A Florida friend "flat-towed" a Porsche 911 to races and autocrosses. Asked: Why tow with your Corvette?" He answered "Great air-conditioning and stereo".You can't tow a Sunfish with a 1987 Corvette. HOWEVER.... the manual does not say you can't put the Sunfish on the roof. That might be OK. (I'm not sure about other year Vettes since I only have the 1987 manual.)"
HilariuosGunnar- due to the weight and shape of a Sunfish, you don't want to be towing it with just any old car. You need a vehicle with at least four cylinders, and more than about 20 hp or so. If you are thinking about using a Trabant, a Renault R4, a BMW Isetta, or maybe a Citroen CV2 you might want to consider upgrading a bit to at least an early VW Beetle, which had a nice sturdy 40hp.
The OTHER thing you want to keep in mind is control of the trailer whilst going down the road. For this, you certainly want 4 wheels..... which means if you want to use an old Morgan Three Wheeler, or a Robin Reliant you might want to reconsider. That being said however, I have seen a Sunfish going down the road being towed by a Vespa.... so two wheels might be ok.
My personal favorite Sunfish transporter of all time was a 1969 Opel Cadet station wagon with a roof rack, and simulated plastic woodgrain on the sides. It carted my boat around for almost a decade before 2nd gear went out. THAT was a real tragedy. Have you ever tried to get an Opel Cadet's transmission repaired on the Gulf Coast of Alabama? No, I bet not.... or you wouldn't be laughing about it.
One car that you most certainly DON'T want to use is a 1987 Corvette. I just happen to have a copy of the owner's manual right here.... and it says in no uncertain terms: "This vehicle was not designed for towing". Then later it goes on: "... installation of a trailer hitch is not recommended, and will void your powertrain warranty." So there you have it. You can't tow a Sunfish with a 1987 Corvette. HOWEVER.... the manual does not say you can't put the Sunfish on the roof. That might be OK. (I'm not sure about other year Vettes since I only have the 1987 manual.)
So.... here's my serious recommendation: unless you drive one of the "not recommended cars" listed above, just put a hitch on whatever you already own, and go have fun. (or put the boat on the roof) BUT if you really want to look cool, go one step better and buy some neat old car like my old Opel Cadet, or maybe a Pinto Station Wagon. Then paint the car and boat to match in some wild color scheme.... and go in STYLE!
However.... if you are actually looking for an excuse to ditch the Volvo, then here's an alternative ending: "That puny Volvo won't work at all. You actually need a Jeep Wrangler with the heavy duty package, big tires, and a monstrous crash bar on the front. With such a rig, you can get your boat to any body of water on the continent! "
Do tell. What exactly is a Mommy-boat skipper?
Um, I have a 02 Tahoe. Should I be offended?
We bought our hitch online for our 2004 Elantra (128 ponies) and installed it ourselves (dead easy). Self-install will depend on the car, though. Our statement? We don't need no stinkin' truck! Here's a shot of our rig in front of our builder buddy's King Ranch pickup and hydraulic trailer. And here's Blueberry hauling the boat:
We're in Nebraska, where people need suburban assault vehicles to go shopping, so we turn quite a few heads on the road. Only issue we have is rocketing off the line, the trailer and boat do slow things down. Our drag racing scores have suffered. But it's worth it. ;-)
This is one of the classic threads on this forum. Glad it lives on. Wonder what Gunnar bought for hauling his Sunfish?
I don't know.You could tow a Sunfish with a Smart Car!