David, I've done a lot of heavy towing with passenger cars in the mountains of California- even bringing my 3,000lb Catalina 22 up to Big Bear Lake (~7,000 feet) twice with a Volvo 740 Turbo. That was exactly the maximum factory towing weight the car was rated for, and it did it without problems. Any car has enough braking to stop a trailer when the brakes are cold- but as the small brakes on a car heat up one of two things happens. Either the brake fluid boils, or the pads heat to the point that they lose gripping properties (brake fade). I addressed those concerns on the Volvo by using a high boiling point brake fluid (ATE Blue fluid) changed every year, and ceramic "racing" brake pads which make a lot of dust, but don't fade much at high temperature. I also found that even with a small 4 cylinder engine- if I went down the hill at low speed in a low gear (high rpm), the engine braking was able to limit the vehicle speed without using the brakes at all. This keeps them completely cold, and 100% available for an unexpected emergency stop. In every case when I came down a steep mountain grade with a heavy boat in a small passenger car, my brakes were cold too the touch at the bottom of the hill. Also, the size of brakes varies a lot from car to car. Cars designed more for "sporty" driving often have very oversized brakes, perhaps even more than a truck relative to their size, in order to manage the temperatures from aggressive driving. An economy car not designed for aggressive driving will likely have tiny front brakes, and may even have drums on the rear which overheat easily. Often the same model of car the more "sporty" trim package will have much stronger brakes, and usually these can even be purchased and installed on the lower end trim package cars. The Volvo Turbo for example, had more substantial brakes than the non-turbo model of the same car. Tyler Davis, CA '85 M15 #157 ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Grah via montgomery_boats" <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> To: "montgomery boats" <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Wednesday, August 26, 2015 10:16:51 AM Subject: M_Boats: Towing (braking) I've mostly towed my Montgomery 15 with two Toyota trucks, both 4 wheel drive manual transmission. One was 2.2 liter 4 cylinder, one is 3.4 liter 6 cylinder. Both pulled the boat fine with the 4 cylinder being a bit slower up grades or in headwinds. The main issue I have experienced towing with these trucks has not had to do with pulling but has had to do with braking. I live in a mountainous area with steep grades several miles long on ways to and from places I sail. Getting up these grades can be slow but it is getting down that gets my attention. Controlling speed can be a challenge, even using lower gears, but needing to stop unexpectedly on top of maintaining speed is what I am usually most concerned about. I assume my trucks have "stronger" brakes than the cars discussed here on this forum but don't see anyone discussing braking. I like the idea of towing with a car smaller than my trucks, but I wonder about how well these cars can brake under challenging conditions. Anyone have experience towing with a car in challenging braking conditions? David Grah Bishop California Montgomery 15 - Sky