First Tow of the Boat!

One of my big motivations for switching to the Model Y from my EV6 was the ability to tow my boat. I have a 2011 Larson LX850 that I bought new, and I’ve towed it with about a dozen different vehicles over the years I’ve had it. It weighs between 3,400-3,500 lbs depending on gear and fuel, so it’s at the upper end of the Y’s capacity. For the last four years, I’ve kept an old 2004 Expedition in the garage to tow with, and today was my first experience towing with my new Model Y.

The boat had to come out of storage today, so my inaugural tow was an 45-mile trip home in 43º F weather. All I can say is, “wow.” Handling was rock-solid, and it felt more comfortable to drive than anything else I’ve pulled with. Better than the F150s, minivans, SUVs, and my old Expedition did with it. As expected, I had gobs of power at all speeds and it was too easy to go a lot faster than needed while keeping up with rush hour traffic. My trailer has well-functioning surge brakes, and the regenerative braking was strong enough to rarely use the brake pedal. I had to stop fast from 70 MPH for a traffic light and the car handled it great.

My overall efficiency was 595 wh/mi. That included a fair amount of stop-and-go for the first fifteen miles, but the last 30 were mostly cruising at 68 MPH. My 30-mile average for the higher-speed portion was over 600 wh/mi, so I’ll have to watch my speed over the 120-mile trip to the boat ramp and back.

The Model Y feels great with a trailer. I’ll update this thread with more efficiency numbers and thoughts as I put on some more miles this summer, but I’m very impressed with how it did this time.

 

[TomB985]

I would advise also not using an access ramp during low tide because
the bottom of the access ramp is often covered with algae and it is very slippery.

See this 4x4 who ended up in the sea with his trailer.

Was that because of slippage? Every case of that I’ve ever heard of is the result of driver error. People fail to put the truck in park, hit the wrong pedal, or something of the like. I’ve never heard of someone sliding into the water before.

If this can happen, there are a lot of vehicles with less weight on the braked axle that would be more susceptible to this than the Model Y.

 

[Watts_Up]

Was that because of slippage? Every case of that I’ve ever heard of is the result of driver error. People fail to put the truck in park, hit the wrong pedal, or something of the like. I’ve never heard of someone sliding into the water before.

If this can happen, there are a lot of vehicles with less weight on the braked axle that would be more susceptible to this than the Model Y.

I spent a lot of summers at the beach doing sailing and scuba diving, and the great attraction for the locals
residents was looking every weekend at the new tourists arriving and wanting to immediatly put their brand
new boat into the water after a ten hour drive from their home without consulting the tide table even if they
have been warned not to do so. The most difficult for kids was trying keeping composure and showing empathy...

And as you can see from the picture, yes a slipway can be very slippery at low tide, you can't even walk safely on top of it.

To pull a boat into or from the water, the trailer needs to be submerged,
so the rear wheels of a car would often been halfway into the water.

In this particular area, when there are a lot of algae, I think that the only way
to avoid from a car to lose traction is keeping the car on dry land, by detatching
the trailer and rolling the trailer into or from the water using a cable and a hand
crank winch, or wait for the high tide.

 

[carlyb24]

Yeah that’s a good point- I’d definitely be concerned about algae too

 

[TomB985]

I had to run to the boat dealer, so I figured I’d drag the boat for a worst-case range test. Total was 107 miles round-trip in a driving rainstorm at 44º. I made it to the dealer with 56% remaining, but had a headwind for the return trip, so I quickly hit the Supercharger on the way back. I would have made it without the charge. I took on 14% at the Supercharger and lost a bit to preconditioning on the way there. I made it home with 15% left.

My towing impressions are the same: this thing is amazing with a trailer. Even with Pirelli summer rubber on 21’s, it was rock-solid in cold, wet weather. I don’t think I ever broke traction, and the car was more than powerful enough to keep up with traffic. I was shooting for 65 MPH in both directions, but exceeded that a few times when I was passing. One-pedal driving worked great with my trailer’s surge brakes, and I only had to touch the brake pedal a couple of times over the entire trip.



