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Comment by 4thaccount | Hacker News Reader

I also live in the South and most people in my Suburb have zero use for a truck, but will gladly spend $90 to fill up their gas guzzler.

Why? Because it is a symbol of masculinity in the South and many men would never ever drive a car. Their grandfather had a truck, father had a truck, and they were given a truck as their first vehicle. It would have made sense for the grandparent on the farm, but if you sit in front of a computer 8 hours a day and live in a suburban neighborhood...you probably don't need a truck.

With that being said, there are folks down here that still need trucks for work and recreational activities like hunting and towing a boat.

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How heavy is the boat? A Toyota Corolla can tow up to 1500lb.

A 20 ft trailer sailer will generally weigh around 1000 kg, plus trailer and rigging.

And just because a Corolla can technically tow 1500 lb doesn't mean it does it well. In my experience Corollas do not tow well. The combination of small engine and relatively high gearing means that it's not really suitable. You really need at least a 2 L engine for towing.

That's not to mention all the other stuff you end up carrying around for the boat, such as fuel, tools, life jackets, etc.

These days you also have to be careful about which kind of transmission a car has. The CVT's generally can't pull any where near as much load as the older geared transmissions.

Honestly, as someone who worked for AAA at the roadside, the Corolla is an admirable car in its own respects. Ive seen late 90s models absolutely abused and make it to the 150k mile mark.

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With that being said, if you try to tow a boat with a corolla, you’re practically sentencing the poor thing to transmission trouble and differential difficulties. I’d say that you’d be lucky to get a boat from driveway to launch ramp 3 separate trips before the transmission fails. All of that is assuming you can find someone to frame weld a tow hitch for a boat to the corolla.

a 1500lb boat would be a small fishing boat, and the low side for a 16' runabout. A pontoon boat, sailboat, or watersports boat are going to need 3000lb+ towing capacity; rear wheel drive, and a bigger wheel base. As you approach 25', you need closer to 6000 lbs towing capacity.

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