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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 250 Specific Forum

GVWR , GCWR , etc

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Silar_Phas
Deckhand

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Canada
22 Posts

Initially Posted - 05/05/2008 : 08:02:10

For your info ...

Towing Weight Definitions

Manufacturers give their vehicle tow ratings in various ways:

* GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) is the total allowable weight of a fully equipped vehicle and includes the weight of the driver, passengers, cargo, all fluids, accessories and the tongue weight of the trailer.

* GCWR (Gross Combined Weight Rating) is the maximum allowed weight and includes a fully loaded tow vehicle with driver, passengers plus a fully loaded trailer.

* GTWR (Gross Trailer Weight Rating) is the maximum trailer weight including trailer plus the cargo inside.

* GAWR (Gross Axle Weight Rating) is the maximum weight each axle is designed to carry safely. It includes the entire weight of the vehicle, occupants, cargo, trailer tongue weight and so forth, but now distributed between front and rear axles.

* Tongue Weight is the additional weight the trailer adds to total weight of the tow vehicle.

( http://newcarbuyingguide.com/index.php/news/main/3657/event=view )

Sebas, quebec ,proud owner of 250wb 2007 hull #926 ...

Edited by - on

At Ease
Admiral

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672 Posts

Response Posted - 05/08/2008 : 18:56:16

Here's one more for the list that confuses many people. The maximum load you can tow is the actual weight of the tow vehicle minus the GCWR...ignore the magic number in the owner's manual.

Edited by - on

John Russell
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3444 Posts

Response Posted - 05/09/2008 : 09:04:05

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by At Ease
 Here's one more for the list that confuses many people. The maximum load you can tow is the actual weight of the tow vehicle minus the GCWR...ignore the magic number in the owner's manual.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Think maybe you got that backwards, if you do the math as (tow vehicle - GCWR) you end up with a negative number. What we've been saying is the reverse. (GCWR - Tow Vehicle = trailer and load limit).

Edited by - on

At Ease
Admiral

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672 Posts

Response Posted - 05/09/2008 : 17:41:50

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by John Russell
 <blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by At Ease
 Here's one more for the list that confuses many people. The maximum load you can tow is the actual weight of the tow vehicle minus the GCWR...ignore the magic number in the owner's manual.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Think maybe you got that backwards, if you do the math as (tow vehicle - GCWR) you end up with a negative number. What we've been saying is the reverse. (GCWR - Tow Vehicle = trailer and load limit).
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Yep, you are correct...by fingers got ahead of my brain.

Edited by - on

Prospector
Master Marine Consultant

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Canada
3159 Posts

Response Posted - 05/09/2008 : 18:07:56

So lets say that someone has a crown vic with a curb weight of 4101 pounds, and a GCWR of 6600 lbs. That would mean they could tow a trailer weighing 2499.

(3) Towing information: 2007 RV & Trailer Towing Guide that was shipped with your 2007 Source Books or the vehicle Owner’s Guide. The gross combined
weight of vehicle (including occupants and cargo) and the loaded trailer should not exceed 6600 lbs.
(4) Not to exceed 6600 lbs. GCWR.

See page 22 of this PDF: http://archiesfordstore.com/07FORDCROWNVIC.pdf

So if the 250WB weighs 1300 lbs empty, he has another 1199 lbs for 4 things: Trailer, People, Stuff and Safety margin, distributed as he feels best.

Edited by - Prospector on 05/09/2008 18:12:07

John Russell
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3444 Posts

Response Posted - 05/09/2008 : 18:22:56

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Prospector
 So lets say that someone has a crown vic with a curb weight of 4101 pounds, and a GCWR of 6600 lbs. That would mean they could tow a trailer weighing 2499.

(3) Towing information: 2007 RV & Trailer Towing Guide that was shipped with your 2007 Source Books or the vehicle Owner’s Guide. The gross combined
weight of vehicle (including occupants and cargo) and the loaded trailer should not exceed 6600 lbs.
(4) Not to exceed 6600 lbs. GCWR.