I’m unreasonably proud of my parking job.

 

[dwest218]

Maybe you could put something on the ramp to increase friction - coarse sand or even a mat of some sort- just as a little extra insurance against sliding

I was thinking of chocking a wheel but I was really looking for feedback to see if anyone has heard of this happening? No reason it couldn’t.

 

[TomB985]

I was thinking of chocking a wheel but I was really looking for feedback to see if anyone has heard of this happening? No reason it couldn’t.

Chocking a wheel will prevent the wheel from rolling. But the parking brake should be sufficient for that by itself. If the wheel does roll, the chock will be even more likely to slide than your tires unless it has a higher coefficient of friction against the ramp.

When the boat is out of the water, the driver is controlling speed with the brakes on all four wheels. When the boat is in the water, the water takes the weight off the trailer. I’ve never been to a launch like Watts_up mentioned, but I’ve been a boater most of my life and I’ve never known this to be a problem. It’s not uncommon for driver error to send the tow vehicle into the drink, but a wheel chock isn’t going to help with that.

I think you’re trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist.

 

[carlyb24]

Whether or not I’ve seen an accident happen doesn’t negate its potential. I’ve been living in houses my entire life and have never once seen a house catch fire. This doesn’t mean I shouldn’t take every precaution available.

I think the point of the question is not to consider whether chocks could replace brakes or be more effective than brakes - clearly brakes and the friction between the tires and the ramp are the primary source of restraint. The point is simply to consider whether chocks provide some supporting measure of restraint just as they do in aviation and rail operations and to find out if others have experience doing this…it seems logical to expect they could if properly sized and placed.

 

[TomB985]

The only article I found mentioning this was here. And ironically, they insist that wheel chocks can only be used when there isn’t algae. The biggest safety point mentioned here is keeping passengers out of the tow vehicle at the boat ramp. It’s always been my rule that I’m the only one in the car when backing in or pulling out because of the risk of drowning. If I screw up and the car goes in the water, I can get myself out through my open window. Kids in the back would have a much harder time.

 

[Watts_Up]

The biggest safety point mentioned here is keeping passengers out of the tow vehicle at the boat ramp. It’s always been my rule that I’m the only one in the car when backing in or pulling out because of the risk of drowning. If I screw up and the car goes in the water, I can get myself out through my open window. Kids in the back would have a much harder time.

Why not using Summon? Also a Tesla could float for a liitle bit when above water...

 

[woolymammoth17]

I thought I had heard some issue with any new Tesla equipped with the newer Lithium-Ion low voltage battery being too high volt (~16 volts) that you couldn't connect a trailer to it?

 

[TomB985]

Why not using Summon? Also a Tesla could float for a liitle bit when above water...

I’m not sure if this is serious, to be honest.

Backing a trailer is pretty technical; you have to constantly make steering corrections to keep the boat going in the right direction. I probably make at least a dozen small corrections to keep things in-line down a ~50-foot ramp. It would take me all day to try and do that with Summon. I’ve been doing this for over 20 years and am very comfortable with launching and retrieving a boat. I also didn’t fork over the money for EAP or FSD this time around.

But even those who are new or uncomfortable with boat ramps shouldn‘t use Summon. It’s an inappropriate use-case that would probably be more likely to cause problems than solve them.

 

[TomB985]

I thought I had heard some issue with any new Tesla equipped with the newer Lithium-Ion low voltage battery being too high volt (~16 volts) that you couldn't connect a trailer to it?

If that were the case, they wouldn’t offer a towing package.

Cars with the 16v Lithium-Ion battery have slightly different wiring at the trailer receptacle. One of the circuits in a 7-pin connector is a 12v power circuit to charge the trailer battery. This is useful for campers and those with trailer brakes. Li-Ion cars don’t have the 12v circuit, which presents a problem for my brake controller. Everything else works great, though.

