Towing travel trailer with Model Y

[Gadget63]

another method of reducing tongue weight without spending a dime is load placement in the trailer. If you have too much weight on the tongue, move some items in the trailer such as food and clothing to just behind the rear axle to lower tongue weight. empty your holding tanks and fresh water to reduce overall weight. Years ago we had a pop up trailer and to reduce tongue weight we moved the portable generator and pots and pans to just rear of the trailer axle and it made all the difference in the world

 

[Webeevdrivers]

Interesting enough with the Tab 400. The battery that come with it is an AGM and is under the bed just behind the rear axle. (Like 6 inches or so). Adding a second battery actually lighten the hitch.

As well, the water tank is right over but slightly behind the axle. So a full tank actually lightens the axle weight by about 30 ish pounds.

Friend of ours has one. He is a huge resource. We are ordering one in September and will pull it most likely with a model Y...although we have a model X on order as a backup plan.

 

[digitalboi]

I think you effectively end up with an "autonomous" vehicle that follows you. Maybe to not make the regulators (and public) so afraid of it you put some kind of mock "hitch" in place and if it disconnects the "trailer/train" comes to stop just like current trailers.

Actually I think we just made an electric RV, but instead of the Model Y getting towed you get drive it. And I've seen RV wrecks, honestly I'd rather be in the Tesla from a safety stand-point. No one should be in these RV's while they move down the road!

ROFL thats exactly what i was thinking as i was reading and thinking about it.. I LOVE the idea but yeah its an electric RV ROFL

 

[avs007]

another method of reducing tongue weight without spending a dime is load placement in the trailer. If you have too much weight on the tongue, move some items in the trailer such as food and clothing to just behind the rear axle to lower tongue weight. empty your holding tanks and fresh water to reduce overall weight. Years ago we had a pop up trailer and to reduce tongue weight we moved the portable generator and pots and pans to just rear of the trailer axle and it made all the difference in the world

Just be careful with how much weight you shift to the rear of the trailer. It can be very dangerous.

 

[Gadget63]

Just be careful with how much weight you shift to the rear of the trailer. It can be very dangerous.

I know all too well it's a balancing act.

 

[Spenny818]

Did our first test run today with the Tab 400 and Model Y. The Tab 400 towed incredibly well and the whole rig remained very composed on the highway and on rougher surface streets. We did a 30km highway stretch with the cruise at 90km/h, and averaged 372Wh/km. On the same leg coming back, we set cruise at 100km/h and consumption was 460Wh/km. Despite the significant range hit, the 400 tows like a dream and is definitely a suitable trailer option for the Model Y as long as you are able to make the range work for your situation!

 

[digitalboi]

Did our first test run today with the Tab 400 and Model Y. The Tab 400 towed incredibly well and the whole rig remained very composed on the highway and on rougher surface streets. We did a 30km highway stretch with the cruise at 90km/h, and averaged 372Wh/km. On the same leg coming back, we set cruise at 100km/h and consumption was 460Wh/km. Despite the significant range hit, the 400 tows like a dream and is definitely a suitable trailer option for the Model Y as long as you are able to make the range work for your situation!View attachment 683338

Looks nice! I've been looking at stuff but not sure if the two of us and our small boys can fit into something like that

 

[Webeevdrivers]

Did our first test run today with the Tab 400 and Model Y. The Tab 400 towed incredibly well and the whole rig remained very composed on the highway and on rougher surface streets. We did a 30km highway stretch with the cruise at 90km/h, and averaged 372Wh/km. On the same leg coming back, we set cruise at 100km/h and consumption was 460Wh/km. Despite the significant range hit, the 400 tows like a dream and is definitely a suitable trailer option for the Model Y as long as you are able to make the range work for your situation!View attachment 683338

Looks great. Did you have to use a ball mount with a rise or fall or did it line up pretty good right out of the receiver. Could you post a close up of the hitch?

Also,
fresh full or empty.
what break control
What cargo in the car

Thanks in advance.

 

[BigTrailer]

Looks nice! I've been looking at stuff but not sure if the two of us and our small boys can fit into something like that

In the same boat. My oldest is already going through a growth spurt, happens so fast. I can see that while now both boys would fit in the front dinette, they won't get along for long.

I think from a towable range standpoint and 4 person sleeping. The only viable option for a MY right now is the Alto 1743 with the extra bunk. Assuming you want shower/hard shell that is.

 

[digitalboi]

In the same boat. My oldest is already going through a growth spurt, happens so fast. I can see that while now both boys would fit in the front dinette, they won't get along for long.

I think from a towable range standpoint and 4 person sleeping. The only viable option for a MY right now is the Alto 1743 with the extra bunk. Assuming you want shower/hard shell that is.

Thanks for the recommendation! I will look into that one for sure. The more I am thinking about it though we may just rent something and wait till our CT delivery so we are not so constrained

 

[Spenny818]

Looks great. Did you have to use a ball mount with a rise or fall or did it line up pretty good right out of the receiver. Could you post a close up of the hitch?

Also,
fresh full or empty.
what break control
What cargo in the car

Thanks in advance.

We were using a mount with the max 3/4" rise that Tesla recommends, and it put the trailer perfectly level. I didn't take any close up photos of the hitch, but the ball kit we were using is this one: https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/reese-tow-kit-2-in-0406899p.html

Tanks were empty for this run, however trailer was loaded with camping gear. Not sure on total weight of the trailer when loaded, but likely just over 3000#.
Using the Curt Echo brake controller. Honestly, it is pretty remarkable how well this car tows without trailer brakes. You can do one pedal driving still with this trailer behind you, however for emergency scenarios we still decided to install the brake controller. Setup was a breeze and took less than 5 minutes.
Car was mostly empty for cargo. Just 2 adults in the front and maybe 50# worth of gear.

