Lemon Drop: Can I tow her?

Thanks bigbill, I didn't factor in wind resistance. Or terrain.

One option is to buy a new vehicle. I looked at a Jeep Grand Cherokee, which has a 6,500 lbs towing capacity. I suspect this can handle a Shasta Airflyte.

The other option is to sell or trade the Airflyte for a Shasta Compact. This may be better for the Outback in terms of weight - the Compact weighs 1115 lbs with a tongue weight of 130 lbs - but would still have a lot of surface area for catching wind.

vintagetrailertalk.freeforums.net/thread/2566/2009-sante-1967-golden-falcon?page=1&scrollTo=26032

Hi gryffendorfen: I gave my opinion on this subject at above the above link (post #2). Consider how far you are towing, terrain and temperature. The Subaru 2.5 would not really be happy towing even a Compact. I would say, keep your Airflyte and go with the Grand Cherokee. I'm very happy with my '03, which I got recently. Get a V8 with the towing package, which most importantly provides additional cooling for the transmission… which is the thing that will overheat before the engine does. Also drive with the transmission in "overdrive off" setting, which will minimize shifting and heat build up.

Susie Q's very sleek and handsome  Jeep Cherokee Trail Hawk may handle like a car, but those Grand Cherokees sure as heck don't!  Be ready for more of a truck kind of handling!  But they do have more of the scale and stance of a car, which is nice when not towing.  I would also recommend a weight distributing hitch with a GC.  It will help keep your front end on the ground and make your handling safer and easier.  I use the Andersen No Sway, which is an unconventional design, light weight and easy to set up each time… and I'm here to tell you it works well.  I wouldn't tow without it.

If you are thinking about a smaller trailer, make sure you have a chance to "visit" one in person.  We pull our Compact with a BMW X3 and we are well under the tow capacity, but we also have a small ski boat that we pull (and it weighs a LOT more than Hamlet does).  We wouldn't trade the Compact for anything, but we did some reconfiguration to make him more functional for us.  We took the two long benches and shortened them by 20".  This allows for a sideways full size bed when we put the table down.  It also allowed us to add a bathroom (in the original closet), a smaller closet and a two-drawer chest with counter space.  But you DO have to take the table down to sleep, and that can be a deal breaker for a lot of folks.  We live where it rains a lot, so we wanted to have that nice big table to sit and play cards or a game, or be able to sit with a couple friends or grandkids.  The table in the Airflyte isn't quite as big.