Last Run. Short Season. Thursday.

Thursday is packing up day, and we'd decided to get a way a little earlier than usual, so we were both up with the lark. Well, I was, not so much DW.

The weather was still good, and the gazebo had dried out, or at least on the outside. The roof inside was wet with condensation, so as we took it down for the second time this trip, we didn't fold it up tightly, just threw it loose into the back of the van.

The rest of the packing up went to plan, and I took special care to put things away properly, given that Towed Haul is headed for her winter sojourn next week. So much to plan were we that it was almost dead on noon when we rolled off the site and made our way to the dump station. It was there that things took a slightly sideways twist, although not in a bad way. I was about to get grumbly because the Park people had decided to change the fitting on the sewer station's water hose which meant that I couldn't connect it up to the black tank flushing system, when we were approached by some very nice people who had apparently been reading these blogs. They recognized the car, and the trailer, and engaged us in animated conversation, and asking us all about the tow vehicle and it viability. I was a bit surprised to meet someone who had read the blog, although these were not the first, but they weren't camping in the park, just visiting. It got me thinking that I should conclude this, the final trip of our thirteenth season, with some well chosen words about the combo they said would never work.

Before I go there, though, I'll just mention that the waste tanks were dumped successfully, I couldn't get the clear plastic hose extender off the hose and had to stow it in the rear bumper storage compartment until I got home. Our run back was without incident, there was virtually no wind (when you live in an area heavily populated by wind turbines, you notice when there's no wind), and the fuel mileage was down to 16.4 litres per 100 kilometres (the smaller the figure the better), so that was a win. We deviated from our regular route after we were stuck behind one of the double-trailer tomato trucks that ply our roads at this time of year (field tomatoes are big business here and French's Tomato Ketchup plant is just down the roan in Leamington), and drive very slowly. Our final backup onto the driveway was good and we were ready for Charlie's arrival home from school in good time. A very good day, I think.

As to the combo they said would never work, well it has worked for thirteen years with nary a hiccup along the way.

As you'll know, we tow our 28' Airstream (around 7,000 lbs loaded) with a 2011 Toyota Sienna Minivan. This tow vehicle offends the sensibilities of just about everyone who tows a travel trailer because, well, it's not a pickup truck. But, you may also know that North America's most respected towing authority, Andy Thomson, set the Sienna up and said it would work. He'd been in the business for 40 years at that point and had set up thousands on non-truck tow vehicles building his entire business on his reputation. He is Airstream's towing consultant after all.

So many people told me that the Sienna wasn't a proper tow vehicle and would either conk out on the road, or have us all killed in a fiery crash. Even friends looked at us pityingly and wished us good luck and hoped we didn't come to regret our choice, all said with drooping eyebrows and looks that said "you WILL regret your choice". But, we had gone to the best for our setup, and as I will elucidate, he was right on everything, everything he said. All of the naysayers, conversely, were entirely wrong.

A tow vehicle doesn't have to be heavier than the trailer, that's the first thing people get wrong. If tow vehicles did have to be heavier, what size would the tractor unit on an 18-wheeler towing a 53' trailer have to be? We were told that the "tail would wag the dog", but after all these years towing I have never felt the trailer pushing the Sienna around, nor have I ever experienced a "sway" event.

The next thing people get wrong is power. The Sienna will churn out around 270 brake horse power, but actually only ever uses about sixty or seventy when under way. At maximum load, I only ever saw 120bhp required (measured using a ScanGauge) once. The Sienna feels strong on the steepest grades. Not fast, for sure, but strong.

Then they told us the Sienna would never stop the Airstream, but that's wrong, too. The trailer has four braked wheels which will stop the trailer on their own. The Sienna's brakes, discs all round, are pretty good for a car, too. 

Front wheel drive can't be used to tow a trailer they said, and again they were wrong. Yes, when towing I can spin the front wheels, but I can do that when not towing as well. In fact I've only ever lost traction twice with the FWD when towing, and that was applying power on steep, gravelly roads in camp grounds. Indeed, where I've seen pickup trucks spinning their rear wheels to get a trailer moving on wet grass, I've never had any wheel slip at all, and have hauled our trailer out of muddy and wet grass on numerous occasions without ever spinning the front wheels.

Apparently you can't use a unibody constructed vehicle to tow a trailer. After thirteen years towing, I think the Sienna has shown that in reality, a unibody does work.

I've had people tell me it's illegal to tow with the Sienna (it's not), and that my liability is too great to be insured (no one has ever produced a documented case of such a thing happening, although the incidence of "I know a guy..." cases is high). I've even had people say to my face that it was impossible for the Sienna to tow the Airstream, despite the fact that it's sitting in a campground, so patently having been dragged there by the Sienna. 

Actually, it all gets a bit wearing and as people newer to towing than us join the online groups, I go through the same loops as I've described above, over and over again. Every one knows what's best for me, and I'm a poor sap who'd been conned by an unscrupulous salesman, this despite a total lack of experience towing using anything other than a truck.

