squidboy Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Hi Raiders, I have just ordered another boat. It is 4.5 Metres on a braked trailer. Now I know my subaru forester book loves to say that it can two 1200kg braked, but reality is that it may not do it well. Just wanting to know whether there are other Subsaru Forester drives out there that tow 4.5m aliminium boats roughly 800kg and how the Subaru handles the pulling, breaking and turning of corners. Love to hear from you all, I used to tow a 4.2 aliminium boat weighing about 500-600KG and I knew it was behind me, but when the turbo was on it felt like there was nothing behind me. Cheers Squidboy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimT Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 e-mail sent Jim...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shady Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 e-mail sent Jim...... i own a 03 savage 4.8 it ways more than your boat,it tows easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tip Tip Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 My mate tows a glass haines hunter 4.8 meter and it tows it anywhere with a XT Forster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRED-ATOR Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Hi Raiders, I have just ordered another boat. It is 4.5 Metres on a braked trailer. Now I know my subaru forester book loves to say that it can two 1200kg braked, but reality is that it may not do it well. Just wanting to know whether there are other Subsaru Forester drives out there that tow 4.5m aliminium boats roughly 800kg and how the Subaru handles the pulling, breaking and turning of corners. Love to hear from you all, I used to tow a 4.2 aliminium boat weighing about 500-600KG and I knew it was behind me, but when the turbo was on it felt like there was nothing behind me. Cheers Squidboy Mate is your Forester the EJ20 or 25 and is it turbo or N/A? I had a subaru legacy GTB with the EJ20 twin turbo in the manual and it towed my 5.2 metre boat which is about as tonne with all fuel and gear loaded and it towed it ok. But just ok. Since then ive switched to the xr6 which is awesome at towing. Its gor 4wd going for it, but low end torque isnt that great. If its the turbo version, once is spools up its not too bad but alot of stress on the engine. Hope this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squidboy Posted August 17, 2011 Author Share Posted August 17, 2011 I own an XT turbo 2.5 litre. I used to won a 317KW Senator which would make you forget that you had a trailer on the back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishDrought Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 (edited) I own an XT turbo 2.5 litre. I used to won a 317KW Senator which would make you forget that you had a trailer on the back Hey Squidboy, I had a 4.35 Brooker and use to tow it behind a AH Astra 1.8L. I now have a 2.5 XT just like yours and am looking at buying a tinny upto 5 metres. I would be interested in knowing how your Foz tows your boat when you get it. Best of luck Jase Edited August 17, 2011 by FishDrought Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squidboy Posted August 17, 2011 Author Share Posted August 17, 2011 Give me the eight week waiting time and PM me. I will let you know. One kind member has stated the MRT Performance offers some upgrade packages for the turbo engines. I do not need to be the hoon type but it could be a bit of the fix when pulling off the ramp. Also, brakes is the other thing. Besides pulling the boat, I will be reviewing how well it stops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abecedarian Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 The MRT guys can give you extra power, and mist of their options will smooth out the power curve too which is an advantage. But, they are expensive and impact quite a bit on the reliability of the engine. As for the braking, if you're worried about it then fit a good set of electric brakes to the trailer and get rid of the over ride system. The over ride system is crap really and puts a lot more pressure in the tow vehicles brakes than electric brakes, where you can adjust the degree of trailer braking which happens as soon as you hit the brake pedal... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRED-ATOR Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Give me the eight week waiting time and PM me. I will let you know. One kind member has stated the MRT Performance offers some upgrade packages for the turbo engines. I do not need to be the hoon type but it could be a bit of the fix when pulling off the ramp. Also, brakes is the other thing. Besides pulling the boat, I will be reviewing how well it stops. Mate you want my advice, Dont go to MRT to waste hundreds of dollars. Power is not going to affect your towing too much, torque is. What you want is to be able to pull the boat out of the water from the ramp. the EJ turbo engines are crap low down, so playing with boost or larger intercooler is only going to create more lag. What you want to do is open up the waste gate so you get boost QUICKER. You want that low end torque to pull your boat and move from stop to start. Also once the car is under load it should spool the turbo up faster. I hope you got an auto mate, otherwise its not the best on the ramp, i burnt a bit of clutch pulling my boat out with my subaru. Thats why i switched to the auto xr6 (the colonel) Hope this helps mate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimT Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 not wanting to upset anyone however: opening up the wategate won't spool up turbo faster. It;s job is to release pressure so you don;t overpower the engine. Tuners can tune engine for more torque rather than power by changing parameters like timing and fuel. If you need to have more boost at lower revs you can fit a smaller turbo which will spool up quicker but can be at the expense of top end power. and lastly these are options all available from several tuners not just MRT and pricing is about asking questions, being informed and making a decision that suits you and you are happy with.. regards Jim...