Happy to answer any other questions folks may have. First real world trip is next Monday, travelling about 300km and hitting 2 Superchargers along the way.

 

[Webeevdrivers]

We were using a mount with the max 3/4" rise that Tesla recommends, and it put the trailer perfectly level. I didn't take any close up photos of the hitch, but the ball kit we were using is this one: https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/reese-tow-kit-2-in-0406899p.html

Tanks were empty for this run, however trailer was loaded with camping gear. Not sure on total weight of the trailer when loaded, but likely just over 3000#.
Using the Curt Echo brake controller. Honestly, it is pretty remarkable how well this car tows without trailer brakes. You can do one pedal driving still with this trailer behind you, however for emergency scenarios we still decided to install the brake controller. Setup was a breeze and took less than 5 minutes.
Car was mostly empty for cargo. Just 2 adults in the front and maybe 50# worth of gear.

Happy to answer any other questions folks may have. First real world trip is next Monday, travelling about 300km and hitting 2 Superchargers along the way.

Thanks for the informative responses. Apparently the hitch weight goes down if you are full of fresh because of tank placement. If you travel fresh full let us know if it gets squirlly with less hitch weight.
It looks like the car is squatingvabiut an inch and a half. There is a fellow here who pulls something similar and found that by packing heavy things in the frunk he was able to return about 100 pounds back to the front axle and reduce the squat somewhat. He has a tool bag and some jugs of drinking water in the Frunk. If you try this let us know the results.

I suspect where we are our average speed will be closer to 80 kmh as we are in the BC interior where speed limits are slow and little towns are close together. We went on a two hour road trip last Sunday and I think our usage was like 152 watts per kilometre....and a lot of that road I would do slower with a trailer.

Thanks again.

 

[ThomasD]

Thanks for the recommendation! I will look into that one for sure. The more I am thinking about it though we may just rent something and wait till our CT delivery so we are not so constrained

Have you looked at mantis taxa Mantis - TAXA Outdoors

 

[digitalboi]

Have you looked at mantis taxa Mantis - TAXA Outdoors

Looks very cool but looking at the specs it seems like its to heavy for the Y?

 

[ElectroCat]

Heading to and camping in Algonquin park.
310km one way averaged 310 wh/km
Charging at Barrie

Camping at Pog lake

 

[Araman0]

Looks very cool but looking at the specs it seems like its to heavy for the Y?

Which spec specifically? From what I can tell his tongue weight is slightly over the 350 pound capacity but not by much.

As a comparison I stopped by the weigh station on the way back from a trip while towing our fully loaded Palomino Solaire Expandable 147x. The tongue weight was about 325 pounds (counting the ball mount) out of an allowed 350 pounds, and the loaded trailer weight was about 3400 pounds (out of 3500 allowed). While pushing up to the limits we never exceed them, and I drive fairly slowly with the camper even though the car seems to have more than enough power. We're several thousand miles in so far on this setup, and I'm hoping everything continues to go well as it has been so far.

 

[wackojacko]

Took some modivation to pry down the bottom plastic, but I was able to get the anti rattle bracket tightened. No rattle for me .

Definitely something I will only do only the day before towing not day of lol.

 

[dhrivnak]

Just hitched our new Y to our Alto trailer.
Looking forwad to our first camping trip in May.
Dry weight 1750lb
Top up for camping

View attachment 651174
View attachment 651173

Please share your range hit with the alto.

 

[ecarfan]

Heading to and camping in Algonquin park.
310km one way averaged 310 wh/km
Charging at Barrie

Camping at Pog lake

Love your rig What was your average speed during your trip? And I assume very few elevation changes, right?

My rig. Obviously I don’t tow with a Y, but I do tow a Safari Condo Alto, in my case an F1743 model. Which would also be a great trailer for a Model Y owner as it is even slightly lighter at 1753 lbs than your R1713 (or 1723?) model. By the way, Safari Condo officially lists those models as having a dry weight of 1825 or 1867 lbs. You say yours is 1750 lbs? No matter really, all the Alto models are very lightweight for their size owning to the design using aluminum and lightweight composite materials extensively.

 

[ElectroCat]

Love your rig What was your average speed during your trip? And I assume very few elevation changes, right?

My rig. Obviously I don’t tow with a Y, but I do tow a Safari Condo Alto, in my case an F1743 model. Which would also be a great trailer for a Model Y owner as it is even slightly lighter at 1753 lbs than your R1713 (or 1723?) model. By the way, Safari Condo officially lists those models as having a dry weight of 1825 or 1867 lbs. You say yours is 1750 lbs? No matter really, all the Alto models are very lightweight for their size owning to the design using aluminum and lightweight composite materials extensively.View attachment 686318

Love your rig What was your average speed during your trip? And I assume very few elevation changes, right?

My rig. Obviously I don’t tow with a Y, but I do tow a Safari Condo Alto, in my case an F1743 model. Which would also be a great trailer for a Model Y owner as it is even slightly lighter at 1753 lbs than your R1713 (or 1723?) model. By the way, Safari Condo officially lists those models as having a dry weight of 1825 or 1867 lbs. You say yours is 1750 lbs? No matter really, all the Alto models are very lightweight for their size owning to the design using aluminum and lightweight composite materials extensively.View attachment 686318

Hi
Great that you like the Safari Condo Alto, ours is 9 years old, at that time it was about 1750 lbs looks like they got heaver since then, replaced the battery with an lifepo4 which saved use some weight.
Tend to drive at the limit or just below.
Still getting a feel for the range while towing.