I still have my 2003 Ram 2500 and just turned 170,000 miles with it. Yes, it is 4×4 with an electronic transfer case, and bought before there was a glimmer of a Prevost in my future.
The wife has a V-6 2011 Chrysler Town and Country. Almost always has to downshift when climbing any hill. Boring. Hemi, well shut off the O/D and it just claws its way over any hill, no shifting necessary.
-
Oops,I’m not sharp enough to transfer link.
-
Flat towing is great, I do it all the time, But, if you want to carry multiple cars, motorcycles, race cars, hot rods, whatever, then there is nothing wrong with pulling the Right trailer that is equipped properly.
My coach rides and drives way better with my trailer behind it.
If you are not experienced in pulling a trailer and driving a 75-80 foot rig, then don’t.
Having the correct amount of tongue weight and not too much by Prevost recommendations, is very important.
-
I agree with Jerry. Like I’ve said before, I trailer when I “have to”.
I don’t know the trailer is behind the coach … until I need to make a sharp at an intersection in an old town with a narrow streets. But the time I make my turn 50 to 60 people have come out the antique store, tattoo parlors, and barber shops to watch me go around the corner and marvel at the fact I didn’t hit anything “this time”.
My advice about Prevost and trailers is simple: Make sure you clearly understand what you’re getting into and can accept all the limitations and risks associated with pulling a trailer behind your Prevost.
-
Jerry and Dick are correct. They and myself tow large trailers(24′ plus), but only when we have to…in all three of our cases because we race cars. I personally pull a 32′ stacker. But, in any other case any trailer…even a small one is a PTA when traveling or using campgrounds and RV resorts. I would look for any other solution. Geo.
-
Great looking rig Jerry.
-
Thanks Tom!
-
There ‘s a picture on Prevost XL facebook page that show a guy pulling a pickup with a pontoon boat on it. How he gets it on and off would be interesting to see.
-
If anyone has a pickup to let me use I will demonstrate how easy it is to take the pontoon boat off of it.
Drive down the boat ramp with the pickup and keep going until the pontoon boat floats. Problem solved.
Any other questions?
-
Remind me NOT to loan you my pick up.
-
Bill,
Share with me the reason you don’t want to lend me your pickup? I would think you would be OK until someone decides to lend me their pontoon boat.
-
I’ve only owned my coach 1.5 years, but I now have a accumulated a reasonable amount of time/miles towing my 20′ box trailer with the Prevost. Up to Canada, down to Florida, over to Tennessee… Most of the time it has been to go racing. Earlier this year I did a trip down to Marathon in Florida towing my daughter’s GTI in the box. I dropped the trailer off at Marathon while the coach was being worked on and I used the car around Florida. Then I took the son on a Prevost-based college visit tour using the GTI to go from the campground to the college, surrounding area, and back.
All the words of wisdom here regarding towing a trailer I can echo. It took some seriously good (if I do say so myself) planning on where to not only park overnight but also during the day on some campus visits (when there wasn’t an overnight stay related to a school). I found several campgrounds that accommodated my rig (which pushes 65′: 40′ bus + 20′ trailer + trailer neck).
Driving this rig through downtown Lexington, VA and making right turns was… exciting. Frankly, driving the coach many places is a pita. Driving the coach with a trailer just ups the ante even further. Actually motoring down the highway with the trailer is no big deal, however.
I have tested and found I can turn my 40′ XL (with IFS) at max turn and not jack knife the trailer, which is a key piece of information to know. Otherwise, as pointed out, you can curb the trailer super easily if you’re not careful. In some situations it may be almost impossible to avoid doing so without a traffic cop clearing the way for you. (To maneuver in the middle of little Lexington, VA, I needed the luck of no one coming against my right turn in the town…)
I’ve considered grabbing a lightweight open car trailer that is more easily maneuverable by hand as I’m not enthralled with flat towing the car and don’t believe an aluminum open trailer (like a Trailex) would be that much different from a fuel economy perspective. The open trailer would keep the car being towed with less wear and tear. I can’t speak to the turning impact of dragging a big pickup. I can’t believe it would be better than a short open trailer. In my short ownership time, I have enjoyed the flexibilty to tow behind the Prevost whatever fits in my trailer (I admittedly do not know how big a deal it is to set up a car to flat tow).