See page 22 of this PDF: http://archiesfordstore.com/07FORDCROWNVIC.pdf

So if the 250WB weighs 1300 lbs empty, he has another 1199 lbs for 4 things: Trailer, People, Stuff and Safety margin, distributed as he feels best.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Yep, that's true except that the 250WB weighs 3200Lbs empty. Then ya gotta add the weight of the trailer and the stuff. By your calculations, he's around 200%(+/-) of his GCWR.

Edited by - on

Prospector
Master Marine Consultant

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Canada
3159 Posts

Response Posted - 05/09/2008 : 18:59:45

I stand humbly corrected. I looked at the brochure on this site (http://www.catalina-capri-25s.org/manbro/C250OwnersMan.pdf) and saw the first weight that jumped out at me. The factory trailer weight 1300 lbs, and the boat weighs 2400 lbs for a combined weight of 3700 lbs dry and empty.

Sorry Silar. I can't say you are safely within the limits of the car's capacity without some major modifications, and I'm not a mechanic, so I have no idea what it would take to boost your towing capacity by another coupla thousand pounds.

Edited by - on

Silar_Phas
Deckhand

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Canada
22 Posts

Response Posted - 05/09/2008 : 21:21:02

Nice... but mine is a 1994 ...

I will go slowwwwly ...

but still I can read a 5000 lbs on my 1994 owners guide

I dont plan to go very far, plus the new springs are installed I ll be testing them sunday , so far it ride like a pick-up , rear end is stiff...

mmm btw I didnt weight the trailler but on the dvn papers it say 400 kilograms (880 lbs )

the boat empty ( its a wb ) 3200 lbs so its about ( and then again I didnt weight it , I will eventually) 4080 lbs total , plus things I put in it , which I evaluate at around 500 lbs...

4580 lbs total...

will tell how it feels on the road plus I think I might weight it at a "coop agricole" around here next week...

will post as soon as I find out

Edited by - on

John Russell
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3444 Posts

Response Posted - 05/10/2008 : 11:48:04

Bon chance!

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At Ease
Admiral

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672 Posts

Response Posted - 05/10/2008 : 19:11:28

Here's more towing trivia. If you have a tow vehicle (TV) that is a 2005 or newer, the feds mandated a new sticker starting with that model year. It is the Tire and Loading Information sticker...located on the left rear door post or pillar. It will list the maximum cargo capacity for that vehicle to the nearest one pound.

Also, FWIW, use the GVWR minus the cargo capacity from above to give you a true emtpy weight of your TV. The curb weight, noted on the title, is not accurate.

Edited by - At Ease on 05/10/2008 19:12:27

Prospector
Master Marine Consultant

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Canada
3159 Posts

Response Posted - 05/12/2008 : 07:23:52

Thanks for the extra info at ease, I wasn't aware of that.

We went through all this recently with our Astrovan, and decided that in our circumstances (FK, flatbed trailer rental) we were better off hiring someone to tow the boat to the marina for us rather than risk it on our own. Inour case the $$ and Cents of it worked out to be around $100 difference between having the boat hauled or doing it ourselves, and thats well worth it for the peace of mind.

Edited by - on

Ray Seitz
Captain

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USA
416 Posts

Response Posted - 05/17/2008 : 21:06:58

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"> The factory trailer weight 1300 lbs, and the boat weighs 2400 lbs for a combined weight of 3700 lbs dry and empty.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

For what it is worth I have weighed my 2002 C250 WB on certified truck scales and it was much heavier than the 3700 lbs. It was totally empty and did not even have the Honda on it.

I weighed it attached to the tow vehicle (vehicle not on scale) and unattached to the vehicle (just boat and trailer). I wanted to get some idea of the tongue weight. I have the weight slip but it is on the boat so I will have to go by recall. I think boat and trailer was around 4800lbs attached to tow and boat and trailer alone was around 5300lbs.

I have found factory numbers unreliable in a few instances.

Edited by - Ray Seitz on 05/17/2008 21:09:14

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