 

[woolymammoth17]

If that were the case, they wouldn’t offer a towing package.

Cars with the 16v Lithium-Ion battery have slightly different wiring at the trailer receptacle. One of the circuits in a 7-pin connector is a 12v power circuit to charge the trailer battery. This is useful for campers and those with trailer brakes. Li-Ion cars don’t have the 12v circuit, which presents a problem for my brake controller. Everything else works great, though.

Sorry. I'm confused. You're saying their solution was to just remove any of the wiring going to the trailer completely?

 

[TomB985]

Sorry. I'm confused. You're saying their solution was to just remove any of the wiring going to the trailer completely?

No; I should have been more clear. They removed the 12v power circuit from the 7-pin trailer harness attached to the hitch. The pin is there, but it doesn’t provide power. All other trailer circuits are 100% functional, and there is zero difference for trailers that don’t use this circuit.

You can see in this photo from yesterday that my trailer lights work just fine.

 

[Unclepaul]

Believe this is a common report regarding Tesla towing capability.
Most say it tows better than you might expect. Lots of power, regen braking is great and control is good.
Only issue is that range can often be cut in 1/2 with heavier boats.
For many, that is not an issue. Short distance towing is fine. For long distance towing you must stop frequently and the trips take longer.
As with all tow vehicles, care should be taken to not exceed the rated capacity of your vehicle.

 

[ThomasD]

Wouldn't sliding down a boat ramp depend on the surface of the ramp. How wet the ramp is and if it is a ramp with a rough surface or a smooth surface. It could also depend how far into the water you have to go.

 

[TomB985]

Wouldn't sliding down a boat ramp depend on the surface of the ramp. How wet the ramp is and if it is a ramp with a rough surface or a smooth surface. It could also depend how far into the water you have to go.

The first video is a long, flat “ramp” where the truck had to back all the way into the water. You’ll notice that he had no problems with traction as he was pulling his trailer out. The second one is a classic; it happens all the time. People screw up and either forget to put their truck in park or hit the wrong pedal. You’ll find hundreds of photos and videos of this happening all over the world.

Out of all of the ones I’ve seen, I have yet to find one who claims they couldn’t stop and/or their vehicle slid down the ramp. I’m not saying it’s never happened. But if it has, it’s vanishingly rare.

 

[TomB985]

I got another data point with my empty utility trailer today. It's a 7x12 Big Tex that weighs about 1,100 lbs, and it does a nice job illustrating that highway efficiency is all about wind resistance.

I knew it would be bad, so I set the cruise at 60 and let everyone fly by on the interstate. The best I could do was still worse than my boat at 65 MPH, and I was pulling 854 wh/mi going into headwinds at that speed. The big gate at the back might as well have been a cargo parachute.

Weight matters little; it's all about the wind resistance and speed. I might not have made it home if I went 65.

 

[Watts_Up]

The big gate at the back might as well have been a cargo parachute.

The gate on the back seems to be an access ramp.

Would it be possible to carry it flat on the trailer's floor when the trailer is empty and compare the consumption?

 

[TomB985]

The gate on the back seems to be an access ramp.

Would it be possible to carry it flat on the trailer's floor when the trailer is empty and compare the consumption?

Kind of. Some trailers fold over and lay flat, but this one must be removed and strapped down. I’ve done it before, and fuel economy goes WAY up.

My Expedition will get 12.5 MPG towing my boat on the highway. This empty trailer gets 11.5-12 with the gate up, and over 15 with no gate installed. Wind resistance is king on the highway.

In this case, I needed the ramp gate because I was going to bail my ex-wife out from a problem. She rented a U-Haul motorcycle to haul her bike to the shop, but it wasn’t wide enough. I didn’t have the juice to make it all the way to the dealer with those consumption numbers, so I left the trailer and she pulled it with something else.