I would like to get a boat, but only have my mazda 3 w/ a v6 for transportation. I am looking at getting a small truck in the future, but i'm concerned about today right now
I think the car will tow a small jon boat ok, I'm not sure about a larger boat. A guy down the street has a 17' Bass Tracker i was looking at, but that's probably too big for the mazda. Do you think I will have problems pulling the boat out of the water? I really don't want to get my car stuck or worse have it slip into the lake... it is front wheel drive, which I think is advantagous, because they wheels with power won't slip in the water as much. Any thoughts?

Im gonna say, No, No, and No. My wife has a mazda 3, and there is no way it would pull my 16ft aluminum boat anywhere and it also wouldnt be able to stop a boat that size either. If you had to stop fast, that boat and trailer would push the rear end of that little car to the side. And yes, even if you did get the boat on the ramp, i think you would be in trouble trying to get back up the ramp. First of all, the springs in the back of this car are very week. I can throw a 50 lb bag of dog food in the truck and visibly see the rear bumper lower. I dont think you could even hook the trailer up to a hitch on the car and the rear suspension hold it. I would bet you would be dragging bumper. Yours may have a V6 in it but i thought only the Mazda 6 had a V6. My wifes is one of the nicer Mazda 3 models and it is only a 4 cyclinder.

fish monger,
i missed the part about a small jon boat. I think you could achieve that with the car as long as it was a very small jon boat.

But what kind of money are you going to invest in this small boat? Because, if a truck is in your near future, i wouldnt want to buy a boat small enough for the car to pull and then you get a truck later on and wish you had a bigger boat.
Just an idea.

One of my buddies pulls a 14 foot jon boat with a 10 hp honda fourstroke with a 2001 VW diesel jetta. It works fine if you treat it right... but if you pull it 85 like he did and pop the clutch in first gear like he did you will end up like he did, with a first gear with no teeth on it and a bad clutch.

If you are going to pull a load that is on the big side for you tow vehicle do yourself a favor and take it easy on the starts and as easy on the stops as you can.

Yeah I thought anything besides a Jon boat would be unachievable. I would like something bigger but realistically can't afford more than a Jon boat. I was thinking about a porte-boat, or bass buggy but I think I'd feel safer on the lake in a Jon. Plus if I can find a good deal, o think I can get my $ back out of it and upgrade later...

I towed a 15ft Skeeter Bass boat with a 90hp Mercury for years with a Nissan pickup. The truck was a 4 banger with a 5spd tranny. I just had to be more carefull when towing it but it worked just fine.

Reggie

Your Nissan PU may have been small and under powered but it had a suspension and brakes designed to be loaded. I think the suspension and brakes in this case are the issue.

I wouldn't put anything more than a small jon boat behind that mazda 3. The suspension, transmission, brakes and other drivetrain components really aren't built to put 1000 pounds behind it.

front wheel drive is advantagous when its icey on flat ground because there is more traction under the front wheels that carry the more weight than the rear because of the weight of the motor.

This idea of front wheel drive totally gets thrown out the window when you put weight on the rear of a car, such as a trailer. Now most of your weight is in the rear instead of the front, and you could do alot of spinning with those front tires especially on a steep ramp.

think about it, if front wheel drive was advantagous for tow vehilces, then why are all trucks rear wheel drive?

IMO, you'd be better off with an inflatable kayak, pontoon or tube. Any of those would fit in your trunk. Even a compact truck is built for utility. Its a bad example. Your Mazda is not a tow vehicle.

My $.02.

+1 front wheel drive is great on ice without any tongue weight, but not so good when you hook stuff up behind it.

Actually, if you look at the physics of it, front wheel drive is even worse going up a boat ramp because some of that weight goes from the front wheels to the back wheels on an upward incline, meaning you get less traction on the front wheels and more on the back.

Like CWCW said, trucks are all rear-wheel drive for very good reasons. They're bad on ice and good at towing.

Yeah, i if i was going to tow with a car, it would be a big crown victoria or some other big car with a V8 that had rear wheel drive.

I have seen multiple old pictures of people towing stuff with big huge cars of the 1950s and 1960s because those cars had a transmission and rear axle more similar to the trucks of that time instead of the transmissions we see today in smaller and midsize cars. Not to mention the chasis and suspension of these older "tank size" cars

Come visit the kayak fishing forum. I was looking at small boat options for same reasons, no truck etc.. Ended up trying a kayak and it is the most fun I've had in years. I just throw it on top of my Corolla and hit the lake.

Jon Boats are "wet" and splashy! Ok for calm water but waves tend to SWAMP them.

I swamped my former 12 foot Jon Boat and was lucky to be only 30 yards or so from shore. Even at that, I lost equipment.

Gittchee uhh 14 foot aluminum SEMI-V! They ride the waves much better.