Right now, without a different rear camera, I need someone on FaceTime or similar to help me connect my 20′ trailer or I’d have a hard time by myself. A small aluminum open trailer one can adjust by hand would alleviate that problem.
I got ~7.3mpg towing the GTI-in-box from NJ to Florida to Tennessee to North Carolina and back to NJ, for reference (40′ XL). I basically always set cruise at the speed limit.
(BTW, Jerry, GREAT looking setup. I’d love to go stacker some day behind my bus…)
-
In the beginning, we towed a Lincoln MKX SUV MKX 4-down behind the bus. Always worked great. Unless, we tried to make a turn not wide enough. Then we had to unhook. Once or twice. You learn very fast.
Next, we bought an open flat 20ft trailer because we thought driving our 911 Carrera S4 Convertible would be more fun, than a Lincoln MKX. We did tow this trailer for a little over a year and all was well. Never had to unhook.
For all this time, I was always drooling over stacker trailers when I saw one. Gabi (my wife and partner in crimes) told me to forget about it.
Then, being full-timers living in the bus for going on 5 years, and beginning to run out of storage space, she mentioned “maybe, this stacker thing would not be a bad idea …” and 1 week later, the dealer delivered it to us.
The stacker is 25ft overall with a 20ft box and a so-called extended RV tongue to make cornering easy.
We have towed the stacker everywhere for the past 1.75 years. Only once, did we have to unhook at an RV park!
Now, we are on a, currently, 14 months itinerary traveling around the US of A. Given that another 500K RV units have been added to the market in 2017, we have learned to make reservations for the places we really want to stay at. These are not necessarily “Resorts”. We do love State Parks. But, having or not having a reservation makes for a huge difference.
Anyways, when I started to put together our current itinerary in Sep/Oct of last year, I spent countless hours creating the trip, finding the stops and making reservations.
For every reservation made, I contacted the resort/park/campground to make sure they understood that we were not only 45ft long but also towed a 25ft trailer.
Only ONE reservation we have made for the next 14 months does require that we unhook! It is at Polson in Montana and they will move our trailer to a storage lot.
Of course, you have to spend the time to make these calls. Do not leave and believe that you can make a call in the early afternoon to stay somewhere for the night. Trailer or not, with a 45ft Prevost bus you may be in for an unpleasant surprise.
Even though, we have turned some tight corners, I would not want to miss the convenience of having our stacker. Yes, it is a PITA but, IMHO, the benefits outweigh everything else.
Meantime, we are back to using the Lincoln MKX because we decided to take the 911 along on this trip around the country would beat the s*** out of it and not be worth it. It is safely stored in our air-conditioned garage in St. Pete, FL.
What do we carry in our stacker you might ask?
Our car on the bottom and a kayak trailer with 2 kayaks on the lift. Also, 2 e-bikes, our scuba diving gear, my “tool-shed” and work bench, a huge freezer/fridge box containing adult-beverages, assorted bins with cool or cold weather clothing that we may be needing somewhere, as well as all the dry goods supplies we pick-up at Cosco, Walmart, Sam’s Club, etc. Because buying in bulk at these places (such as “Depends”, Jon’s preferred brand), sure saves you a lot of money!
Our trailer is an all aluminum trailer and the bus does not even know it is there. Do I care about the mileage? Not at all. Even without the trailer, our mileage sucks and if you need to worry about it, you should not be driving a bus.
Cheers,
Ronald
-
Well done Ronald, that should help folks thinking about a stacker. Still wondering when you are going to paint or wrap the stacker to match.
-
Just thought this was an interesting trailer mover. FYI. Michael
Log in to reply.