Budget towing - Smart on a trailer - Smart Car of America Forums : Smart Car Forum

Kermit · 04-30-2009, 10:03 PM

Tomorrow I'm going to try out my car on its maiden voyage behind my Class B motorhome. The whole setup is with a budget in mind. Trailer is an older utility trailer we've had all along - still a very sturdy trailer that I've used to tow my tractor on many times so it is a proven hauler.

A few months back I bought this RV when I stumbled across it driving down a back road in town. The old man that had it had NEVER cleaned it during the 2 years he had it and I suspect the previous owner was much like him. What it did have going for it was underneath all that mildew and dust was a pretty nice motorhome. After 3 days full of cleaning it was nice and then a few other things needed to be done to it to make it roadworthy. In the end, I don't have much into it....maybe along the lines of equal to a teardrop trailer.

Anyhow, here's a pic of it.....no it isn't tied down in the picture. It is tied down right now in preparation of heading to Old Town tomorrow.

**jwight** · 04-30-2009, 10:21 PM

Looks pretty cool, although the gas savings with this combo are...debatable.

NCC1701 · 04-30-2009, 10:23 PM

I'm impressed! But, why aren't you just driving Kermit down there?

Kermit · 04-30-2009, 10:44 PM

Hotels don't generally care for dogs and I was NOT going to leave my dog at the kennel. She's not the type to tear anything up is VERY well trained they still don't care. I also REALLY want to try this thing out and see if it'll make it. It's been a while since I hopped in something I KNEW was going to leave me stranded just to see if I could fix it on the road. It does wonders for your self esteem when you can pull a McGuiver. So this is something I really need to do right now as I'm pretty sure my self esteem is going to be shattered in a few weeks when I find out that I didn't get that big promotion at work.

As far as gas savings, that's very true BUT I find that I bump my head when I stand up in a teardrop and going #2 in the middle of the night tends to smell quite a bit due to the lack of facilities in there. It has most all of the amenities of a full size motorhome but gets much better mileage so Class B versus Class A/Class C motorhomes is a debatable subject as well.

Woody14619 · 05-01-2009, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwight

Looks pretty cool, although the gas savings with this combo are...debatable.

It really depends on how long they're planning on staying in one place. I know some people that drive out to a camping site and stay there up to a month. Having a smaller car to run around in (vs driving the whole motor home) is a huge fuel saver, not to mention a time saver.

For larger mobiles there's also a consideration about the need to re-balance each time you move it. The time an effort for that alone could make it work the effort too.

forestacademy · 05-01-2009, 04:18 PM

So are you going to come up for the Mid-West Smart Summer Rally

Kermit · 05-01-2009, 08:39 PM

Well I'm about to go to bed but made the trip today. As far as the trailer goes....it tows like a dream. The motor home hasn't left us stranded..yet. My crystal ball says it'll need a fuel filter very soon. I carry spares as well as a full assortment of tools. I also got the 2.0 done on Kermit today, no news for that yet.

The whole trip we saw 2 Smarts on the road and a truckload on I-10. In the motorhome I also had an annoying whine coming from the passenger seat but it stopped once she fell asleep.

Must go to bed.....tired, long day.

**jimvw57** · 05-01-2009, 09:09 PM

Looks like a good setup. You might want to think about a cover on the front end of Kermit to keep the road debris off it.

We put many miles on our old Dodge motorhome (class A) and it would have been nice to have an extra set of wheels once we hit a camping area. We got it new in 1969, finally retired it in 2001. It had a good life, went through a few hurricanes in Florida, all over the country and many many breakdowns. That just added to the adventure. We rebuilt the body 3 or 4 times, lots of tires and brakes, but the original motor and transmission. Close to 100,000 miles. Thats a lot of sparkplugs, points, and oil!!

Kermit · 05-02-2009, 07:09 PM

JUST got back! Had to miss out on the get together due to some bad food we had the Friday night.

Wife was sick and I was too a little.

880 miles showing on the odometer of the motorhome. The bad thing is.....looks like it doesn't meet our needs. Both the wife and myself are too big to cram in there so it goes up on the chopping block maybe next weekend once I do a good detailing of it. The one thing about it is that it didn't leave us stranded and it didn't kick anything up on the car. Someone will get a decent budget cruiser - I'm thinking a young stick sized person or couple will like it for some day/weekend trips.

michael j · 05-02-2009, 09:24 PM

hi everyone i tow my smart fortwo behind my 5th wheel trailer on a flatbed single wheel trailer. its 12ft long tows just fine. the trailer bed tilt down for easy loading.i back on to the flatbed and then use tiedowns to secure the car. i have just made a trip from san diego to denver co. and back to yuma az. got the trailer at freeway trailer sales just off i-5 in fife wa. just north of tacoma wa. i love to travel.