The Sienna is really a very good tow platform with it's forward weight, independent, low-slung and wide stance coil spring suspension, and six-speed automatic gearbox and is a better design than any pickup up the road.

Of course, I didn't just buy the Sienna and a hitch, and drive off. The hitch receiver had been modified to limit the torque at the hitch head and transfer the weight more effectively to all the available axles. There's an electronic brake controller, a second transmission cooler, weight distribution and sway mitigation systems in place, all of which are essential to make everything work safely. There's the key statement, to make everything work safely, and it so patently does as thirteen years of hassle-free towing demonstrate. 

Apart from the additional transmission cooler, and brake controller, the Sienna is bog standard. It has 230,000 kilometres (143,000 miles) on it and still has the original transmission. I'm not sure how many changes of tires it's had, but it's on its second set of shocks, new ones fitted as routine maintenance rather than as a result of a failure. I've just had the rear section of the exhaust system replaced, and one suspension strut was renewed at around 75,000 miles. It's only on it's second fill of synthetic transmission oil.

That's a lot of information, and I wouldn't be surprised if you fell asleep reading it. The crux of it, though, is that despite all the bad stuff that's been said and written about our setup, it's still going strong and has been entirely safe and entirely reliable throughout. I would love to think that we've challenged people's ideas about towing with a non-truck, but sadly If I put up a photo of our combo, I'll be hit with "it'll never work" nonsense all over again.

Anyway, that's a wrap for season thirteen. Hibernation starts next week, and we're looking forward to season fourteen.

No wheel slip pulling off a waterlogged site.
The puddle is formed in dip made by trucks spinning their rear wheels.

The Black Art of Towing Part One - The Overview

2011 Toyota Sienna 3.5 Liter and 28 ' Airstream International

Introduction

I was asked to write in a little more detail about how we tow, our set up and our experiences. It's a big topic so I'll break it up into a number of entries here on the blog. To start though, here's a photograph of the Toadmobile hitched to Towed Haul.

It's sat on the Can Am RV lot in London, Ontario and it's the brothers Thompson, Andy and Kirk, who've set this combination up. They've run their RV dealership and towing business for over 40 years and really are the leading authority on towing in North America.

At the outset I need to say that this will not be an exercise in proving the numbers. The trailer weighs over 7,000 lbs loaded and the car has a nominal tow rating of 3,500 lbs, so my trying to prove things with numbers isn't going to work. You need to look further than the numbers (they're flawed and not complete anyway), to what makes a good tow vehicle and what can be done to make that tow vehicle work. Ultimately, our combination works, in spite of the numbers so put those calculators down and read on.


The Trailer

Any Airstream trailer is going to tow reasonably well, despite its weight. Notwithstanding all the junk on the outside like the awning and the air conditioning unit, it's quite aerodynamic, with it's curved front and sides. It sits low on its independently sprung wheels and, as a result, presents as small a frontal surface to the oncoming air as possible, which is probably the most significant factor on whether or not we can tow this beast successfully. The length and weight are not as important as its stability and drag.


The Sienna

OMG! It's a front wheel drive, Unibody minivan! Well, that's the usual reaction, but you need to look further than that. The engine is a V6 gasser and puts out a fairly healthy 260 horse power. It's low, or rather its weight is, it's wide and long and it's reasonably aerodynamic. It's suspension is a mix of independent and semi-independent and it has a six-speed automatic gearbox. It also has a surprisingly high payload, although being an eight-seater maybe that's not such a surprise.  That Unibody actually provides a wider stance than traditional, framed tow vehicles and, when we move on to the hitch, you'll see another advantage of that width. The brakes are quite robust, too, with discs all round and double piston callipers on the fronts. All of these things are positive for any tow vehicle and are, actually, far superior than many pick-up trucks and vans from the not so distant past.


The Sienna's Modifications

You can't just hang a large trailer on the back of this car; the trailer's tongue weight, magnified by the lever effect of a hitch mounted behind the rear axle, would be too much for the rear springs to cope with. So, the first thing is a decent weight distribution system, of which I'll provide more detail later.

Then you need a hitch that's going to stand up to the rigours not only of the tongue weight but of the countering forces of the weight distribution system. These things are not available off the shelf, so a big modification is a beefed up hitch - again, more of which later.

The transmission is going to take a battering so an additional oil cooler has been fitted to supplement the factory item.

The trailer has electric brakes so, along with the wiring required for the lights, an electronic brake controller has been installed.

Finally, to allow a reasonable rear view, a set of additional mirrors has been supplied.


So, Does It Work?

I'll just refer you back to the picture at the top. The car is level, the trailer is level and we've driven a fair few kilometres with Towed Haul behind us, so yes it does.


In the next instalment, I'll detail the weight distribution system, as it's the most significant aid to towing; I hope that you'll call back to read the rest...