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRED-ATOR Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 not wanting to upset anyone however: opening up the wategate won't spool up turbo faster. It;s job is to release pressure so you don;t overpower the engine. Tuners can tune engine for more torque rather than power by changing parameters like timing and fuel. If you need to have more boost at lower revs you can fit a smaller turbo which will spool up quicker but can be at the expense of top end power. and lastly these are options all available from several tuners not just MRT and pricing is about asking questions, being informed and making a decision that suits you and you are happy with.. regards Jim...... Lol Jim your not going to upset anyone hahaha this is the place for testosterone fuelled car talk. It worked a treat on my twin turbo subaru. I had lag between both turbos (sequential set up) opened the waste gate, a few minor adjustments on the apexi and it got rid of my problem. By opening up the waste gate, my primary turbo was able to push exhaust gas quicker into the secondary big ass turbo to get more boost quicker. Cheers, Predator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimT Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Lol Jim your not going to upset anyone hahaha this is the place for testosterone fuelled car talk. It worked a treat on my twin turbo subaru. I had lag between both turbos (sequential set up) opened the waste gate, a few minor adjustments on the apexi and it got rid of my problem. By opening up the waste gate, my primary turbo was able to push exhaust gas quicker into the secondary big ass turbo to get more boost quicker. Cheers, Predator With a sequential 2 turbo set up it would do what you say. There is not many sequentials out there anymore as they had their problems. But need to keep this all simple otherwise it just gets toooo hard.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squidboy Posted August 17, 2011 Author Share Posted August 17, 2011 Lol, war. Nit buying into any arguements but I am looking at all your positive advice. Alternative could be to buy a cheap v6 auto just for the boat ramp. No point in me burning up a clutch is a suby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike82 Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 G'day Squidboy. I've got a manual XT (2.5L turbo) Forrester and tow a 4.6m Quintrex on an over-rider braked trailer. With all gear fuel etc. probably pushes the 1000kg mark. The Subi tows it absolutely no problems at all. Braking is not an issue in the slightest. (It would outbreak my previous Holden crewman hands down!) Excellent fuel economy with and without the boat on. (I get about !0.5L freeway with no boat or 12.5L per 100kms towing) No problems at the ramp either being AWD. No need to ride the clutch or anything like that, just pops it straight out. Only modification I have is an aftermarket exhaust which "frees" the engine up a bit. Overall (in my opinion) it's a fantastic tow vehicle for my application. Beats the V6 auto crewman I had in all areas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Central Coast Fisherman Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 G'day Squidboy, I've got a forester x (non turbo) and I tow a 4.5m fibreglass boat on a non braked trailer. The forester tows it no problem at all with 4 people in the car and boat loaded with fuel, fishing gear, etc. I have some very steep hills around my place and the forester slows down quite a bit going up these hills but once it drops down a gear or two it gets up the hills fine. Being an all wheel drive its tows my boat up the ramp very easily. However i have an unbaked trailer so the real test is going to be when i tow my boat all the way from the central coast to Narooma at the end of the year. I will be going up over Clyde Mountain which is pretty steep in sections, however if i take it very slowly on the decent i think it will go just fine. Cheers, Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squidboy Posted August 18, 2011 Author Share Posted August 18, 2011 For the two posts above, this is perfect information. It answers my question to a tea. I didn't want an exhaust on the back that makes that terrible noise, but from what I gather from your posts I should be ok with towing my qunnie. Great advice Fisho's look forward to make trips with the car and boat. Squidboy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheap charlie Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 Hi Raiders, I have just ordered another boat. It is 4.5 Metres on a braked trailer. Now I know my subaru forester book loves to say that it can two 1200kg braked, but reality is that it may not do it well. Just wanting to know whether there are other Subsaru Forester drives out there that tow 4.5m aliminium boats roughly 800kg and how the Subaru handles the pulling, breaking and turning of corners. Love to hear from you all, I used to tow a 4.2 aliminium boat weighing about 500-600KG and I knew it was behind me, but when the turbo was on it felt like there was nothing behind me. Cheers Squidboy From what members with similar vehicles and boats are reporting, it sounds like you should have no real concerns in relation to your vehicle being capiable of: - Towing the boat - Stoping with the boat attached - handling not being adversely affected whilst towing the boat Sounds like the only point of contention relates to retrieving the boat on the boat ramp? Is your Forester fitted with dual range? (a second transmission lever next to the hand brake? Most manual Foresters and outbacks where fitted with a dual range transmission (not to sure on Turbo variations thoe?) If your vehicle does have the dual range, it's just a mater of selecting Low range to retrieve your boat...? At the end of the day, you already have the vehicle, the boat is on order... Put the two together and see what happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squidboy Posted August 18, 2011 Author Share Posted August 18, 2011 Don't have the low range as I could not get it as an option. All the members on this sight have been really helpful. Thanks slot members. Will have to get back on with a report on how it all went. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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