New Trailer

[kcopen]

Well, I'm one step closer to selling our Jeep and getting a second Prius. We recently got this trailer, and though we haven't used it yet, though I'd post this bad pic (sorry it's backlit and taken with my phone). We're going to break it in taking it 550 miles from the Bay Area to San Diego on Labor Day weekend.

I had uHaul install the hitch and wiring. Though it did look quite easy enough to do yourself, I watched the uHaul guys do the wiring which is what I didn't really want to deal with. Putting the hitch itself on takes like 20 minutes if that. It took them about 45 minutes to do the wiring. Those of you that want to do the whole hitch and wiring thing, uHaul is a good option, it really wasn't that much more expensive then ordering it from eTrailer.com.

We looked for a long time for the trailer. It had to be fairly light, of course and carry a decent amount of cargo. We'll be putting our dogs in the back of the Prius and our cargo in the trailer and believe me my wife can pack alot.

We decided on this one that I bought off eBay (hope the link works):

eBay Motors: 09 aluminum fiberglass cargo motorcycle trailer camping (item 260266578141 end time Jul-28-08 19:21:19 PDT)

It's not cheap but compared to alot of enclosed cargo trailers we looked at the price was competitive. Anyway, looking forward to testing it out, I'll let you all know how it goes. Thanks for the advice here! Any tips for my trip down would also be appreciated! Still a bit nervous about it having never towed before. Thanks.

[zcat3]

I would be very interested in what mileage you get with the trailer. I have made the exact trip you are doing towing about 3300 pounds with our Volvo wagon and averaged about 20 MPG - without the trailer we probably would have seen 25-28.

As for advice on towing, go to a large empty parking lot and practice backing up as that is what gets most people in trouble. When backing up you want to to turn the wheel in opposite direction you think you should. Also, pack the trailer with even weight distribution and pay attention to tongue weight. With 1000 pounds between the trailer and cargo, you should have about 75 - 100 pounds on the tongue to be sure the trailer tracks smoothly with the car. Make sure this doesn't cause the Prius to sit too low in the back. I would suggest using a bathroom scale to check your tongue weight and to move cargo around to get the right weight. Once you have it set right, lift the tongue yourself so you get a feel for the weight. That way you can check it on the road without using a scale. If the trailer is a quality trailer and you have the cargo balanced properly you should barely notice it is there when driving (except perhaps on steep inclines where the engine my struggle with the weight). Also remember that your speed limit on the freeway is 55 in most cases. CHP will let you get away with maybe 60-65, but go faster than that and you will likely get pulled over - they do not like to see people speeding while towing.

[patsparks]

Don't forget to put the jockey wheel in the travelling position.

This is my motorcycle trailer. Because Toyota Australia put a 0kg towing capacity on the Prius I am not legally permitted to tow this trailer with my 1300kg Prius but it is legal to tow it with my 220kg motorcycle. Go figure.

By patsparks at 2007-04-04